| At the outset, whatever
you do, if
you have a hernia and you are pregnant, you MUST be examined by your
own
doctor, gynaecologist or obstetrician without delay. No general advice
you can obtain from us here on the internet is as good as a proper
professional
examination.
The advice to avoid hernia surgery during pregnancy is, almost certainly, the best way. When considering surgery in ANY kind of case, one always weighs up the expected advantages and risks of not having the surgery with the disadvantages and risks of HAVING the surgery. If your hernia does not appear to be posing any imminent threat to your health and the very last thing you would want to do right now is place any avoidable risks on the pregnancy, |
the advice is often to leave well alone until after the baby is born and you have completely recovered. This can be no more than three to six months. Even in cases where hernia surgery IS deemed unavoidable during pregnancy, our view is to do it only during the second trimester, although even this is only in very unusual circumstances. You can still take care to minimize the risks of aggravating the hernia... Good support at the site of the hernia when coughing or sneezing - even by using your hand(s) - is valuable. Avoid any activity you know makes it hurt or get bigger. You may be surprised at how little the pregnancy itself will add to the enlargement of the hernia, but you must remain careful. |
| Normal (Vaginal) Delivery or Caesarian Section? |
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You also need have no
fear of what
might happen should  you
become 'as big as a bus' towards full term, or during the delivery. In
most parts of the world there are excellent obstetricians and midwives
who will all be able to cope with the hernia situation. It is far from
uncommon and by informing them now, they will be expecting to deal with
your hernia by the time you get there. A decision to have a caesarian
delivery
just because of a hernia is uncommon. |
|
| Having said all of that,
when the
time DOES come for you to get this hernia seen to, (as soon as possible
and certainly
before becoming pregnant again) you will face a very serious decision.
We have tried to describe and explain the difference in the options on
our web site, for all kinds of hernia. If you have not already read
that,
select the Hernia Index, below.
Take a good and careful read of that and, when the time comes, you might care to get back to us to help you consider what your best step will be. That decision could impact on the whole of the rest of your life. In the mean time, whilst you must feel free to contact us at any time if there is anything about hernia we might assist you with, we hope you can forget all about it, have a great and easy pregnancy and a beautiful baby! If you have any questions about hernia during pregnancy, please contact us. Naturally, we will be happy to attend to your hernia for you properly when the baby is a few weeks old, at the appropriate time. |
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