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Baby has ectopic heartbeat - anyone know anything about this?

8 replies

AnnaAsh · 06/08/2009 14:28

Hi, I am 23 weeks pregnant and I had a midwife appointment on Tuesday. She checked the baby's heart rate and said it sounded irregular so sent me for a scan. I've since had another with a consultant, and have an appointment with a heart specialist in the morning. Apparently there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the structure of the baby's heart but it has extra beats. The consultant told me it often goes away on its own before the baby is born - but of course I'm worried sick. Has anyone heard of this before?

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mogend77 · 06/08/2009 14:48

I have heard of it before but don't know much about it other than I did hear what you have heard which is that is it usually resolved before birth.

Hope you get some more helpful answers soon.

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Skimty · 06/08/2009 19:37

I had this with DD last year. It was all fine although I couldn't have my homebirth and my consultant was a bit of a dick.

I'm about to pop out now so I haven't got time to post properly but I just wanted to bookmark this.

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Skimty · 07/08/2009 20:11

Okay. We were referred to St George's at Tooting when we had regular scans all of which showed their were no problems with structure of heart etc.

DD was born in the MLU (after much battling with consultant who wanted me to have an on back etc. birth). Their was supposed to be a paediatrician present at the birth but it all happened a bit too quickly so paed didn't see her until 10 mins after birth. She had a ECG the day after birth before we were discharged and everything was fine.

It's really horrible though. I think the sound of a heartbeat is so comforting and reassuring that hearing it skipping is really disturbing.

HTH

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May67 · 08/08/2009 21:38

Hi- not sure if it's helpful at all but I suffer from ventricular ectopic heartbeats. I'm 24 and they started when I was around 19. I have had numerous traces, echos and monitors and my heart is completely structurally normal, the cardiologists were happy to tell me they were absolutely nothing to worry about.

Obviously any irregular beats need to be checked out thoroughly but ectopics are incredibly common, up to 60% of the population are thought to suffer from them, even top athletes. I'm curently 38 weeks with no 2, and pregnancy is one of the biggest strains you can pt on your heart! I hope everything works out well for you.

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redboxer · 08/08/2009 21:59

I was told my DS had ectopic beat and was monitored several times before my induction then they didn't seem that concerned. When he was born he had the cord wrapped round his neck which could have been the problem, but he passed all the checks.

I did read up on it beforehand and most websites say it's something that generally goes away once the baby is born.

I'm sure they will be monitoring you now so try not to worry.

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AnnaAsh · 10/08/2009 15:13

Thanks everyone for the messages - really helpful. I had my appointment on Friday with the specialist, and she really put my mind at rest. She confirmed the structure and function of the heart is fine, and she expects the irregularity to resolve itself before the baby is born, or shortly afterwards.
I think sometimes it's quite easy to get into a spiral of panicing about these things because it sounds scary and was so out of my control. Anyway, fingers crossed all is ok.
xxx

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DottyDot · 10/08/2009 15:17

Hi - I've got ventricular and atrial ectopic heartbeats - probably had them all my life and after lots of tests it's all fine and just how my heart beats!

Fingers crossed this is something that will either go away once baby is born or be completely usual for your baby.