Afraid I Won't Be A Mommy

[gabrielle]

I was diagnosed in january with Celiac disease, and i am 20 years old. I've been reading up on the disease, and everywhere i read it says "trouble with pregnancy" or "difficulties getting pregnant"... that frightens me so terribly because i desperately want to become a mommy some day. I just wanted to know if anyone can tell me from their experience or knows anything that can calm me or help me understand a little more. I really appreciate any feed back.

[Canadian Karen]

Hi Gabrielle:

Boy, have I been there!!!

I was diagnosed with both endometriosis and celiac disease in my early 20's. The celiac diagnosis was changed back and forth a few times between celiac, Crohn's, IBS, etc. (the usual bowel run arounds).

When I was diagnosed with endometriosis, I was told at the time I had a 50/50 chance of ever conceiving a child. Wow, I was devastated. More than anything, I wanted a family.

Well, as it turns out, I didn't actually get married until I was 29. My husband and I decided to start trying right away as we though it might take us a few years to conceive if we were lucky. Four months later I was pregnant! I am now the proud mother of 4 children, including twins!!!! Also, for all pregnancies, I was not on a gluten-free diet, as it was during that period that the doctors thought "it was not celiac...."

Have faith in yourself, it is possible!!!

Karen

[gabrielle]

Karen- Congratulations on your 4 children. I hope to be so lucky one day. Thanks for the inspiration!

[lovegrov]

I think your odds of conceiving go pretty much back to normal once you've been gluten-free for a certain period and healed.

richard

[Guest Leidenschaft]

Hmm, could be a good place for a Poll! How many of the celiacs on this board, were conceived by a celiac parent??

My mom is Celiac, so I know she could conceive, she had me and my sister!

Remember that the symptoms and "side effects" of this disease are SO vast and varied, that conception issues may never play a part in the majority of sufferers!

Don't despair, just take it one day at a time!

[gabrielle]

thanks to everyone that's responded... it's put me at ease!

[Twister2]

Hey there! I am currently pregnant with my third baby and all is well so far. In addition to having undiagnosed Celiacs with my first two, I also had severe Cervical Dysplasia prior to my first pregnancy and ended up having part of my cerix removed to avoid impending cancer. I was terrified that my husband and I would never have a baby, but in the end we have two beautiful girls and another on the way! Make sure you take Vitamin B-12 (folic Acid) about 3 months prior to trying to conceive and even gluten-free prenatal vitamins to get your body in good shape to support a pregnancy and you should be fine!!

I was also conceived by a Celiac parent, my Mom had undiagnosed Celiacs with all FOUR of us.

[Guest nini]

In my early 20's I had cervical cancer and endometriosis and when my hubby and I started trying to start a family, I had 2 miscarriages. I had kinda self diagnosed myself after the miscarriages and was on a gluten free diet when I conceieved my daughter. I stayed on the diet through the first trimester until my OB convinced me that it wasn't celiac and the gluten-free diet was bad for the baby I had a complicated and difficult pregnancy and my daughter was born about 6 wks premature. after having her my health went into a steady rapid decline and when she was 3, I was finally officially dx with celiac. I think if the celiac had been dx early on, I could have had better luck with pregnancy. I'm too shell shocked to even consider trying again though. So many of the issues I had were because of UNDIAGNOSED celiac. once I got the dx, my health immediately began to improve.

[plantime]

My mom was probably an undiagnosed celiac, she sure had all of the issues (except cancer!), and she had 5 babies and 1 miscarriage. I was undiagnosed until last year, and my kids are now 21, 16, and 15. I had three normal pregnancies, with healthy babies and no complications. If you have gone gluten-free now, your body will be pretty much healed by the time you get pregnant, so you should not have any celiac-type problems with it. Just give yourself a little time to heal first!

[KayJay]

We waited for me to be on a gluten-free diet for at least 6 months before we started trying then it only took us 7 more months to get pregnant. I really think that in a few more months you are going to be feeling so great and healthy that your worries will go away. It is amazing but if you really stick to your gluten-free diet in about 6 months you will feel better than you ever have. good luck and don't worry yet.

[gabrielle]

Thank you! You are all wonderful!! Thank you for giving me something to be excited about again! Much love.

[gf4life]

My mom (who was the likely Celiac in my parents) had 7 children, plus 3-4 more miscarriages in her lifetime. She was never gluten-free and died of health complications at 44 years old.

I was not diagnosed and on the gluten-free diet until after the birth of all three of my children. I had one possible (unconfirmed) miscarriage in between the boys. I would have only been about 2 weeks along, so it wasn't registering on the test, but NOT a normal cycle by any means.

My sister who is likely Celiac, but not diagnosed yet has three children and has had three miscarriages.

I think you will be fine as long as you are on the gluten-free diet. I agree that on the diet you have the same chances of having a baby as everyone else (non-Celiacs).

God bless,

Mariann

[Guest gfinnebraska]

I had trouble NOT getting pregnant ( ), but didn't know about the celiac disease until after my second child. Miscarried between the two. Hmmm... that seems like the common link. The posts ahead of me were peppered with miscarriages as well. It would be interesting to do a poll.

[gabrielle]

Thanks for the feedback- i guess that is one thing that scares me, to lose a baby. I feel awful for all of your losses... but very happy that you have little ones in your lives.

