I had pre-e (and HELLP) with my first pregnancy and delivered at 28 weeks, therefore was considered high risk for subsequent pregnancies I had to have a pre-conception appointment for the second one (which we actually did well before we considered trying, because I wanted to guage risk). If they haven't told you to have a pre-conception appointment or to make contact with the hospital (not the gp, or midwife team) as soon as you get a positive test, then they don't consider you high risk, which should be reassuring in and of itself. Below advice is what I remember being told, I'm not a medic so don't take this as medical advice, just someone who spent a lot of time in hospital and has had 2 micro preemies.
What I was told was:
My consultant had never lost a mum to pre-e in a subsequent pregnancy, nor did he know of any loss to pre-e in the NHS group he was in in a 2nd or further pregnancy for the simple reason that if you are considered high risk they watch you like a hawk. I had twice weekly monitoring from 20 weeks, as well as weekly scans.
He advised me either to have the second pregnancy within 2 years of the first, or to do a 3-6 month 'dramatic' weight loss and exercise routine prior to the second pregnancy to loose weight fast (bear in mind I was bmi 24 so not overweight). The reason for both of these is that when you are pregnant your blood volume increases, so the vessels dilate to accomodate that additional volume. This is why many women see a decrease in their blood pressure in the second trimester. So by falling pregnant quickly I could piggy back on already having that dilation still going back to it's normal size to keep my pressure lower for longer. Rapid weight loss and exercise could trigger a similar effect but rapid was the key ( I went from just under 11 stone to just over 8 in 4 months).
I should be clear being overweight has been shown to have only a small impact on likelihood to develop pre-e, it cannot be controlled through diet (although vitamin D and calcium supplementation has shown some small success in clinical trials), the reason I was advised to loose weight was the dilation of the blood vessels and the time it takes them to contract, not for my weight generally.
Because I developed pre-e early and fast (went from first +1 protein to full HELLP and +4 protein within 4 days) my chances of getting it again were high, but it would likely be after 30 weeks and more slow to develop.
If you have remained on anti hypertensives after your pregnancy then it is now essential hypertension, not just pre-e, so this does increase the chance of developing pre-e again. If you have managed to come off them and you developed pre-e after 34 weeks then your risk of developing pre-e a second time is only about 10% higher than any other pregnant lady.
The dose of anti-hypertensives you had to take during pregnancy again has an impact on how likely you are to develop pre-e. A low dose of one medication is low risk, or high dose of all 3 is obviously higher.
Overall the takeaway for me is because I had it early, and severe I was likely to get it again but not until later and probably more slow to develop. If I had had it at term or early term then the liklihood is it wouldn't have impacted on a subsequent pregnancy. A very small number of women break these rules and get it earlier or more severe a second time, but he was keen to stress that it is a very very small number who don't follow this pattern.
We did have a second, I didn't develop pre-e BUT I may have done if I had gone to term, I still delivered at 30 weeks as there was an issue with the cord which was picked up very early due to my weekly scans, and in some ways pre-e saved that second pregnancy as most people with this complication don't have it picked up until after the baby has sadly passed away.
In terms of age gap, there are 5 1/2 years between my brother and I, we played together as children very happily, we weren't close as teens and we're not wildly close now, but we do love each other and I know I could depend on him. My eldest is now 9 and would LOVE another sibling, so I do think it depends on the child rather than the age gap. A large gap also means there is more chance to spread the cost of uni, activities etc, and you get to enjoy time as a parent with them separately doing what they enjoy rather than just as a 'children' collective.