pregnancy

Hello everyone. I am 34 and I have been living with MSK since I was 16. At that time they took out part of my left kidney since it was full of stones and had stopped working. I have two beautiful children and until recently I didnt have any plans for more. Over the past few months my creatine has gone from 1.10 to 1.17 and now to .098 and the GFR has done the same. I am now married again to a man who does not have any children of his own and now wants to have a baby. Does anyone know if I would be able to or if that shouldnt happen?? If anyone is in the same situation as me, I could really use the advice.

[USMCsilent_rank]

I don't know about if you can with your kidney status, and I dont know terribly much about the effect of the creatine/GFR levels, but I just wanted to say that I am 24, diagnosed with MSK just 2 years ago and I have gone through one pregnancy, resulting in a beautiful, healthy baby girl who is now 11 months, and we are pregnant with #2, with whom I am 15 weeks pregnant with. Now, my MSK has landed me in the ER mulitple times, in both pregnancies, with hospital stays almost once at least a month. Because of the pain, and stent procedures, and not being able to take Toradol (the best medicine I've found for the kidney pain associated with MSK) I've had to stay in the hospital on IV pain meds, antibiotics, fluids and have mulitple stent surgeries to place/replace stents, since I guess when you are pregnant, you are more prone to blood clots (which block the stent at times) and calcifications of the stent, requiring replacement. Some people say im an idiot for getting pregnant again, because of all the risks of surgery and narcotic pain meds, but I have talked to many specialists, and they have all encouraged me that there is no harm in taking pain medication while pregnant (other than the last few weeks, in which the only worry is that your baby might become addicted to the narcotic) so why put a damper on our family building. When I have to have surgery, I always ask to have a spinal anesthesia, which poses NO RISK to the baby at all, so really, there is no reason that I would say you shouldnt expand your family. Now, obviously, I don't claim to know everything, and I also am no doctor, but I would say if you both talk about it with your docs, and yourselves, and make sure you are phisically healthy enough to sustain a pregnancy, and you carefully weigh the pros vs cons of the situation, I'd say GO FOR IT!!! I have been very lucky to have very amazing friends to help out when I need to stay in the hospital, watching my 11 month old, and I am a wife of a Marine, so I am also lucky enough to be a stay at home mommy, so this "lifestyle" suites me. So, all I can say is how pregnancy has affected me living with MSK. Like I said, be ready for a lot of hosital/ER visits, and be ready to have stents in almost the entire duation of your pregnancy. Don't be afraid to take pain medication, from what my ob docs have told me, it is actually more safe to take the meds than it is to be in pain, because pain triggers blood pressure and heart problems, which will actaully affect your baby way more than the meds ever will. And if you ever have to have surgery, ask for the spinal anesthesia, as it poses almost NO risk to the baby (and I think it's better/easier recovery for you, anyways :] ) Also, another thing that can get frusterating (at least to me) is that the only sort of "imaging" tests they can do while pregnant is an ultrasound, which, im sure you know, isn't the greatest in looking at the kidneys and seeing whether you have stones, and what not, the only thing they can really look for is to see if your kidney is swollen due to a blockage. So, that can be frusterating at times when you just want some answers. But with good docs, those problems can be adressed with other routes. Good luck, and I know you will make the decision that is best for YOU and your hubby :]