Seizures (fits) in pregnancy

[Bb14]

Hi. Not sure if anyone can help or has been through the same thing but... I'm 19 weeks pregnant and have epilepsy. I've been having small seizures throughout my pregnancy which is fairly normal for me. Last night I had a huge seizure (the kind where you thrash around unconscious) I was unconscious for 15 mins. I haven't had one of these for 3 years. I've been checked and baby seems ok. Had this happened to anyone else? Did it get worse as pregnancy go on? What about birth and labour. If anyone has anything to share I'd really appreciate it. X

I'm sorry - I meant the made-up milk is sterile because you have just made it with boiling water, not that the milk powder is sterile. I wasn't clear there.

I think it's exactly the same method. I was shown it by nurses specialising in babycare. The 10 minutes before you put it in the fridge is just to stop the bottles heating the fridge up too much and making everything unsafe.

Many people use a bottle heater to warm it up - I use the microwave but then shake really well to ensure there are no hotspots. When you are waking up many times a night, you don't want to wait for bottles to warm/cool - you're so tired it hurts, and you'll make a mistake. It's best to have a simple routine you can do quickly - whatever works for you.

Writer - you don't warm it twice, you make it once (boiling water) and warm it once. When a feed is over, you throw it away, you never reheat that - it would have had ages out of the fridge with saliva, germs and who knows what. At that point it needs to go in the bin asap.

I think this is about to turn into a bunfight and get really confusing - sorry everyone.

No bun fight

YY make the milk with hot water. You can warm them if the baby won't drink it cold but if they will then cold is okay too.

Hi, I have no children yet as always been concerned my epilepsy would present a problem. However it is very well controlled but I am also 39 so that in itself I know makes things more difficult. One other thing I am concerned about is midwives themselves. How well trained are they to deal with patients with epilepsy and do they over ride decisions made by a consultant?

Hi enlightmened - I was very worried about pregnancy and how it would affect my epilepsy but I knew I'd regret it if I didn't have a baby. In terms of how well trained midwives are to deal with epilepsy, I'm pretty sure that they come across it very frequently. Epilepsy is a relatively common enough condition for it not to be considered as something overly worrying. You don't really have any input from the midwives until the baby is born anyway and up until then you are under the care of the Consultant Obstetrician. My Consultant is absolutely wonderful, she is so thorough and reassuring and I have absolute faith in her. I'm also under the care of an Epilepsy Nurse who does all the monitoring throughout the pregnancy so you really are under close watch. Midwives cannot overrule Consultants about any major decisions - but what sort of scenarios were you imaging when you asked that question?

I'm still nervous about how this pregnancy is going to affect my epilepsy and how that in turn will affect my life (especially if I lose my driving licence/job) but I'm just taking it one day at a time. Baby's in there now, there isn't much I can do about it My Obstetrician said that for women with controlled epilepsy the risks are very low for anything too traumatic occurring and so I'm holding on to that.

I just noticed a reference in a post further up where it was recommended to discharge after 72 hours midwives wanted to discharge in 6 and it rang a few alarm bells. Its not an easy decision as the epilepsy is so well controlled I am very nervous about upsetting the boat. I will give it more thought before deciding what to do.

This is an interesting thread. I have had grand mal seizures for a long time. They are more or less under control now as I take carbamazepine, however if I miss one dose or if I am sleep deprived, I get seizures. With my 1st, the danger zone was between the 1st and 2nd trimester when I had 3 seizures, then it all settled down until after the birth. For around a month afterwards I a few seizures which my neurologist attributed to weight gain. The sleep issue was such that I never felt confident enough about breastfeeding. I was terrified of having more seizures (if I followed a breastfeeding schedule), some possibly with the baby in my arms, so I went straight to formula. Thankfully my lo was the best sleeper and is doing great. I still have seizures here and there, mainly because of sleep deprivation but so long as they are spaced out they are more manageable.

Hi Enlightened, that was me. I hope I can clarify the situation that rang alarm bells for you. The main reason the midwives wanted to discharge after 6 hours was because they hadn't read my notes when I arrived up from delivery! I think that's a particular issue with that one ward at that hospital though, as several people I know who have had their babies there have had similar issues or felt patronised by one or two (overworked) staff. I guess that's no excuse, but tbh that was the only issue with the medical staff I had the entire time, the antenatal and delivery team were fantastic.

Thank you that's put my mind at rest on that point.

Second scissy and Writer - Antenatal and delivery staff absolutely fantastic. Care second to none. Didn't really 'get' SPD though, luckily I was sitting still all the time and it wasn't getting worse.

Post delivery, not terribly understanding why I was asking them to feed the baby overnight. (If everything went tits up, I would cost the NHS about £10k, that's why!)

Take blindfold, ear plugs, walkman etc into hospital for the overnight - it's noisy.