Pregnancy after Pre-Eclampsia

[stevenashuk]

My wife was diagnosed with Pre-Eclampsia at around 30 weeks, she spent 5-6 weeks in hospital but thankfully both her and my daughter are fine. My wife's health is still not 100% 15 months on, she hasn't lost all the weight she gained despit sticking to various diets and still suffers from giddiness although when tested her blood pressure is not particularly high. Jessica is our first child, we'd always discussed more, prioir to the eclampsia, but it has made us think again until recently.

My wife has started talking about more children, I know there is no guarantee that it will occur again but it was the worst feeling in the world going to hospital each day, seeing her unwell and then having to leave her at night. I do not think I could cope again with the risk of loosing her and feel that the stakes are way too high to consider more children.

[angelkat]

Hi and welcome to the forum... No, I'm not a father but I know what your wife is feeling by waiting another child. My Dh and I went back and fourth with this same question over and over again. To slove our different issues we went to our Peri(High risk doc) for a preconsp consult. We discuss our odds, a care plan, what we can do and what needed to be done. This current preg is not an easy one but it's one that we are both comfie with thanks to our wonderful doctors.

Good Luck!!!!!


Hugs
~T
Moderator Grief and Loss
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[julie f]

Steve,

Hi and welcome! Preeclampsia is just a devestating disease, during the pregnancy and in it's aftermath... I am so happy that your daughter is doing well but, sorry to hear that your wife is still sufferring from it's effects... I too continued to suffer from some issues postpartum - kidney and vision - and, you will unfortunately find that it is not uncommon.

I can't imagine what it is like for a husband to watch his wife become so sick and for his child's life to be in danger as well. I don't know how I would handle it if the situations were reversed...

I wish you and your wife the best in making your decision to try again, goodness knows it's not an easy one... My husband and I just found out we're expecting again and, although we were trying and hoping, when I told my husband he couldn't do anything but cry. He is terrified, excited, yet terrified. I don't think he will breathe easy until we are holding our baby in our arms at home.

Here is a link to a post from our "Ask the Experts" section on recurrence rates, I thought this info may help a little. http://www.preeclampsia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=331&SearchTerms=sibai

Best of luck to you and please keep us posted.

Julie (27)
Zachary James, 7/22/03-7/27/03, born at 26wks - severe pe

Miracle in progress... #2 is due February 9, 2005!!!!

Southern California Coordinator

[traci_kb]

Hi Steve,

I am from the Uk also, Essex. I had Eclampsia in August, 2002 and I am currently 22 weeks. I will admit it was the hardest decision to make and I know how much my partner was concerned also.The best thing to do is to have a pre-conception councelling with your consultant to go through how they would care for you, what could be done etc and then, it is only yourself that can make the decision. My health was bad for over 15 months also, problems with high bp, blood issues and general not being as healthy as I was before. If you would like to chat more you can reply on traci_beamish@hotmail.com There is also a Uk support group available if you are interested.

Hope to speak soon

Traci

Traci

[mom2gigi]

Hi Steve, my husband felt the same way, he didn't want to chance having another child with what we went through with our first child too, a girl. And your fears are valid for anyone who's gone through this disease with their spouse. But now with research and more knowledge about Pre-Eclampsia we feel safe about trying again, hopefully a boy.
My blood pressure is now starting to go done, a year after giving birth so we are talking about it more now.
Praying that you will be at ease.


Adriana

Giselle - 35wks, severe preeclampsia by emergency c-section.

[tanya]

Hi Steve and welcome to the forums!!

My DH and I had to accept the realization that for us pre-eclampsia could very well be an obstacle for us again also. I really agree with Traci about the pre-conception consult though. It really helped my DH and I make the decision to proceed with this pregnancy. We prepared a long list of questions for our OB and he was more than willing to sit down and visit with us. Hope this info helps make your decision easier. Good Luck!![;)]

Take Care,
Tanya
Jason(DH)
Leah born 2/4/99 at 34 weeks ...PIH
Miscarriage 10 weeks
Grant born 3/29/01 at 31 weeks... Severe PE
Miracle #3 EDD 01/31/05

[stormrider]

Hi, new to this site and forum.

After over 4 years of infertility treatment, we finally have a healthy baby boy. But he was delivered 6 weeks early due to preeclampsia. I'm kind of glad I didn't understand just how bad preeclampsia could be... the doctor was preparing to deliver the baby vaginally by induced labor, but when my wife got the epidural block her bloodpressure plummeted from very high to very low, causing distress for both her and the baby. They immediately rushed her into the delivery room and performed a C-section (which also had some complications).

Afterward for a few days my wife continued to have severely high blood pressure (over 200) and horrible headaches. They discharged her anyway (but she stayed in a courtesy room at the hospital to help care for our newborn in the NICU). I met her at the hospital the next night at 2:30am because her BP was skyrocketed again and the headache was killing her...

I was disappointed that they didn't really do anything for her, nor did the doctors before/after. Was there nothing they could do to help lower her BP? My understanding now is that she was at high risk of having a stroke or worse...? They acted like it was no big deal.

Anyway the good news everything did turn out OK.

But we still have 3 frozen embryos, and we are considering whether or not to try and have a 2nd child. My wife is 44 and also had severe postpartum depression so there are a lot of factors here, but the major first one is whether we should even try given that she is likely to have preeclampsia again(?).

Anyway thanks for all your posts here, I guess the first thing to do is to consult a high risk pregnancy specialist and learn what we can... I'm not clear on the real risk level yet.

[mada]

HI there and welcome...COngrats on your baby boy,...I am so sorry that you and your wife had to go though all this...I am no doctor, but it seems to me that many women here are very watched for post pardum pre-e..it can be pretty scary and I am suprised that they didn't treat your wife with some blood pressure medication or put her on Magnesium sulfate. They might have had her on it at first...I don't know.

As for getting preggers again. SO many of us have gone back and forth with this question. It's a really hard decesion. My suggestion to you is to have a preconception consult with a perinatologist(high risk Ob). I am not sure where you live, but there is a list of docs who specialize in hypertensive pregnancies at www.nsshp.org

GOodluck to you and your wife..I am so glad everybody is doing well now.

Mada Harpster-moderator for pregnant again

Sam 6-29-00 36weeks P.E.
Ben 11-03-01 No P.E.