Michelle Duggar questions

[darateacher]

Just saw a pic of Josie Dugger, #19 and adorable, on a website. Turns out she's doing well. Has gained weight and is now 2 pounds and 4 oz.

My questions are: #1)For her past pg's, did she have PE?

2) If not, how did she get PE after having 18 kids without PE in the first place? Isn't that kind of rare to have PE after NOT having it so many times?

Just trying to piece things together with my knowledge of PE.

Also, I'm soooo relieved that Josie's doing so well!!! :-)

[jennieexpo]

i think she did have a mild case of pre e in one of the past pregnancies, not 100% sure though. I've come to understand the pe can strike pretty much any time, doesn't seem to go by the guidlines ive heard in the past that it should.

[catherine]

Dara, just remember the concept that the 'fetus-placenta-mom' connection is unique for each pregnancy. So although we recognize that some folks are at higher risk for developing preeclampsia it can still strike any mom out of the blue. Should the process miswire or the connections prove to be sub-optimal then the mom's body will do what it can to keep things going. If it can't, sometimes that may mean an early miscarriage, if it can hang on in there for a while until the fetus starts to grow very vigorously (second trimester) and then the demands on the placenta become too great...

Michelle Duggar clearly has mad reproductive skillz to use internet terminology. It just goes to show that no woman can assume herself immmune and why OB/GYNs monitor every pregnancy the same way, regardless of how many you have "under your belt" so to speak.

[missgamecock]

She had preeclampsia at 36 weeks with the first set of twins (kids 2 & 3 John and Jill?).

[darateacher]

Yeah...but, that's soooo far away from child #19 and the other pgs didn't have any PE.

[caryn]

As Catherine says, though, sometimes it's just the genetic toss of the dice!

The genes that control placental development vary with every pregnancy. Sometimes they just don't work ideally, even if they *usually* work ideally in that male-female partnership.

All those billions of sperm each have a unique code, you know?

[darateacher]

Yep. I understand. Very true.

[sarab]

To piggy-back on Caryn and Catherine's posts, but in my much more simple-minded way of looking at it: preeclampsia affects 5-8% of all pregnancies. Statistically speaking, it was bound to happen... ;)

[leeann34]

You also have to remember she is 43 yrs old. The older a woman gets her risk of PE goes up regardless if she's has a history of it or not.

[darateacher]

Guess I forget that part about her age. Thanks!