I went and saw my primary care doctor this morning and he agreed to the referral to see the bariatric surgeon. He also thinks I have sleep apnea so he referred me to pulmonology.

The bariatric department already called me today to schedule the consultation.

My partner and I feel it would be best to have a baby now instead of after the surgery(so I don’t gain the weight back) so I’m going to speak with the doctor and see how long post partum before I can have the sleeve.

I also want to know if I can get any of the pre-op requirements out of the way now since I won’t be getting pregnant till July anyways. I am hoping to have the surgery while I’m still off on maternity leave (California gives us about 5 months of leave for bonding and recovery) so I’m hoping within that time frame he would allow it. I hope he doesn’t feel it’s a dumb idea to even see him now since I still want to have a baby first.

I’ve been wanting this for so many years and have done so much research. I just now finally have an insurance that covers it(and at 100%).

Wish me luck and if you’ve been in this similar situation. Let me know what it was like.

I think the answer to a lot of these questions is going to depend on your insurance requirements. That said generally the prerequisites for surgery, testing, weight management classes (if required) need to be within 6 months of surgery. That may make it difficult to knock them out before or during your pregnancy. I suspect when you meet with the surgeon for the consult they will advise you to come back closer to your due date (or after) to dive into the program.

I think you are also right to do the surgery after having your child, because for most surgeries it is not recommended that you conceive until at least one year after surgery (some surgeries are 2 years and even then there are some other complications due to malabsorption issues).

All that said, congratulations on starting this journey.