In May 2023, Gwendoline confided to Fait Docteur that she had performed a sleeve 6 months earlier in the hope of losing weight, but above all of becoming a mother. His dream came true this year. After losing more than 50 kilos, she became pregnant…
- Gwendoline, who suffered from obesity, had a sleeve in November 2022 in the hope of losing weight and being able to get pregnant.
- She began the process with the PMA center in June 2023 to be able to benefit from IVF. But she ultimately fell pregnant naturally before the procedure began.
- Her daughter was born on October 10, 2024, less than two years after her sleeve.
On November 17, 2022, Gwendoline entered an operating room to undergo a sleeve, a bariatric surgery which involves removing part of the stomach. The goal of the young woman, who was then 28 years old and weighed 117.8 kilos, was – of course – to lose weight, but also to realize her dream of becoming a mother.
In fact, having difficulty getting pregnant, she approached a assisted reproduction center. Doctors told her at that time that her obesity could be one of the causes of her fertility problems. They also added that she had to reach 90 kg to have access to IVF.
If it has not always been an easy path as she confided in May 2023 to Fait Docteur, the sleeve has a nice surprise in store for Gwendoline, well beyond seeing the figures on her scale drop rapidly… She is fell pregnant naturally, a little over a year after the operation.
PMA: “In my head, I say to myself: you’ve been waiting for 7 years, don’t dream”
Having fallen well below the objective given by health professionals, Gwendoline returned to the PMA center, eight months after her sleeve. She and her husband Pierre suffered yet another refusal from the team. The reason? It is recommended to wait a year after a surgical operation such as sleeve surgery to begin the IVF journey. Nevertheless, the feedback on their file remains encouraging.
“We had another appointment at the end of October. This time I had lost almost 50 kg in total, or 10 kg more compared to our consultation in June. The appointment also went well. All the lights are green. FINALLY!! We are rescheduling a spermogram for the man. For me, this is an x-ray of the tubes carried out after the injection of a product to see if they are blocked. We We also schedule a meeting with the psychologist and the biologist, two mandatory elements to get our file through the committee.”remembers Gwendoline.
The couple complied without batting an eyelid to these requests. The thirty-year-old does “famous horn radio” and the results are good: they are not clogged. “At the end of this appointment in early December 2023, the doctor who did it for me told me that it happens that after this examination some women become pregnant, because the injected product acts like a enema of the tubes. This which allows sperm to pass better.explains Gwendoline. “In my head, I say to myself: you’ve been waiting for seven years, don’t dream.”
A few days later, the couple learned that their IVF application had received approval from the commission. Their first appointment to begin their PMA journey is then set for February 6, 2024, another two months of waiting. “I find the time very long, but no choice to wait. But after over 7 years of trying to have a baby, we’re only a few weeks away anyway.”
Desire for a child and bariatric surgery: “And there, the shock, I see a very slight bar”
And finally, the wait to see his desire to have a child come true will not, in fact, be very long. “On Monday January 29, I woke up having dreamed that I was pregnant… I waited for the man to leave for work and I returned home to find a pregnancy test. I do it, it’s 8:20 a.m., without much conviction. I tell myself that once again, I’m making films. A few minutes later, I look at the test. And there, the shock, I see a very slight bar. I tell myself that this is not possible. I look at the test in all directions and the thin second bar is there. I take a photo of it. I am sending it to my sister-in-law and a friend. They both confirm that they see the second bar.”
Gwendoline immediately calls the midwife who has been following her for several years. She sends him by email a prescription allowing him to do a blood test in the laboratory. On the other hand, the mother-to-be does not dare to warn the father, for fear of giving him false hope… after so many years of struggling with infertility.
“After my blood test, I accompany my grandparents to an appointment as planned. We leave the consultation around 3:30 p.m., I then look at my phone and I have an email from the laboratory with my results. It was well POSITIVE! It’s the very beginning of pregnancy, because the beta HCG level was 23UI/L (the level is higher than 5UI/L in case of pregnancy).”
“On the road home, alone in my car, I burst into tears. I received a call from my godfather who wanted news about my grandfather’s appointment. When he heard me crying, he asked me “What’s going on? That’s how he found out before anyone else.”
To announce the very good news to her husband Pierre, Gwendoline gave him, in the evening when he returned from work, a box containing little slippers. Seeing these little baby items, he immediately understood that their family dream was coming to life. “You know the rest: the IVF appointment was canceled and the pregnancy continued”she adds happily.
Pregnancy: “I of course had more specific monitoring because of my sleeve”
Do women who have had a sleeve have more complicated pregnancies? “I of course had more special follow-up because of my sleeve. Every month, I had a blood test to check vitamin levels as well as diabetes. Indeed, the gestational diabetes test is not compatible with a sleeve or a by-pass. I also had a monthly check-up with my midwife where we listened to the heart as well as an appointment with the gynecologist for a growth ultrasound to see if baby was growing well.”
And apart from a greater number of medical appointments, Gwendoline did not have a different pregnancy than that of a “classic woman”. There is no increased risk to her or the baby. His only additional instruction was to “be careful to eat well and add snacks so that baby has the necessary intake”.
“The pregnancy went very well, the weight gain was minimal: around 7 kg.” However, seeing the scale climb again was not easy for the mother-to-be. “I was very afraid of gaining a lot of weight. It was complicated at first. But I quickly put things into perspective by telling myself that the weight gain was normal and necessary for the baby’s well-being. “
“Garance was born at 3:03 p.m.”
The weeks flew by, turning into 9 months… and the long-awaited event arrived. Garance was born on October 10, 2024, 23 months after the sleeve. The pretty baby measured 49 cm and weighed 3.4 kg.
“The birth went well, I gave birth at 40 weeks +1 day. We arrived at the maternity ward at 2 a.m. and Garance was born at 3:03 p.m.”. A small downside: “the epidural did not work. It was placed correctly, but did not relieve my contractions”, remembers the mother. But all that was quickly put aside when Gwendoline held her daughter in her arms.
Coming home to start life as a threesome a few days later was a highlight for the new family. Without questioning this immense happiness, Gwendoline recognizes that the first weeks were complicated. “Difficult breastfeeding, lack of sleep, getting used to no longer being alone, no longer being free to do what you want when you want… Ultimately, I find that we are not so good prepared for that.” But now the young parents “took the hit well”. They manage to adapt to baby’s rhythm without denying themselves anything, either.
Their little Garance is a healthy baby who is growing and gaining weight well. She smiles a lot and even starts trying to “talk”. She will be two and a half months old on Christmas Day. And his family does everything to make this moment magical. “Even if she won’t remember all of this, her first Christmas, her first presents, I want her to know when she’s older that I did everything possible to make her first Christmas with us the most wonderful”confides the young mother.
The end of year celebrations lend themselves well to taking stock. And for Gwendoline, it is more than positive. “Two years after my sleeve, if I had to do it again, I would. This operation made me lose 50 kg and gave me the greatest gift of all: my daughter.”
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