Any preeclampsia mommies?

[Ashley8806]

Just wondering, if you had preeclampsia in your pregnancy, are you going to try again for another?

Or if you had it once, did you have it again?

Just curious I would love another one but am scared they will say I can't since I was diagnosed with severe preeclampsia this time around. It makes me cry almost every day knowing I may never get to experience pregnancy and a new baby again

 

[miss h]

Heya - I had pre-eclampsia and a major bleed after the birth but I plan on having another in a few years time. You are not a dead cert to have pre-eclampsia again. My co-worker's wife had it with the first but not the second.

 

[Ashley8806]

thanks - yeah with my first i had really high blood pressure but not preeclampsia, but with this one my liver was shutting down and was diagnosed with severe preeclampsia. So I'm just scared if it got worse this time, it will even get worse next time, but I dont know the statistics

 

[miss h]

thanks - yeah with my first i had really high blood pressure but not preeclampsia, but with this one my liver was shutting down and was diagnosed with severe preeclampsia. So I'm just scared if it got worse this time, it will even get worse next time, but I dont know the statistics

aww hun - totally understand why you would be nervous about trying again. Statistically you are more likely to develop pre-eclampsia than someone who has not had it not sure by how much. Think the best thing to do is have a chat with your OBGYN (I take it you're in the USA).

 

[supertabby]

I had HELLP Syndrome which is a rare severe form of pre-eclampsia, it affects your liver which I don't think normal PE does? So maybe you had the same?

Mine was late onset (I was 6 days overdue when it started, after a perfect pregnancy with no high bp etc). I asked for a referral to speak to a specialist at the hospital and had my appointment a few weeks ago. She said it was hard to be accurate but in my personal situation she would estimate around a 10% chance of reoccurance, and she thought if I did get it again it would likely be late on again (my fear was a premature birth). They would manage it with more frequent check ups and aspirin daily from my bfp to birth, and I would probably have an induction (or planned section if I choose) just before full term. She talked in terms of PE and not just specifically HELLP.

I found it quite reassuring from a medical perspective but I still now have to get my head around if I want a newborn again!

 

[Ashley8806]

Thank you- I will for sure be having a discussion with her. Just curious as my appt isn't until December.

 

[Ashley8806]

I had HELLP Syndrome which is a rare severe form of pre-eclampsia, it affects your liver which I don't think normal PE does? So maybe you had the same?

Mine was late onset (I was 6 days overdue when it started, after a perfect pregnancy with no high bp etc). I asked for a referral to speak to a specialist at the hospital and had my appointment a few weeks ago. She said it was hard to be accurate but in my personal situation she would estimate around a 10% chance of reoccurance, and she thought if I did get it again it would likely be late on again (my fear was a premature birth). They would manage it with more frequent check ups and aspirin daily from my bfp to birth, and I would probably have an induction (or planned section if I choose) just before full term. She talked in terms of PE and not just specifically HELLP.

I found it quite reassuring from a medical perspective but I still now have to get my head around if I want a newborn again!

I'm guessing that is what I had too - things just happened so quickly we didn't really discuss the specifics, so I'm sure we will at my appt. Mine was born at 36 weeks and had to stay in the NICU for 10 days, so I'm scared of having a premie as well. I'm just worried it would happen earlier next time

 

[supertabby]

Hope the doctor is helpful, I was worried we would get fobbed off but actual the discussion was very helpful.

That must've been awful for you, seeing your lo in that situation. How is she now? I think we were very lucky that Isobel was already full term, so while it wasn't the birth I expected and was very scary the doctors were never really worried about her, relatively speaking, they were more bothered about my health. I didn't realise it at the time though, I remember them telling me I had to have an emergency c-section and I kept saying "fine, just do whatever is best for the baby". I've felt sorry for myself about it but sounds like you went through worse

 

[Ashley8806]

Hope the doctor is helpful, I was worried we would get fobbed off but actual the discussion was very helpful.

That must've been awful for you, seeing your lo in that situation. How is she now? I think we were very lucky that Isobel was already full term, so while it wasn't the birth I expected and was very scary the doctors were never really worried about her, relatively speaking, they were more bothered about my health. I didn't realise it at the time though, I remember them telling me I had to have an emergency c-section and I kept saying "fine, just do whatever is best for the baby". I've felt sorry for myself about it but sounds like you went through worse

She is doing good now, thank you Breastfeeding is a little tricky as she is little and gets tired easy, but otherwise doing good. I know what you mean about not really thinking about yourself - I was upset because I was trying for a VBAC and had to have the c-section instead to get her out quickliy, and was upset about that, but never once thought about how it was affecting me. I just keep telling myself it could have been worse, which is also what I'm afraid of if we have another one!

 

[ermm23a]

I had HELLP and had emergency C-section at 33 weeks. I was able to get one round of the steroid shots before they had to take him (Due to elevated liver enzymes). My son was only 3 lbs at birth and spent a month in the NICU before he could come home.

My doctor said I am at risk of this happening again in future pregnancies and that if I do decide to try for another I will be monitored a lot more closely.

The preemie in the bed beside mine in the NICU died while mine was back there. So it really hit home to me how lucky we were that our son lived and has no major complications. Right now DH and I are thinking we are not going to try for another. I could not handle losing a child, and now that I know I'm at a higher risk for complications I do not think I am going to risk it again.

