Here we go again.... maybe...

[princesspurr]

I don't know if anyone remembers me, I used to post a lot but life got a little interesting and I haven't been around for awhile. I got divorced and re-married, my new hubby wants a baby in the worst way. He is support of adopting, but I know he really would like to try to for a biological child. I got preeclampsia early in my first and only pregnancy. My daughter born, Veronica Rosina at 26.5 weeks on Nov 25th 2004, and passed away on Nov 27th... My body went back to normal blood pressure wise after about 8 weeks, live and kidney took a few weeks to go back to being okay... I'm scared to try again. I have days where I really want to, and days where I feel like I'm putting my life at risk. It has been almost 7 years, new husband... I weigh less.. the docs found a slight gene mutation that they say makes me clot a little fast so that might have been part of the problem.... I know it is a whole different ball game but it is so scary. I have a normal OBGYN appointment coming up, I'm going to talk to them again and see what they think I need to do before we start trying. I want to drop some more weight, and last time I started trying when I was 22 and didn't get pregnant until I was 24... now I'm 32 so who knows.

Val

[blythe]

Welcome back, Val! I think you were on a lot when I first started lurking - I know I've seen you many times when I've searched the archives! It sounds like you've had quite an eventful few years.

You said you have a normal OB appointment soon - have you seen an MFM recently? The standard advice we try to give now is to consult with an MFM and see if you have any underlying disorders - like the gene mutation that makes you clot a bit more (which one do you have?) - that they could try to address. If I'm understanding right, in general the research over the past few years has been finding less of a connection between thrombophilias and preeclampsia, but we have a few posters right now who are using heparin / lovenox and doing well in their pregnancies. Our experts are less enthusiastic about anticoagulants - see their recent response
http://www.preeclampsia.org/forum/viewt ... 19&t=42978

but what's important is that you talk to a good MFM about your unique situation and see what is appropriate for you.

The paternity research makes my head spin in your case - I believe they are saying now that there is less risk with the same partner. But since you had such a tragic outcome with your first, maybe some different genetic material would be a good thing in your case! I'll ping Caryn - I'm sure she has a better handle on the current studies.

I'm glad to "see" you again - we'll be here no matter what you decide!

[princesspurr]

Thanks! I also used to run aftertheloss.com, so some people might remember me from that. Right now if just redirects to this site because it got to be a little to much for me to maintain.
I have a mthfr gene mutation, not sure which one... But the doc said no hormonal birth control for me, so I don't know if that narrows it down. I have no history of high blood pressure other then when I had preeclampsia. My mom did not have preeclampsia but she did have a very hard time getting pregnant (10 years of trying). My Grandmother swelled really bad when she had my dad, they thought they were going to loss her. She said she had to take epson salt and stay on bedrest at the end. Soooo that kind of sounds like preeclampisa to me.
To make this more interesting new husband and ex are totally opposite. Ex was on anti-depressants, new hubby is on blood pressure meds... ex was english/irish/german... new is puerto rican... ex was a year older, new hubby is two years younger, ex did physical work, new hubby is a post office supervisor. So if the daddy has anything to do with it we are in a whole new world.
My first pregnancy was so easy until 24 weeks, which scares me. The preeclampsia came out of no where and got bad fast. I went to every doc appointment... had every test I was supposed to have done done, didn't eat or drink anything I wasn't supposed to while pregnant, never missed a vitamin... so needless to say I'm very scared.
Is an MFM the same as a perinatal doc? I know me OBGYN said I would be seeing one of those if I were to get pregnant. I also have IBS... so I don't know if that has anything effect on anything.
Thank you for the advice, I really want to figure this out so I can be successful this time. It is so hard to watch everyone else have babies so easily and me have to explain to the new hubby why if I get pregnant it is going to be different... I don't want a baby shower until after the baby is home safe, I'm not going to be super excited I'm going to be totally focused on what ever the doc tells me to do and caution.

[angieb]

Welcome back! Good luck with your decision and definitely talk to a good mfm if not more than 1.

With our first, I developed hellp at 23 wks (normal bp and no protein), they never found an underlying condition in my case. We tried again and got pregnant about a year later-this time I started the pregnancy overweight as the baby weight from the first time never really quite fell off- we did LDA and lovenox (one mfm said yes try lovenox, another said absolutely not, so I kinda had to go with my gut on that), and delivered a healthy boy at 36+2 (due to prior classical c-section- no pre-e or hellp.) So it's definitely possible to have a much better pregnancy even after getting sick very early.

[princesspurr]

Thank you! I hope that is the case for us. I see there is a lot of hope... so I hope I'm one of the lucky ones

[blythe]

Val, here's an old post with a lot of good information about MTHFR viewtopic.php?f=85&t=40425&p=231954&hilit=mthfr#p231954

and yes, MFM and perinatologist are the same thing, here's a link to find one in your area - https://smfm.org/default.cfm - I've been told that you're likely to get better results if you just put in your state. Especially look for docs who have hypertensive issues in pregnancy listed in their interests.

Also, we can't share doctor names on the forums, but if you'll share what state you're in other members might be able to make suggestions via private messaging.

Your family history is really interesting and a little scary, I really hope the "different dad" will make a good difference in your case!

Autoimmune disorders can be correlated with increased risk of preeclampsia - I believe IBS can be considered an autoimmune condition?

I know this is a lot of information - I hope it's helpful!

[princesspurr]

I see the MFM I say after I got out of the hosp on the list. I liked him, so maybe I will see if I can have a consult. almost 7 years ago he told me baby aspirin, folic acid and extra vitamins. I remember seeing hexagonal pattern lupus anti detected on my blood work at the hosp but no one every told me what it meant. I will have to see if I can find my old records and see exactly what it said. Not that I want to have an under lying problem, but at least if there was something they could aim to work with or around I would feel like we are working towards something and not just hoping things don't go horrible wrong again.