How do odds change from #2 to #3?

[danielsmom]

LOL... no, I'm not pregnant, not trying, not even sure if we'll ever go there again. But yes, its in the back of my mind... just sort of wondering what others have experienced and the medical opinions they've received. We're probably done and happy about that. I'm soooo thankful to have the family that we have. Natalie was born 3 months ago full term and is healthy. We're enjoying every moment.

I never became chronically hypertensive after my son's birth. I'm in good health, other than the 20 pounds post-baby I'd like to lose but it's slowly coming off. Our biggest "issue" with Natalie's pregnancy was borderline low fluid the last few weeks, but we hung in there. My BP was great throughout and I didn't spill any protein to speak of. I just turned 34. Is the general MFM-ish opinion for #3 pretty optimistic? More so because I've responded well in pregnancy #2 to treatment? My OB thinks so. He sort of thinks we cracked the code last time and we'd handle a subsequent pregnancy the same way. Eeeesh... I don't know. I'm kind of glad it's over.

I know anything can happen, but I wonder if there's a general change in your risk from #2 to #3. And how long are you recommended to wait?

[cmccaffrey]

SO in the back of my mind as well!

Jean had a similar post a while back.
http://www.preeclampsia.org/forum/viewt ... 12&t=45174

[julieb]

I am currently pregnant with #3 so I hope the odds are good I talked with my MFM before trying for #3 and he felt because #2 went SO much better than #1 that #3 would have better odds of going well. I was on Lovenox for #2 and he feels that I responded well to it and that is the reason I got to 36 weeks with #2. I did end up delivering because my daughter was small at 36 weeks and with a mature amnio we decided to deliver instead of waiting for PE to occur again, but the only sign was that my BP was slightly increased and baby's growth was low but baby was healthy and so was I. My MFM is pretty sure I will have some sort of BP issue this time but he was confident we could get a similar outcome to #2 this time around. I feel so crazy that I even wanted to go through all of this again, but I love my kids I always joke that I would be another Michelle Duggar if I didn't have so many complications

[angieb]

My OB and MFM thought my odds were about the same (not great, like 12% for HELLP, 70% for pre-e, b/c of how early and severely I got sick the first time.) Their reasoning was that my first pregnancy was *so bad*, even though my second pregnancy was relatively healthy and resulted in a very healthy DS, they have no concrete reason why #2 went so well and #1 went so bad. (Only PCOS-very mild PCOS- as an underlying condition that they can find.) So I think they just preferred to be cautious. On the bright side, breastfeeding was awesome for me weight wise and I went into pregnancy 3 smaller than I was for pregnancy #2 by 15ish pounds. (But the same weight I was for pregnancy #1).

Happy to report I'm 30 weeks on Friday, done with lovenox already, baby is growing very well, everything seems to be normal (normal quad screen which was abnormal my first pregnancy), no symptoms or issues so far. Unlike pregnancy #2, I don't even have gestational diabetes this time!

[danielsmom]

Interesting...

angieb - how cool that you don't have to deal with GD this time! I'm so happy you've made it this far and hope the road keeps staying smooth. I can't believe you're 30 weeks already... seems like we just found out you were expecting.

julieb - I can relate to the Michelle Dugger comment! Being a mom is the best thing...