High risk pregnancy club - come and calm each other as we get to 40 healthy weeks!

[MichaelaS]

Hi all

I thought that i'd start a special club for our special bumps, rather than scaring all the people on the normal antenatal threads. Anyone else out there with a high risk pregnancy?

What is your care plan and how are you doing so far?

I'm 6+2 with baby number 2 after delivering DS1 at 24+1 in May 09. He was very sick and in hospital for 5 months, then came home on oxygen and is still struggling with bad lung damage and some developmental issues. I really realy want to avoid it all again. I had a pre-conception appointment with an obstetrician who promised me a stitch at 12 weeks and progesterone. But now i've found out that the obstetrician no longer sees antenatal women and i'm very worried i might not get the care i was promised, on which i based my decision to become pregnant.

i'm likely to be on bed rest for a week or 2 after the stitch, and possibly for the rest of the pregnancy. I'll be 24 weeks exactly on new years day, so that will be something to celebrate - viability in 2012. I'd be happy with anything over about 30 weeks - but obviously 40 would be great.

So, who wants to join me? What's your history and how is yoru pregnancy going?

love Michaela

hello all! Hi and welcome hawthers and heartmoonshadow, welcome to the club!

As hawthers probably knows from my posts on Bliss, things are going well so far but still early days. I am 9+1 today. Saw the consultants at the antenatal clinic last tuesday and they are going to give me a stitch at 13 weeks then progesterone after that, which was the pre-pregnancy plan I had in place so that is good. Still nervous as hell though. OK so far because there is not much weight to the baby, but as soon as I get near 18 weeks or so I think i migth just melt. Have been referred to the mental health specialist midwives as I have a history of depression. I was asked if I wanted to be referred, and since they do home visits i jumped at the chance. Anything to be less mobile and keep the weight off the cervix.

Am having my 12w scan in 3 weeks and am quite excited.... if all goes well then that means i am allowed the stitch and that just has to go in ok and then its a waiting game.....

told my boss last week because he only got about 11 weeks warning last time from me announcing my pregnancy to me starting my sick leave which went straight into maternity leave. since i might be on bed rest from 13 weeks i thought it was only fair to give him some warning!

how is everyone else doing?

Hi All,

Had my midwife booking appointment today. Hawthers - didn't even have to ask to be seen at Mr Kametas' clinic, the midwife told me to make an appointment with him for just after the 12 week scan. She also did extra bloods - liver function and bile acids because of the problems last time.

Michaela Glad your consultants are on top of things. Hope your scan goes well and you feel a bit easier about things once that stitch is in. It's good that you've got the mental health support as well.

hello,
please can i join? i'm high risk due to pre existing medical issues, im a bit lot overweight too and was trying to lose some but world i be right in thinking its not ideal to try and lose weigh in pregnancy? i prob have as im really nausous but am currently just eating whatever i can!! i am also trying really hard not to freak out too much, my mum had lots of mc which is worrying me and my health probs put me at risk of stillbirth, heart defects, spinabifida, my placenta failing later on, to name a few so its nice to find some people who are worrying too :) i also dont want to freak out my OH as he is already shocked that im actually pregnant.
So, here's to happy, healthy pregnancies and full term, normal-ish weight babies

ps, am only 6 weeks today!

hi there,

hope you don't mind me butting in! Coming up to 23 weeks. Have low papp a so at risk of iugr/ pre-eclampsia. I did get PE last time round with DS, but thankfully fairly mildly in the end and he was induced at 38 weeks. However when he was 4 months old we discovered he had a cardiac defect so needed a major op and 6 weeks in hospital. Thankfully he is well now and discharged from all follow up. Have had cardiac scans for this pg which are thankfully all normal so can move onto worrying about iugr and pre eclampsia! Oh and both pregnancies are ivf so seem pretty amazing to me in themselves. x

Hi elliebug and tholeon - congrats and welcome to the thread. Hoping the rest of your pregnancies go smoothly and uneventfully.

How is everyone else doing?

Oh and Tholeon my DS was IVF (first one didn't work, he was a frozen embryo) but this is a spontaneous pregnancy caused by actual sex. Was quite amazed as we tried for ages for DS - only found out the probably cause (my bicornuate uterus) of the infertility when I had my casesarian.

thanks bearcrumble. I remember you giving me kind advice on the antenatal tests page! I think that there is a link between ivf pregnancies and low papp a so hopefully you should be ok this time.

tholeon what counts as a low PAPP-A? i've got a figure in my notes but haven't seen anything connecting it to PE or IUGR? can you shed any light?

hope we are all ok - got a growth scan on friday which is second big indicator of whether everything working out. have put on lots of weight since last scan so surely some of that is the baby and not all my fat bits?

hi there, average is 1, at my hospital they count as low anything below 0.3 but I think this number is higher sometimes elsewhere. There are links between low papp a and iugr/ pre-eclampsia but it is an indicator of raised risk, it doesn't mean anything will necessarily go wrong.

Very best of luck with the growth scan - if you've put on lots of weight that must be a good thing!

