Undiagnosed And Pregnant

[almostnrn]

I was diagnosed with celiac and DH in Aug 2005 (and thankfully I'm not the one currently pregnant, twice was enough!, lol) I'm convinced my sister has celiac as well but up to this point she has been unwilling to go get tested despite my down right begging, because she doesn't want to have to go on a gluten-free diet. While that in itself is insane, she has more symptoms of the disease on a regular basis than I ever had. Here is the big problem. Her first pregnancy was cruising along exceedingly normal. She is 6' and appears to be very healthy. At 24 weeks she went into spontanious labor for no apparent reason. They were able to hold her off for 2 weeks and she delivered just short of 26 weeks. Thankfully my nephew did very well and is a healthy little toddler now...you would never know he started off at 2 lbs!!! So she calls me today to let me know she just found out she was pregnant again. This is not so great on lots of levels but I'm terrified for her and for the baby. She got so mad at me when the first thing I said is she needed to get the bloodwork done for celiac ASAP. Now regardless, I know if she does have it, her body is not absorbing nutrients properly, etc but I just wondered if any of you had any experience with this. If she goes gluten-free now will she heal enough to have a healthy pregnancy? Oh my I have so many questions so any input anyone has would be greatly appreciated! THANKS!

[hannahsue01]

TELL HER TO SHE HAS TO GO GLUTEN FREE NOW!!! I donno on the healing time as I have heard many different time frames. I to had a premature baby....at 29 weeks. We now know this was due to celiac. For me I had a placetal abrubtion.....another problem was that I couldn't produce enough milk for my little girl (could be another warning sign if she had the same problem). If there is even any question that she could have it she should go gluten free for the time being untill the baby is born.....there would be no time for a biobsy but she could get blood tests quickly but they are not always reliable. Hopefully if this is her problem she could start obsorbing nutrients in time to prevent at least a severly premature birth. She already knows that there are allot of struggles related to premature birth. I know of a few kids who havn't been as lucky as hers and mine.....it's not always a happy ending. One stayed in for 9 months and is finaly home on a trech....another is still in the hospital after a year and not expected to ever leave....I know of many others that had to have surgry.....our little girl barly got by without lung surgry because she had a hole in her lungs. I hope you get somewhere with her on this and good luck. I hope all goes well for her and her baby!

[Guest cassidy]

I don't normally think scaring people is a good idea, but in this case, I think you need to do anything you can to talk some sense into her. I'm pregnant myself and I have already realized how much you have to change your life for your baby. If she isn't willing to go on the diet for herself, then she should be willing to go on the diet for the baby.

Healing does take time but it gets better and better. I'm read it takes 6 months to a year to heal but if she can stop causing new damage she will be so much better off. Kids, especially unborn ones, are so defenseless that someone has to stick up for them. Please do everything that you can to convince her that she MUST go on the diet. I'm sure she was terrified when her son was born so early and I'm sure she doesn't want to go through that again, maybe that will be motivating enough.

Good luck!

[twtums]

I won't even bother having her tested, have her go on the diet now! Remind her that it is for baby and to give baby the best chance possible she needs to do this! When she delievers it's up to her what she wants to do but if she could at least do it for her little one!

[almostnrn]

Thanks to all who posted. Your advice was very similar to what I've told my sister but she just won't listen to me (after all what do I know about this stuff). The only silver lining here is that she has to go to a special OB since she is high risk due to her first premature delivery and I guess she has already mentioned it to the doctor as things she needs to discuss during her first appointment. So now I guess we will wait and see if this doctor is worth her salt and just tells her to go gluten free regardless of the blood test. I'll have my fingers crossed!