Pregnancy & RA

I realize this is a month afterwards but myabe this will help. I am have had RA for 3 years and I am currently 51/2 months preg. I was on enbrel and Meth. I stopp taking meth 3 mths prior to getting preg. Once it was determined that I was preg I got off the Enbrel. As for meds I am not a Dr but have asked and re asked my Drs. Enbrel has been around according to my Dr for 16 years and all "studies" show that it is safe to cont while preg. Even my OB agreed. Now that being said that is not long enough for me so I made a choice to not be on it. As for steroids, my Dr have all said pres. was safe, however could contribute to low birth weight. This drug has been around along along time and studies have shown that it has minimal impact on baby. Ok now I am not one of the lucky ones who got preg and went in to remission..... It has been a struggle and my RA was very well mang before preg. It has come back really bad at times and others times has been mild over the past 5 months.  At one point I got steroids injected into my knees becasue the pain was sooo bad. My Dr told this would reduce the amount of drug in my blood stream because it was going right into a joint. MY OB was fine with it. To me I need to be healthy to have a healthy baby. I am doing the best I can to min. the impact on the baby. I am not on daily steriods becuase with Alternative Thpy. I have been ok. Good luck and remember its a conversation btw you and your dr.and you have to be healthy to have healthy baby.

Thank you so much for your response back!  Recently I have started getting into a much stricter exercise regime and am trying to get back into shape, in preparation for a healthy pregnancy.  You drive home a good point...that in order to have a healthy pregnancy, I, myself have to be healthy first.  Did you do anything, prior to getting pregnant, that you feel helped to prepare your body for pregnancy?  Specific type of exercist, diet, etc.? 

Thats great that you are getting back in shape!!  I actually have been a runner for many years and also for the past 2 years I have been rock climbing. So I was a fairly active pior to getting preg. But once we started talking about trying I started doing more exercise classes, yoga and weight lifting. I alway try to eat healthy ie all the veggies and friuts but really I always worked out so I could eat cookies! 

Now that I am preg my Dr has said I can cont everything I was doing before. Even at 5 1/2 mths it is still ok. I have stopped running because my RA has rocked my knees and my hips. I stopped climbing recently because I could fit in my gear. LOL....  Now I lift 2 times a week for an hour, I am trying to swim and do yoga 2 times a week. I have really had a rough go with my RA so for the last month  I haven't done much. But I still eat like I am lol working out..LOL.. Anyways I have put on more weight then the 1 lb a week but whatever. 

I wish you best of luck. Don't let people make you feel bad for you choices to keep yourself healthy.