My first post after A LOT of reading

[midwestmom]

Hello, this is my first post on the forum after reading many posts since the birth of my son over 2 years ago at 29+2 weeks. Here is a little bit about my pre-e story: at 28 weeks I did a 24hr urine test at my monthly exam when I gained 12 lbs in one month. it showed mild pre-e levels of protein, and when I went back to the obgyn to discuss the results, I was hospitalized at 29 weeks due to increasing bp's and protein spillage. After 2 days in the hospital, I delivered my son via emergency c-section, my son was 3lbs. He had a relatively event-less 8 week stay in the NICU (although NO NICU stay is event-less), and is now a happy and healthy almost 3 year old. I stayed in the hospital to get my bp under control, was released on bp meds and readmitted 2 days later with seizure-level bps and got mag sulfate again to bring my bp down.

a year ago my husband and I decided that if we were going to ttc again, that we'd need to be in better shape, I was 50lbs overweight since the birth of my son. So we got healthy and I lost almost all of the weight, met with the MFM and was told that our chance of recurrence was 20%. Then we got hit with shocking news - my husband was diagnosed with a rare terminal illness. 6months later, a couple of trips to Mayo clinic and 40lbs of weight gain on my part later, we discovered that he had been completely mis-diagnosed and does not have a terminal illness but is in fact a healthy 36 year old man. Whew!

And here I am. Still wanting to ttc, and seeing this as my only chance to do so because I am now 37 years old, I was 35 when I delivered my son. I am determined, frightened, hopeful, discouraged and very teary about the whole thing - so kind of a big mess! I still get concerned about my son occasionally, even though I get reassured at every pediatrician visit that he is completely healthy, I am still on the look-out for developmental problems from being born early. I even enrolled him in speech therapy despite my pediatrician telling me it's not necessary.

I guess I'm posting this EXTREMELY long post because I started reading posts on this board all of the time since deciding to consider ttc again, and I gain so much comfort in reading other's experiences. I just want to say hello, and that I'm in on this pre-e thing too. I am very grateful for this board and the support and information it gives!

[tree]

Hello and welcome to the boards. Thanks for sharing your story. It sounds like you had a crazy roller coaster of a year. I am glad that you are all healthy now.
Your words, "determined, frightened, hopeful, discouraged and very teary about the whole thing" describe how many of us feel about TTC again. It is a tough decision. Keep posting. We will do our best to help you work it out.
If it helps, you probably don't have to worry as much about your weight gain unless your doctor is concerned about it. I lost some weight so I could be in the best possible shape if we do decide to TTC again. My doctor thinks that in my case weight loss certainly can't hurt, but it probably won't help much either. There are a bunch of discussions on here about weight loss before another pregnancy. Some posters lost the weight and got sick anyway (some were healthy). Some posters went into a second pregnancy much heavier than their first and stayed PE free (some of them got sick too).

[midwestmom]

Teresa,
Thanks so much for your response. I'm meeting with my MFM for a second time since last year in a couple of weeks and have composed a list of questions for him that I didn't touch on before. I do remember, after I told him at our first ttc mtg that I had lost all of this weight in preparation for pregnancy, he said it wouldn't change my chances of developing it again, but it doesn't hurt. At our first meeting he said that he will want me to start on LDA and that was it in terms of what I could do differently next time around. Since having my son, I have developed mild hypothyroidism for which I am taking the low dose levothyroxin. I;m going to ask the MFM if he thinks he should follow me for the hypothyroidism during pregnancy, or an endocrinologist, or my primary care doc who's an internist.
I'll keep you posted on what happens at the meeting!

[tree]

Good luck with your MFM! Hypothyroidism is definitely a risk factor for preeclampsia, and many women need to adjust their medication during pregnancy. One of our moderators (alviarin) is extremely knowledgable about thyroid issues. She posted this new guideline for thyroid testing in pregnancy a few months ago. It might be a good idea to discuss this with your MFM.
http://www.preeclampsia.org/forum/viewt ... 20&t=44473
She posted more information about thyroid issues during pregnancy here:
http://www.preeclampsia.org/forum/viewt ... 89#p349889 (scroll up if I got the link to the last post).