Hanging in the Hospital

I began writing this blog because I was searching for others' experiences dealing with flares and autoimmune medications while pregnant.  I couldn't find a blog that followed a patient throughout her pregnancy (only forums where women would post concerns, but I'd never get to see the outcome.)  I wished there was a place where I could get a full picture of what pregnancy was really like with IBD, which is why I decided to start writing this blog.  That said, it's only right that when things get crappy, I actually share the honest experience...

Anyone who has experienced an autoimmune flare knows those things can come on fast and strong.  After months teetering on the edge, I'm battling a flare that really took hold when I began the second trimester.  

  

For those interested in the drug therapy I've been following based on my docs' advice from Northwestern and University of Chicago, here it is.  They assure me it's completely safe for baby (despite the terrifying things we read online). For my own sanity, I'm choosing to believe them.

• I've been flaring since April (on 60mg of oral prednisone for most of the summer, and I was following the Specific Carbohydrate Diet).
• By August, I was able to taper down the prednisone, and my husband and I were excited by the surprising news that we were having a baby.  While I am over the moon about having this baby, the research and my doctors concur that getting pregnant while flaring is ill-advised. I would not have planned the timing this way, as your body typically stays in whatever state it is in when you conceive (flaring pre-conception=flaring throughout pregnancy).
• I happened to be tapering off prednisone the day after I got the positive pregnancy test, so I went the rest of the first trimester with no oral prednisone but stayed on Humira, injecting 40mg a week.
• Because of food aversions, the only thing I wanted to eat those first few months was bread, cheese and bread, and more bread.  In my totally unprofessional opinion, this seemed to worsen the flare up.
• By the second trimester, I was losing a lot of blood daily and was pretty much sick all the time (fluid loss was a concern too).  I went to my gastroenterologist at 17 weeks, and they said if I left the flare uncontrolled, I would lose the baby, even this late. This was shocking to me, since I had assumed that 12 week mark meant I was out of the woods.  Not so, if you've got active IBD.  I've seen women on lots of online IBD boards saying they're not reporting their symptoms to doctors because they are worried about prednisone's side effects on the baby, but this was a huge wake up call to me.
• I took one 5-day Medrol dose pack (always useless), and then a few days' worth of 40mg oral prednisone (so I could stay home for Thanksgiving) before being admitted to the hospital for IV steroids (Solu-Medrol, 40mg per day) and fluids.

So that's where I am now. Day 2.5 of steroids and fluids. No progress yet, but they say it typically takes 72 hours to see any difference.  And if this baby comes out with 10 fingers, and 10 toes, you can all feel relieved about prednisone during pregnancy since I've been your guinea pig. (Fingers crossed...)