Drastic Dieting Brings Baby Joy for North Somerset Couple

Two years ago Jane Crook was told she was too overweight to have children, so she took drastic action and had her stomach stapled.

Now, as she beams down at the son she thought she’d never have, she says having a gastric band fitted to her stomach was the best thing she ever did and she hopes it will give other people hope.

Proud parents Jane, 40, and her fiancee Andrew Hay, 45, have not stopped smiling since baby Charlie was born two weeks ago.

Jane suffered from a rare medical condition called insulin- resistant polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) that upsets the body’s hormonal balance leading to uncontrollable weight gain.

The couple, from Clutton, North Somerset, were struggling to conceive and had saved pounds30,000 to pay for fertility treatment.

In 2006 they went to see a fertility expert at the Spire Health Clinic in Clifton, Bristol, who told Jane that at 27 stone and a size 32 she was too big to have children.

They decided to pay pounds7,500 for the gastric band surgery to help Jane shed the pounds so she could begin IVF treatment.

She had the band fitted at Spire Hospital in Durdham Down, Bristol, in October 2006, and the Western Daily Press featured the couple’s story in March.

Gastric banding involves placing an inflatable silicone band around the upper part of the stomach through keyhole surgery to create a much smaller “pouch” with a narrow opening to the rest of the stomach, restricting the amount of food a person can eat before feeling full.

It typically results in a loss of at least 60 per cent body weight and means that Jane only ate once a day, having meals on a saucer and taking vitamins to supplement her diet.

She lost nine stone in nine months and, by November 2007, at 18 stone she was on target to fit into her size 18 wedding dress in time for their wedding in May this year.

But the couple’s plans to get married in Canada in May had to be put on hold for a year after they found out Jane was pregnant – before they had even started fertility treatment.

Charlie was born by Caesarean section two weeks early on July 15 at Bristol’s Southmead Hospital, weighing 8lb 5oz.

Before Jane gave birth the gastric band was deflated so her stomach returned to almost full size.

“We had been worried about the various pitfalls and problems that I was more likely to have but the pregnancy was not bad at all,” said Jane.

“I did get a lot of amniotic fluid which is why they decided a Caesarean was best but two days after Charlie was born we brought him home.

“I had the band halfway deflated during the pregnancy then took it the rest of the way out with eight weeks to go.

“Being a parent makes you feel a lot more responsible, it’s not so much that your priorities change but you have just one priority now. He is a content baby and only tends to wake up once a night.

“Everyone is absolutely besotted with him and lots of people say he looks like his dad.”

Jane will have the gastric band blown up to its full extent in about a month’s time and doctors say it will be easy for her to lose her pregnancy weight.

“I’ve done it before so I’ll do it again but the whole point of having the surgery was to have Charlie so the weight doesn’t really bother me,” she said.

“But I still have a size 18 wedding dress to fit into for the wedding in May next year. We’re still planning to go to Canada but now we’ll have a little best man.

Andrew, who works for an organic vegetable grower, said he hopes their story could be an inspiration for others.

“Being a parent is amazing, and tiring, it’s been scary at times but I wouldn’t swap it for anything,” he said.

(c) 2008 Western Daily Press (Bristol UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.