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Pre eclampsia ......will I get it again?

12 replies

collision · 07/01/2004 13:49

I gave birth to my 21 month old ds 5 weeks early as I had pre eclampsia and was in hospital for 2 weeks before I had him.

I am now thinking about baby number 2 and was wondering if it is likely that I will get pre eclampsia again.

Would be interested to know other peoples experiences and if there is anything I can do to prevent it.

OP posts:
nutcracker · 07/01/2004 13:54

My friend had pre eclampsia and was worried about the same thing but when she got pregnant agin she was told to take half an aspirin every day. Her dd was born 2 days after her delivery date. I think it's less likely that someone will get it in a second pregnancy ?? Not to sure

codswallop · 07/01/2004 13:54

ds5? really?

codswallop · 07/01/2004 13:55

hmm do you mean he is 5 years old?

welcome, collision

lazyeye · 07/01/2004 14:14

I think she means her 21 month old, 5 weeks early.

I had hi bp and borderline pre eclamps with ds1. With my second I didn't and they told me it is often the bodys reaction to a first pg - kind of trying to get rid of it as a foreign body - nice hummmm. Am now 15 weeks with no 3 so don't know what will happen this time.........best of luck

Jaybee · 07/01/2004 14:20

collision - a friend of mine had a similar experience to you and has had to monitored and had medication since her pregnancy - her ds is now 5 and has still not been given the all clear to have another baby - I think, in your situation, I would have a chat with your gp prior to getting pregnant as it depends on how serious you had the condition. I have also heard that it is usually more serious with your first child and may not happen in subsequent pregnancies. There is also a pre-eclampsia society which may be able to help.

Crunchie · 07/01/2004 14:34

Collision, I had pre-eclampsia first time round, a little earlier than you (27 weeks) and like you I worried 2nd time. I was given so much conflicting advice (from different medical professionals) ranging from you WILL get it again, to it NEVER happens again. Finally I saw a specialist in a London hospital who was brilliant, her first comment to me was, I bet you are worried that this could happen again!! Finally someone understood.

Her 'statistics' were that since I had no underlying problem, ie Kidney disease or Lupus or whatever, but that it had been so servere and so early there was a 40% chance of it happening again. However the likelyhood was if I developed it again, it would be about 4 weeks later and less servere.

When I got pg 2nd time around I went to see her again at 13 weeks and was given vitamin/aspirin therapy. She explained that this had worked in trials, but they were still waiting to advance it as a recognised treatment. She also said that is usually reduced the risk by 75%. This meant with my sususpected risk of 40%, I now had a risk of 10%. 10% is the average risk for a 1st time pregnancy.

I had loads of doppler scans in my 2nd pg (every 4 weeks, then every 2 weeks) which looked at blood flow through the placenta. They are looking for 'notches' on an artery wall (if I remember right) which has been proved to be an early indicator of pre-eclampsia. I had my final scan at 36 weeks.

By the way my 2nd was born on her due date!!

In your case you started to develop pre-eclampsia at 33 weeks, applying the 4 week rule brings you to 37 weeks, which is not really considered prem. I would chat to your GP, but there is nothing that can or should be done until after 12 weeks. Perhaps you can then get a specialist obs appointment to discuss your fears. However not many will prescribe any type of drug, even apsirin. My local consultant, who I continued to see, was really against the vitamins as he had seen no proof, however I was happy as I felt vitamins couldn't hurt. Also I felt at least I was doing something rather than waiting and worrying.

Good Luck, go for it, and think about it, would you do it again even if there was 100% chance of the same thing happening again?? I would have, and my baby was in intensive care for 14 weeks!! nearly 5 yrs on she started school on Monday!!

mears · 07/01/2004 16:29

This site will be helpful here

collision · 07/01/2004 18:11

Thanks everyone! The info was very informative and the website was excellent.

Crunchie, your email brought a tear to my eye as, of course, I would go through it all again but am a bit scared as I live in Italy now and would have the baby here!! It was the bit when you said yours was now 5 and at school!!

PS; Codswallop....my DS is 21 months old and was born 5 weeks early!! Sorry for the confusion......I'm new to this!

OP posts:
sobernow · 07/01/2004 18:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

popsycal · 07/01/2004 19:00

Hi collision
I had my ds now 17 months earliy as a result of pre-eclampsia. i was too in hospital before I had him for monitoring. I was eventually induced as a result
I am curious about this too although docs, midwives, ec did say that i was much more common with first pregnancies
my ds had problems about 3 days after the birth and i ended up in hospital for about 3 weeks in total. i think his problems could have been due to being inducded...but i have no medical training...just a gut instinct!
Will check out the website and read this thread with interest!

pupuce · 07/01/2004 20:33

Pre-eclampsia is mainly in 1st pregnancy. It is far rarer (I don't think 40% is accurate and I also have my sources!) 2nd time around. Also blood pressure alone is NOT an indicator of pre-eclampsia. The prerequisite, to diagnose pre-eclampsia, is the presence of more than 300 mg of protein in the urine per 24 hours

Crunchie · 08/01/2004 11:36

pupuce, the 40% I quoted was the statistics that were given to me, for my case! Sorry it wasn't meant to say that it happens again in 40% of cases. I hope I didn't confuse matters. That was for me alone as I had it SO early and so badly and it didn't creep up. I was fine one day and very sick the next. I had no protein in my urine at 5pm on the Sunday night, but by Monday had 4+++ (the highest on the stick). I was lucky in that I called up the GP since on the Sunday night I developed a Migrane and by the Monday 5pm was crying in pain. I nearly didn't bother the Dr!! By 6pm I was in delivery, but I begged to wait until DH could get there (he was in Newcastle and we were in Colchester). At midnight I was being prepped for a C-section, but I refused to sign the form. At 12.30 the consultant came and scanned me and checked all the data properly - thankfully as the resistrer was a bit scalpal happy IMHO. He agreed to transfer me to a hospital that could deal with me better, but I only lasted 2 days before DD was born. By then we were both very ill. Hence 40% for me!!

Collision, as everyone says it IS far rarer 2nd time around. Sobernow was just unlucky

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