pregnant and heart conditions?

[katieeandbump]

does anyone here have a heart condition who is pregnant?? i have a hole in my heart and arrythmias and had a baby one and a half years ago... feel alot worse now than i did then and was just wondering if anyone is going through the same fear? im only just 4 weeks today xxx

 

[lesbianlove]

hi hun i also was born with a hole in my heart due to being 16 weeks premature, this is my third pregnancy and thev all been fine had ecg's done and didnt suffer with breathing problems at all as i think a iv got older its just a heart murmer now im sorry i dont know what arrythmias is but hope ur pregnancy goes ok for u xx

 

[SpunkyMunkey]

I had a huge hole in my heart that was not discovered until last April, surgically corrected last Sepetember and in March I was given the all clear to do whatever I want. I was told not to get pregnant with my hole, but like I said, it was really big! I was having a hard time breathing just walking across the room, and whatnot. The doctor who fixed it told me it was the largest he had ever seen, and he works on 100+ of these/year. I am guessing if you've never had to have yours corrected, it probably isn't anywhere near the severity of what mine was. I would also think your doctors would've told you not to get pregnant if it was going to be really bad for your heart.

Since it's been corrected, I've still had blood pressure issues, because my heart will stop suddenly for about 3 seconds when I stand up too fast, so I almost pass out, but they told me not to worry about that, as long as I'm not actually passing out. I have noticed that increase since becoming pregnant, but I still haven't passed out, so I try not to worry about it (not always successfully!).

Sorry for writing a book, most of which was probably not really helpful, but good luck! Hopefully, since your prior pregnancy went alright, this one will be fine, too!

 

[katieeandbump]

I had a huge hole in my heart that was not discovered until last April, surgically corrected last Sepetember and in March I was given the all clear to do whatever I want. I was told not to get pregnant with my hole, but like I said, it was really big! I was having a hard time breathing just walking across the room, and whatnot. The doctor who fixed it told me it was the largest he had ever seen, and he works on 100+ of these/year. I am guessing if you've never had to have yours corrected, it probably isn't anywhere near the severity of what mine was. I would also think your doctors would've told you not to get pregnant if it was going to be really bad for your heart.

Since it's been corrected, I've still had blood pressure issues, because my heart will stop suddenly for about 3 seconds when I stand up too fast, so I almost pass out, but they told me not to worry about that, as long as I'm not actually passing out. I have noticed that increase since becoming pregnant, but I still haven't passed out, so I try not to worry about it (not always successfully!).

Sorry for writing a book, most of which was probably not really helpful, but good luck! Hopefully, since your prior pregnancy went alright, this one will be fine, too!

Thanks for ur reply sorry to hear about your hole too but yeh mines pretty bad too as I'm still underinvestigation.. I get chest pains on standing my heart beats upto 200 amin and I'm breathless all the time. I was told going on the pill was not an option for me so as u can see pregnancy was also not one this is why I'm so worried I have an appointment in a week with my cardiologist and I'm going to discuss everything with him as I'm quite frightened atm for my babys life and for my own during pregnancy and labour thankyou so much for ur reply how did they come about to find ur hole? Xxxxxx

 

[SpunkyMunkey]

Thanks for ur reply sorry to hear about your hole too but yeh mines pretty bad too as I'm still underinvestigation.. I get chest pains on standing my heart beats upto 200 amin and I'm breathless all the time. I was told going on the pill was not an option for me so as u can see pregnancy was also not one this is why I'm so worried I have an appointment in a week with my cardiologist and I'm going to discuss everything with him as I'm quite frightened atm for my babys life and for my own during pregnancy and labour thankyou so much for ur reply how did they come about to find ur hole? Xxxxxx

They found mine because I had been having weird palpatations for a while, and finally one night it was racing for over an hour and then was irregular for another 45 minutes. My mom wanted me to go to the ER, but my husband wasn't home and I didn't want to drive myself, in case something happened, and I didn't think it was serious enough to need an ambulance. But it freaked my husband out enough that he made me go see a doctor. And that doctor did an EKG, showing the right side of my heart was enlarged, so she sent me to get an echocardiogram. And that showed a hole that was about 1/2 an inch across. I went to a specialist to have it closed, and when they did THAT echo (a transesophageal echo, so it was looking from the back of the heart, I guess) it showed that the hole was over an inch across. Pretty much they were amazed that I did as well as I did over my life, physically. But I also had a lot of things going on that I didn't realize weren't normal. Like, I couldn't go swimming without feeling really breathless, like there was a lot of pressure on my chest. And my hands and feet would get tingly when I would run/exercise. And I was usually short of breath, I just didn't know it, because that was my "normal" and I couldn't tell until it was fixed and knew what it was like to be able to breath.

