Photo courtesy of St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN)
Weight-Loss Surgery Leads to Pregnancy
Jessica and Jeffrey Smith of Stroudsburg wondered whether they would ever realize their dream of starting a family after enduring years of frustration trying to conceive a baby and considering the high cost of fertility options like IUI and IVF.
They succeeded with an unexpected option for Jessica — bariatric surgery.
During her time struggling to have a child, Jessica discovered she had insulin-resistant polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). As she learned about fertility options, doctors told her that women with PCOS who were struggling to conceive a baby sometimes succeeded after weight-loss surgery.
Jessica had contemplated weight-loss surgery before but opted against it, trying to lose weight on her own. With bariatric surgery covered under her insurance — IVF wasn’t — she chose to undergo gastric bypass surgery as a last chance to have a baby.
“I wound up losing 140 pounds from my heaviest to my smallest,” she said. “I had my gastric bypass Feb. 7, 2023. We were told by the doctor that we needed to wait at least a year for me to safely lose enough weight to try [to conceive a baby].
“From the time we were cleared to try to the time we conceived was only 2 1/2 months. The surgery did exactly what we hoped for.”
Jessica, 37, and Jeffrey welcomed their first child, daughter Riley June Smith, on Feb. 7, 2025 — exactly 2 years after Jessica had her bariatric surgery. Jessica’s due date was Feb. 28, but she developed preeclampsia during her pregnancy, which led doctors to schedule a C-section for Feb. 7.
Jessica was worried about having her baby three weeks early, but having her C-section date line up with her bariatric surgery anniversary represented a full-circle moment for her and her husband.
“Being a new mom is very interesting,” Jessica said. “I love it. I’m totally in love with her. She does have her days and nights mixed up right now, which can be a little challenging.
“But just getting to know each other because she’s getting quite a little personality, and getting to know the type of person I am postpartum has been pretty cool. When they say that you’re totally in love with this person you never met, it’s so true.
“Just falling in love with her more each day has been the best part of it,” she added. “And seeing my husband become a dad is really the best part of it.”
About St. Luke’s
Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 21,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 350+ outpatient sites. With annual net revenue of $4 billion, the Network’s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke’s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital.
Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only four-year medical school campus. It also operates the nation’s oldest School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 52 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with more than 500 residents and fellows. In 2022, St. Luke’s, a member of the Children’s Hospital Association, established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to kids.
SLUHN is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare’s five-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency, and patient satisfaction. St. Luke’s is a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital. The Network’s flagship University Hospital earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from Fortune/PINC AI 10 years in a row, including in 2021 when it was identified as THE #1 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY. In 2021, St. Luke’s was also identified as one of the 15 Top Health Systems nationally. Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.
Information provided to TVL by:
Sam Kennedy
