Pregnancy with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Take a Break

Kim’s contraception pill unexpectedly failed because of Crohn’s. Here’s how pregnancy with IBD went for her…

This busy mum-of-three starting suffering bowel and toilet issues, experiencing bouts of diarrhoea, fevers, and tummy pain.

But whenever Kim went to her GP, she was dismissed or told it was anxiety causing her bowel problems.

She was going to the loo up to 20 times a day and struggling to cope with the impact of her bowel symptoms on her life and ability to care for her family the way she wanted. Left exhausted, Kim wanted answers.

In the end, those answers came after Kim was admitted to hospital through A&E, where an astute doctor suspected and diagnosed Crohn’s, an inflammatory and chronic disease of the bowel. Symptoms of Crohn’s or IBD often include diarrhoea, stomach cramps, blood in the poo, weight-loss and fatigue.

Kim later left hospital with medication to control her IBD, and tried to get on with things. But then she realised she was pregnant. Because of all the diarrhoea caused by her Crohn’s disease, Kim’s contraceptive pill had failed.

I interviewed Kim about what it was like to go through pregnancy with Crohn’s, and how she desperately searched online for information about what to expect. Kim’s story appeared in the UK’s bestselling true-life weekly magazine, Take a Break, for World IBD Day 2021.

Read on for the full article. For more information, visit crohnsandcolitis.org.uk