I hope you can get everything figured out and you and your baby are okay! I don't know if you are a religious sort of person, so if this means anything to you, but I'll keep you and your baby in my prayers. It's scary enough when you're not pregnant!

 

[katieeandbump]

Thanks for ur reply sorry to hear about your hole too but yeh mines pretty bad too as I'm still underinvestigation.. I get chest pains on standing my heart beats upto 200 amin and I'm breathless all the time. I was told going on the pill was not an option for me so as u can see pregnancy was also not one this is why I'm so worried I have an appointment in a week with my cardiologist and I'm going to discuss everything with him as I'm quite frightened atm for my babys life and for my own during pregnancy and labour thankyou so much for ur reply how did they come about to find ur hole? Xxxxxx

They found mine because I had been having weird palpatations for a while, and finally one night it was racing for over an hour and then was irregular for another 45 minutes. My mom wanted me to go to the ER, but my husband wasn't home and I didn't want to drive myself, in case something happened, and I didn't think it was serious enough to need an ambulance. But it freaked my husband out enough that he made me go see a doctor. And that doctor did an EKG, showing the right side of my heart was enlarged, so she sent me to get an echocardiogram. And that showed a hole that was about 1/2 an inch across. I went to a specialist to have it closed, and when they did THAT echo (a transesophageal echo, so it was looking from the back of the heart, I guess) it showed that the hole was over an inch across. Pretty much they were amazed that I did as well as I did over my life, physically. But I also had a lot of things going on that I didn't realize weren't normal. Like, I couldn't go swimming without feeling really breathless, like there was a lot of pressure on my chest. And my hands and feet would get tingly when I would run/exercise. And I was usually short of breath, I just didn't know it, because that was my "normal" and I couldn't tell until it was fixed and knew what it was like to be able to breath.

I hope you can get everything figured out and you and your baby are okay! I don't know if you are a religious sort of person, so if this means anything to you, but I'll keep you and your baby in my prayers. It's scary enough when you're not pregnant!

Thank you again for ur reply! Seems like u had a hard time with urs but I'm glad its fixed. Iv experienced the breathlesness and palps too since I can remember and the doctos all used to say I was 'anxious' and went through my 1st labour with noone knowing what was up with me so I counted myself very lucky through that labour, luckily it was a quick one but I'm just wondering now if I do need an op they can perform its whilst pregnant? I'm worried about telling my cardiologist and what's he's going to say. And thakyou so much that's lovely. Xxxx

 

[Eternal]

my friend has cardio myopathy (not sure if thats how you spell it), its the cause of sudden adult death, she was told not to bget pregnant, but she did twice, she had to be carefuly moitored throughout and had to have sections as they didnt think her heart would tolerate labour, but she did fantastically both times, infact i have never seen someone recover so quick from a section.

I think in most cases you heart will just be monitored during labour and you should be able to tolerate a natural birth, i worked on a cardac unit and people with wholes in their hearts are really common, so i wouldnt be too worried, hopfully you will have extra monitoring once your in your second trimester. you may get extra tired etc.

 

[katieeandbump]

my friend has cardio myopathy (not sure if thats how you spell it), its the cause of sudden adult death, she was told not to bget pregnant, but she did twice, she had to be carefuly moitored throughout and had to have sections as they didnt think her heart would tolerate labour, but she did fantastically both times, infact i have never seen someone recover so quick from a section.

I think in most cases you heart will just be monitored during labour and you should be able to tolerate a natural birth, i worked on a cardac unit and people with wholes in their hearts are really common, so i wouldnt be too worried, hopfully you will have extra monitoring once your in your second trimester. you may get extra tired etc.

Aww thankyou so much for ur reply makes me feel a lot easier! I'm sure we used to speak when we were both last expecting! Haha hope ur well xxx