Heart issues in pregnancy

[Stph15]

Hi everyone.
Just looking for a bit of advice or if anyone has/is going through the same thing.
I'm 29 and am 26 weeks pregnant with my first child. Have suffered with palpitations/heart rhythm issues since I was a teenager.
Now being pregnant I've been told I can't take my medication for it and it has gotten worse. Im under cardiac specialist care now but it's been mentioned that with heart issues you may be given an epidural during labour.
This is something I have really wanted to avoid due to a bad experience with an epidural for an operation in the past. I would much rather feel giving birth to my baby and the thought of another epidural does slightly terrify me since the last one was so awful.

Would love any advice, tips or knowledge from anyone with experience in this? If anyone is suffering with the same issues and how have you felt or dealt with it?

Thank you for any help or comments 😊

Hi. Not the same issues exactly but a fellow heart Mum. I was advised epidural too and first time had it very early on. Second time they were far more relaxed and didn't insist I had it so early on, let me choose when and would have been happy for me not to had things progressed fast.
The main thing for me was limited pushing time which obviously increases risk of instrumental birth which so epidural is good in that sense. My advice would be do lots of prep, use the BRAIN acronym used in hypnobirthing and be confident in your choices but sensible about your health too. Good luck!

Thank you for your reply!! How did you find the epidural, if you don't mind me asking? Yes that does worry me about limited pushing time. I would be worried about the baby getting stressed and it causing problems. I guess it's one of those things to deal with when it comes and not worry about. Glad to hear your births went well and someone has been through it too. Thank you for the help

It was fine! Tbh when you're in labour you don't really remember it!! It was harder trying to sit still through contractions. I was nervous about the concept of it being in my spine, I just tried not to think about it too much! I was nervous having it second time but it was fine and it worked really well