[Guest nini]

I consider myself really lucky to have my little one in my life. I feel badly that I passed the celiac gene onto her as well, but the good thing is by knowing early, hopefully she will have a very healthy life, and when she decides to start a family hopefully she won't have the same trouble I had.

[raina]

Hello everyone, I was diagnosed with Celiac about 11 months ago while undergoing aggressive infertility treatment. I have had 2 major endometriosis surgeries in 1998 & 2004. I had about a 5% of chance of getting pregnant naturally. I did 3 IUI's, 4 months of Clomid, and never made it past the injections for IVF 1 time and they cancelled at least 5 cycles because of bad numbers, hormones. I got pregnant on my own in Feb., after a cancelled IVF cycle. It really was a 1x miracle. Have hope and let your body heal. If you have morning , afternoon, and night sickness- eat dried puffed rice and rice crispy cereal all day.

[Merika]

Hi,

I think it's very individual. I got pregnant immediately after we started trying, and had a good pregnancy and delivery. This was pre-gluten-free for me, after major symptoms for about 10 year.

As for miscarriages, it simple to say, but don't fear them. Statistically, (celiac or not) about 50% of all pregnancies end early, many of them women don't even notice. I bet if you ask around in your family or neighborhood - many many of the moms will tell you they've had a miscarriage (or two, or three).

Merika

[kaysol]

I was just diagnosed in October but I never had problems getting pregnant. My first was 1 month after we decided to start trying and the second was quite a surprise. I think everyone has different symptoms and luckily you caught it at a young age so I wouldnt worry yet!

Stephanie

[gabrielle]

Ladies- Thank you very much for the hope I needed. I realize that healthy women have miscarriages as well, but I just can't imagine losing my own flesh and blood. All of you are so strong- thank you so much.

[westiepaws]

Hi my mom was an undiagnosed celiac when she had me and my brother. She had to take some sort of fertility-enhancing something with us to get pregnant but it worked. She was never dxed until last year; she is 64.

I am almost positive my grandmother was celiac when she had my mom, too; my grandmother is in her 80s but has had symptoms that we now know are celiac symptoms her whole life. My grandmother had two kids. I do not know if she had trouble getting pregnant.

Lea

[MommyMegan]

I know EXACTLY how you are feeling! My family has a laundry list of problems with pregnancy but they all insist that they are not celiac - mostly because none of them want to make the lifestyle change! There are LOTS of miscarriages, etc. So my husband and I moved forward with the assumption that we would likely have to adopt. We decided to give it a try (figuring we'd give nature a chance at least once before fear of losing a little one immobilized us) while we researched adoption from China. A little over 3 months later we found out that we had been blessed with a successful conception. We told everyone! We figured that if there was a problem we would need their support to get over it and if not they got to share our joy that much sooner. That was 4months ago and everything seems to be fine. My dr. says the baby has a heartbeat like a horse! We go on May 10 to have the ultrasound to find out the baby's sex and count fingers and toes and all. We can't wait. My doc has told me to repeat to myself often the mantra that everything in moderation is fine and that the worst thing for pregancy and baby is to stress too much. It's a leap of faith to let all that negativity and worry go - especially since I'm definitely not a new-agey type - but it seems to have worked so far....

You and your husband look so happy in that photo - use that to your advantage. Trust in the strength of your relationship and the love in your heart and one way or another, you'll end up as a Mommy! Good luck!

Megan

Oceanside, CA

[cgilsing]

I'm soooo in the same place as you right now! I'm 24 and have been married a little over a year. I was diagnosed with celiac disease about a year ago and I have had 4 surgeries for endometriosis and ovarian cysts. My husband is a little leary still about being a daddy, but I really want to start trying. I guess partly because if we go ahead and have a baby than my mind will be at ease. I will know that this will be a part of my life. I am scared too, but I've done a lot of thinking about it and if you are good about your diet than the celiac disease shouldn't be a problem. The endometriosis is worrisome, but even if there is a problem....doctors can do amazing things to help. If we can't have them on our own, we will adopt. There is no reason why, one way or another, you can't be a mommy! It will all work out! Don't worry.

On the bright side, my husband brought up babies all on his own last night....he said MAYBE we can start trying before the summer is out...

[egardner]

I am 22 and have been married almost two years. (my husband is a little bit older) One of the reasons I got married young was because of my family history with pregnancies. I am so glad to hear that other women my age are worried about fertility, most people just brush me off and tell me I am to young to think of such things. I graduate from nursing school next July and we are planning to start trying. It's nice to know I will have some support out there

[cgilsing]

egardner

I know exactly what you mean! I hear all the time that I have plenty of time and I shouldn't be worried about it, or that we have only been married a year and we should take our time. I get sick of hearing it....I just want to tell them they don't know the whole story and its really none of their business...I usually just smile and nod though. ha

[tarnalberry]

lol! I'm on the other side of things - 26 and hearing people start asking the "when are you going to have kids" question, and *I'm* telling them that I have plenty of time. ;-) Not that I'm saying *you* should (or shouldn't) wait... Everyone's got to make their own choices. I was originally thinking I should have kids earlier (my mother wasn't supposed to have me, and neither of us were supposed to make it, and she had complications out the wazoo... yada yada...), but these days, I'm not even sure if I want kids, let alone now! :-)

Good luck to everyone who's trying. As long as you stay strictly gluten-free, that, at least, shouldn't be an issue.