Advice needed for pregnancy post-DVT

[Bramshott]

I'd really appreciate some advice here - I had a large DVT after the birth of my DD 2.5 years ago. Am now finally contemplating the idea of having another baby, with the ensuing daily heparin injections. For anyone who's done this, can you advise me on:

1. If you had ongoing leg pain from a previous DVT, did it get worse during pregnancy? Do the injections exacerbate this, or help it?
2. Who did you have to see to get the heparin prescribed - was this your GP/gynaecologist/haematologist?
3. How do they decide what dosage of heparin and how early to start you on it? Do you have to have regular checks?
4. Where do you get the heparin syringes? The chemist, or do you have to go to the hospital?
5. What were you advised about labour and stopping the injections? Does it rule out an epidural? Any other complications?
6. Did anyone use a full-length support cushion in order to sleep comfortably on your side? (I can't sleep on my side currently, and I know its recommended when you're pregnant) What about a maternity belt to take the pressure off the pelvic veins?
7. Any other tips?!?

So many questions! Sorry! All advice gratefully received!

i dunno if this will help but i had a bad pulmonary embilis when i first fell pg with ds i had to have injections every day untill i was 30weeks then they canged me to clexane as they were safer and easier to controll during labour and the birth, i got them from the hospital along with the sharps box and my hemotologist prescribed them, i had several more scans of ds to make sure everything was o whilst on them. i had an epidural with no complications. good luck xxx

Bramshott - had DVT with my first son several years ago. When pregnant with my second, I was put onto shared care between hospital / midwife and was put onto daily heparin injections (tinzaparine - sp?) a couple of weeks before I reached the stage of pregnancy that I had got the DVT first time round - consultants prescribed initially then arranged for repeat precriptions through my GP and I picked the syringes up through the chemist attached to my GP - had to give them a couple of days notice as they're not 'stock items' . Didn't have any blood tests (other than the usual pregnancy ones) to check levels. Re labour, due to have planned caesarian (breech baby) was told to have last injection the day before. As it happended I went into labour the night before my planned cs and ended up having an emergency cs and an epidural was used. Post birth put onto a higher dose of tinzaparine for 6 weeks and the stockings. HTH

Thanks both of you. I'd forgotten to mention the lovely stockings!! Did you have these throughout Dominoes, or just post-natally?