 

[SaraAbi]

I had severe pre-e in my last pregnancy and and currently 29wks pregnant again. I missed the chance to take low dose aspirin as my first consultant appointment was too late, but have been swing the midwife every 2wks to have bp and urine checked since 25wks and from 32wks will be weekly, got consultant again this week then in 5wks and 2wks after that not sure when after that.
My bp has been a bit up and down but never over the 80's and at the moment tends to be between 62/76ish which is pretty good and baby is measuring a week ahead so no worries there either yet as Abi had stopped growing. I do feel like they are taking good care of me this time, we were pretty scared too but spoke to a midwife councillor and she made us feel at ease about having another one.

 

[tina3747]

I had HELLP Syndrome which is a rare severe form of pre-eclampsia, it affects your liver which I don't think normal PE does? So maybe you had the same?

Mine was late onset (I was 6 days overdue when it started, after a perfect pregnancy with no high bp etc). I asked for a referral to speak to a specialist at the hospital and had my appointment a few weeks ago. She said it was hard to be accurate but in my personal situation she would estimate around a 10% chance of reoccurance, and she thought if I did get it again it would likely be late on again (my fear was a premature birth). They would manage it with more frequent check ups and aspirin daily from my bfp to birth, and I would probably have an induction (or planned section if I choose) just before full term. She talked in terms of PE and not just specifically HELLP.

I found it quite reassuring from a medical perspective but I still now have to get my head around if I want a newborn again!

I didn't get pre ecampsia, the eclampsia started after my contractions kicked in. My best friend is a midwife and the first thing she assked me the following day was if I had helpp syndrome.the doctors never diagnosed me with that, all they said was it ws eclampsia.??
My bp was high through labour but they were more concerned about my liver enzymes being high.. They said 300 was the norm and mine were over 5000. I was continuously tested every hour and even after giving birth they carried on getting a little higher where they said they should have settled by then. Had an emergency scan the following day, liver did show abnormal but not enough to worry about.
I spent 3 days in icu after my bp rising to 198/118 , I was on a huge concoction of neffedipine and labetelol and had to have an emergency magnesium sulphate drip!! 6 months on I'm still on labetelol, never had bp probs before!!

 

[supertabby]

As far as I know elevated liver enzymes is specific to HELLP. I think pre-eclampsia or eclampsia is just high blood pressure and HELLP is the high blood pressure plus elevated liver enzymes and low platelet count in the blood. I might be wrong though. I had a general because my platelet count was too low for a spinal to be safe.

I too had the magnesium sulphate, I had a massive shot of it before I went down to theatre and it was the most unpleasant thing I've ever felt - it was like my blood was literally on fire, I could feel it radiating out from where the needle went in my hand through my whole body. I threw up loads because of the horrible sensation. I then had the magnesium sulphate on iv after but it was more slow and steady so easier to take, but having fluid intake limited was tough, especially when its so hot in the maternity hospital!

 

[mamalove]

I had pre-eclampsia alongside many other other problems with my twin girls 2 and half years ago,i was induced at 35 weeks and went on to have another baby quite soon and had no problems whatsoever. good luck x

 

[mamalove]

also,i think pre-eclampsia is most common in first pregnancies,and i know there's a chance of it happening again but it does go drastically down after first baby, at least that's what my consultant told me.

 

[tina3747]

As far as I know elevated liver enzymes is specific to HELLP. I think pre-eclampsia or eclampsia is just high blood pressure and HELLP is the high blood pressure plus elevated liver enzymes and low platelet count in the blood. I might be wrong though. I had a general because my platelet count was too low for a spinal to be safe.

I too had the magnesium sulphate, I had a massive shot of it before I went down to theatre and it was the most unpleasant thing I've ever felt - it was like my blood was literally on fire, I could feel it radiating out from where the needle went in my hand through my whole body. I threw up loads because of the horrible sensation. I then had the magnesium sulphate on iv after but it was more slow and steady so easier to take, but having fluid intake limited was tough, especially when its so hot in the maternity hospital!

Jeez that mag sulphate!! The midwife said you might feel a bit warm.... Frickin warm?!?!? I honestly thought my blood was boiling! I said Really is this normal in my panicked state, my bodys on fire!
They pumped that manually into me for an hour.. Was a nightmare!!

LO screamed the whole time as I was bresdfeeding and obviously couldn't while all this was happening. He ended up being cup fed formula and after that I was so scared all the drugs would affect him I had midwives ringing pharmasists and paeds to check if I was still il to carry on. I only did 6 weeks altogether but was very proud of myself that even with 4 drips, bp monitor, heart rate monitor, catheta and 2 of the most painful canulas ever I still managed to carry on!! Lovely feeling when your baby grabs onto your lines and tugs onto the canulas.!! Ouch!!

 

[Ashley8806]

I had to have magnesium as well, but was on the IV of it for 24 hours after birth. It never really affected me though, so it must be a bit different than what they gave you ladies.

Since this was my 2nd pregnancy and it happened it makes me nervousmore than if it was my first :-/

 

[moonbeam_sea]

I had mild preeclampsia with my son at 39 weeks 1 day. As soon as they recognized it they brought me in for an induction as I was at term so it didn’t have time to get bad, thankfully. I didn’t get it at all with my daughter even though I went to 41 weeks with her. They paid a bit more attention to me the second time, but it all turned out well.