21 weeks pregnant and having gallstone attacks. Told to wait until after the baby for surgery. Is waiting actually safer?

First baby, 21 weeks today. Three attacks in the last month, all the textbook ones from what I have read on here: an hour after tea, pain under the right ribs going round to my back, sick, then gone after a couple of hours. Scan at the hospital last week showed lots of small stones and said the gallbladder wall looked normal.

The surgeon I saw was kind but basically said we would rather not operate on a pregnant woman unless we have to, let's manage it and take it out a few months after the baby. Low fat diet, paracetamol, come back in if anything changes.

Part of me is relieved because the idea of an operation with the baby in there terrifies me. Part of me is reading about how stones can cause pancreatitis and thinking, is that safer for the baby than a keyhole op? My midwife says she does not know, it is "a surgical question". Has anyone been through this?

Not pregnant when I had mine, but I remember the waiting with attacks and it is miserable, so sending you a lot of sympathy. The one thing everyone here will say is know your red flags: pain that does not go after a few hours, a temperature, yellow eyes or skin. Do not sit those out because you are trying not to be a bother.

My daughter in law had hers out when she was about five months gone with my grandson, keyhole, because she kept ending up in hospital. She was terrified too. She was home in two days and he is a very loud three year old now. I know that is one story, but you did ask.

Update, because it went the way Maria warned about.

Attack on the Wednesday night that did not stop. By the morning I had a temperature and was shaking. Went in, they said acute cholecystitis, inflamed gallbladder. Different surgeon, very different conversation. She said that with an inflamed gallbladder in pregnancy the evidence now favours taking it out rather than waiting, because the infection itself is a risk to the pregnancy, and that the second trimester is actually the preferred time if you are going to operate.

Keyhole on the Friday at 22 weeks. Baby's heartbeat checked before and after and monitored by the maternity team, obstetric registrar came round twice. Home on the Sunday. Very sore, the usual shoulder gas pain, but baby is wriggling like nothing happened.

I am a bit cross that nobody said any of this at the first appointment.

Oh I am so glad. Rest up. And well done for going in.

I run this board. Hannah, I am really glad you and the baby are both well, and that you went in when it changed rather than waiting.

For anyone who finds this thread later in the same position, it is worth separating two situations, because I think they explain why you heard two different things. For straightforward attacks that settle, particularly late in pregnancy, waiting until after the birth is a reasonable plan and some surgeons prefer it. For acute cholecystitis, the inflamed and infected gallbladder Hannah ended up with, the 2024 guidance from the American surgical society SAGES favours removing the gallbladder over managing it without surgery, and a large 2024 study found that surgery for cholecystitis in pregnancy was linked with lower odds of miscarriage or preterm birth than not operating. A 2024 American gastroenterology update also describes keyhole removal as safe in pregnancy and the standard approach in any trimester, ideally the second.

None of that means the first surgeon was wrong to suggest waiting while things were uncomplicated. It means the plan needs to change if the picture does, and that it is fair to ask "what would make you change your mind" at the first appointment. I have written up what is known, including the red flags and stones in the bile duct during pregnancy, at gallstones in pregnancy. Whether surgery is right in any particular pregnancy is for the surgical and maternity teams who can examine you.

Thank you, that is helpful, and "what would make you change your mind" is going on the list for my friend who is in the same boat. Nearly 25 weeks now. Eating normally. Baby kicked through the whole of my post op check.