New-Need Advice-long

[nicky]

Hello. Im new to the site and so happy that I found it. I gave birth to my son 8 months ago. I had severe Eclampsia. I had 2 seizures and my son was born at 31 wks, 2 lbs, 8 ounces. I keep thinking about eventully having another child. I have infertilty issues and it took 7 months of heavy infertilty drugs and lots of stress to get pregnant then I developed the Eclampsia..It was a extremely hard road from beginning to end.I was so happy to even get pregnant then the Eclampsia happened. Id love to try to have another baby but Im not sure if I should. It was so hard to even get pregnant and after the severe Eclampsia, I feel so lucky to have a healthy child..Its such a hard thing to even think about. Id love to hear from anyone with advice or issues like mine. Thanks for listening..

[sjs40]

Hi Nicky. Like you I have infertility problems, I have pcos, and have tried for years to get pregnant. I finally became pregnant totally out of the blue without any treatment earlier this year. I knew pcos made miscarriage more likely, so I couldnt really relax until after 24 wks when I knew babies were viable. A nuchal scan at 12wks gave me a 1 in 29 risk of Downs syndrome (Trisomy 21), but I declined invasive tests as I could not risk them causing a miscarriage and I would not have chosen to terminate the pregnancy anyway. I got severe pre-eclampsia at 26+4 and was admitted to hospital. 3 days later I had a scan and Doppler which showed the baby had stopped growing and the placenta was failing. I had an emergency c-section that same day, at 27wks and Ellie arrived weighing just 1lb 4oz, but kicking and crying. She was amazing, and didnt ever have ventilation! She was doing really well, we got to cuddle her, help with tube feeding and to change her nappies, and we were expecting to bring her home around her due date. Suddenly she got ill with NEC and we lost her 2 days later. Ellie was just 27 days old. She did have Downs btw.

We have the same thoughts as you...especially as we lost our lovely little girl. We felt so lucky that I was able to get pregnant after all, then we were lucky that she was so well for such a tiny baby with Downs, then it was all taken away. At least we were able to get to know her and she got to know us, we were luckier than some. We want to try again, but there are several issues here...I am now 40yrs old for a start! I have infertility problems, pcos causes problems in itself, and Downs is a possibility again due to my age and a previous Downs baby (that is the least of our worries here). My consultant says I would be seen by a high-risk unit every 2wks from when pregnancy confirmed, then every wk after 20wks. This is encouraging, but, of course, I actually need to get pregnant first....and can we cope with the stress of that, to then have the worry of pre-eclampsia possibly happening again?
I would love to discuss this further....
Sorry this is such a long reply!
Sue

[annegarrett]

Dear Sue and Nicky,

I am so sorry for both of your difficult journeys--both from conception and the tough pregnancies. I am glad you found us--we have a lot of success stories. One of our co-founders had severe HELLP then had a baby who had Downs who she lost and had a subsequent pregnancy that ended at near term with a healthy girl this past January. Some women will have lots of trouble whereas others will sail through--it is so hard to know.

We strongly encourage you meet with a doctor who specializes in hypertension in pregnancy and is a high risk pregnancy doctor or perinatologist for a preconception consult. To find one near you--check out the following website under Addresses: www.nasshp.org If there is no one near you--let us know and we will check around for someone else. There is a big difference between an OB and a perinatologist with experience with this disease.

There also appears to be a very strong link between PCOS and preeclampsia and also an strong link between diabetes, excess weight and PCOS, so our physicians recommend if you have had PCOS that prior to conception (if this is one of your risk factors) that you get any diabetes or excess weight issues under control as that will reduce your risk of PCOS and preeclampsia related complications. Also, there is a strong correlation between women who have a positive AFP or amnio (indicating any genetic abnormalities) and preeclampsia. A good perinatologist will recognize that your positive test is a warning that you will develop preeclampsia and will do what they can to keep you and the baby safe. Unfortunately, that is very little, particularly so early in the pregnancy.

The best thing to do is get armed with a great deal of information and to be sure your body is in the best possible condition to have a pregnancy. Within reason we recommend the following:

Waiting 1 full year after the loss of a baby before conceiving again
Reducing one's BMI to less than 30%. Some doctors discourage attempting pregnancy with greater than 35% BMI.
Getting any diabetes under control
If doing IVF--multiple gestations increase your risk of preeclampsia exponentially
Prepregnancy consultation with a perinatologist from the NASSHP
Getting any hypertension, or autoimmune disorder under control
Testing for certain thrombophilias (Factor V Leiden, MWTHR, etc...)
If available--Cardiac Output monitoring (Doppler scan)

Best of luck to you and do let us know how you are doing. I am glad our site could be of some help--you both have had a really tough time of it.

Take care,



Anne Garrett
Executive Director
Preeclampsia Foundation