Hi everyone, how are you all getting on?

sorry for my absence, I have been hanging out on another forum (not netmums, honest!), but I have good reasons.

I'm still cooking and am 16+5 weeks today. Getting a bump and looking forward to feeling the baby moving any day now (hopefully).

My 12 week scan went well, but I did some more research about the stitch I was offered, at the suggestion of another Bliss mummy, and I found out about another type of stitch which is much more effective (goodness only knows why the NHS don't do it very often). It is a transabdominal cerclage (as opposed to a transvaginal one). it goes right at the top of your cervix, where it joins the uterus. to place one they need to open up your tummy with a c-section type incision. There is a small miscarriage risk for having the proceedure (2-3% for my surgeon) but once it is placed you have over 90% chance of getting to term. Plus it lasts for all future pregnancies too. Transvaginal stitches have a 70-80% success rate, i.e. living child including extremely premature ones with serious disabilities. TACs don't generally require you to be on bedrest either, whereas TVCs do.

So, once I had a good think about it I decided I wanted the TAC, and found a private surgeon to do it. Despite the cost I think its worth it for the peace of mind during the pregnancy and the fact that it vastly reduces the chance of my baby dying or becoming severely disabled because of a premature birth.

I had the stitch placed at 12+2 and recovered well and am now back to normal, with my baby bump held in by my new bionic cervix! I've been hanging out on the Abbyloopers site chatting to other women who've had this stitch or are considering it, and I'm afraid I forgot about this one.

How are you all getting on? any news?

Hi,
can i join you all??

I am high risk my last pregnancy ended in mc and my little boy was stillborn last christmas :'(

Im only 7weeks + 4 so very early days.xxxx

Hi. Can I join too. Will be high risk due to age (44) and being a little on the large size. Also 2 previous csections and mmc.
Only 6 weeks. Plucking up courage to see doctor at moment. Worried I will get a lecture etc. etc.
Hope everyone is ok.

Hi, I don't know how active this thread still is..... But if anyone's still there I'd like to join you please!
We were told at our 20 wk scan that baby has a sacroccoclegeal Teratoma (SCT). This is a tumour which grows from the tailbone, and can get very large.... At times larger than the baby. Theres a 50/50chance of baby being ok.... Much higher if she makes it to 35 weeks or over and is born. There will have to be a big op within a few days of birth.
The "good" bit of it is we seem to have the less awful type of tumour, ie cystic rather than solid and mainly external, so our consultant is hopeful. Although it can change very quickly. (I'm 23wks so a long way to go).
We need scanned every 2 weeks, and for every second one we have to travel to Bristol. Next week we might be advised to transfer care to great ormand st, which will be even more difficult as we live in Devon.
This has been hell so far.... We have two DSs and it's so difficult to know how to shield them from any of this. The scans are a nightmare, at any one they could tell us that the tumour is putting to much strain on baby, or is growing too fast. I feel sick all the time, and can't sleep.
Sorry for rant.... This is the first time I've written much about this as it felt wrong to stay on the usual antenatal site after we found out.
My thoughts go out to all of you having a worrying time... I think it's worse when bump shows, as everyone seems to expect to know everything, and then you are left to either be very vague or go into it and deal with often quite unhelpful (but well meant) advise. I just want to hide away with my bump for the next 15 weeks......

Hi and welcome sleeppeacefully, york67 and greengoose. I think this thread has gone a bit quiet but that's probably my fault as i've been off mumsnet for a while (too time consuming).

So sorry to hear about yoru little boy sleeppeacefully. Was he born too early or was there something else going on? Christmas is such a difficult time to lose a child.

york don't let them give you a lecture! you are expecting now and they will just have to make the best of it! :)

greengoose what a difficult problem to be facing, especially juggling older children too and trying to retain some normality for them. its a different world from the happy smiling pregnancies most women have isn't it? My son was in GOSH for 3 days for a heart operation and they are great - if your little girl is admited there you will be well looked after, and they even have free overnight accomodation for parents of babies in intensive care, plus food vouchers if you are breastfeeding or expressing. Obviously not a great deal of comfort but they do go the extra mile to make everythign other than the medical situation as easy as possible.

well, i'm still going - 31 weeks and 4 days today - and starting to relax, as our problem was all about early labour / delivery. My bionic cervix (trans abdominal cerclage) is still holding strong and my waters are intact, and now we are beyond the 28 week mark the baby has a very very good chance even if he was born now. So I am starting to relax and think we have a chance of getting to term. It's all about the convenience of avoiding the NICU / SCBU now rather than life or death - so a huge relief. Of course nothing is guaranteed, some people have healthy 40 week pregnancies and the baby has problems or doesn't survive, but the vast majority of women delivering after 32 weeks will take home a live baby, and after last time that is my one aim really.

If we get to 6th March I will have an appointment to book my Csection - hooray!!!

Thank you michaela. So far I haven't really had any lectures thankfully. Have been told I will be having another csection though. Don't seem to have any choice in that matter. Only hassle has been with needing extra vitamins due to my size so far.
Good luck with rest of your pregnancy.