Pre Eclampsia in subsequent pregnancies - your experiences.

[sandcastles]

I have just had a chat with MIL. I am 9 weeks pregnany & we have just told her (or rather dd did ).

She is very concerned as I had Pre Eclampsia with dd & she was delievered at 36 weeks, by emerg c-section [but that was more because she was distressed after being induced]. This hasn't been helped by the fact that there is an article in today's paper about how a first time mum nearly died with PE, she had liver & kidney failure [which I never had]. My main symptoms were protien & high BP.

I have seen a Dr who informs me that I will be considered high risk & may well have hospital only appointments. I will be seen more often, it may not re-occur & if it does, it could well be less dramatic [for want of a better word]...but she has put the worry in my head now!

If anyone can share their experiences of second/third births after having PE I would be most grateful. Or even anyone who has any knowledge of this.

TIA

My friend had her second son two weeks ago and although the hospital and midwives watched her like a hawk she didn't have pre-eclampsia this time. she went into labour naturally, had a great birth without the ventouse she needed for ds1. The only hassle was the last few weeks she had to go to the hospital every wed for her blood pressure to be monitored for an hour or so. So don't worry, they will look after you and it may be fine this time.

Thank you, shoppingbagsundereyes. Am pleased for your friend.

That sounds positive, I don't mind a regular weekly appt for checks, will manage that.

my friend is currently 24weeks with her 3rd. she had pre-eclampsia with ds1&2 and so this time she's got to go in every 2weeks to have her blood pressure monitored and every 3weeks for scans to check for early signs in the baby. she's also going to be delivered early whatevr, just in case

Hi sandcastles, I had severe PE with my ds (so far only pg) who was delivered by cs at 34 weeks. I've just an appointment with my consultant to discuss what would happen in a subsequent pg - he said that overall risk of getting PE again is 1 in 10 but mine would be about 1 in 6, given early onset at 29 weeks, and if I did get it it would be likely to come on later and less severely. I think he said in 25 years he has seen about 3 women who had it worse in subsequent pgs, so if you held out till 36 weeks you are very likely to have no problems at all in this pg. I'm sure you will have to be monitored regularly, especially from when you developed PE in your first pg, but this is good because if anything does go wrong it will be picked up very quickly and you and the baby will be well looked after. Best of luck - can sympathise with your worries as when/if I get pregnant again I will be terrified all the way through regardless of statistics!

bealcain & LiegeAndLief, thank you.

LiegeAndLief, I was fine until MIL sounded her concerns. It is nice that she is worried, but I had my reassurances but now I feel all vunerable (sp)again!