Studies show you are more likely (50 %) to have some other pregnancy complication including but not limited to:
- diabetes
- preterm labor
- heavy weight gain
- high blood pressure
- severe morning sickness.
When I was
expecting my second child, here is what I did to ease things along:
- I made sure my Ob was aware of my past
- Made sure my Ob has dealt with HELLP before
- have my weight, blood pressure and urine checked each visit and made sure they will be watching my platelet levels
- Talked with the doctor about preventive measures, she had me on a higher dose of pre-natal vitamins and a low dose 80mg children enteric aspirin once a day called aspirin therapy.
After delivery my blood pressure spiked and had to have magnesium sulfate treatments until my blood pressure was back down to a safe level.
While pregnant with my third child I did not have any blood pressure issues at all. I gained a lot of weight with this pregnancy as well, about 70 pounds. My Dr. did not have me on aspirin therapy with this pregnancy. He seemed very confident that I would not have any issues with HELLP. While pregnant with my 3rd child I was diagnosed with carpal tunnel in my wrists and directed to wear a brace when sleeping. I was also diagnosed with restless leg syndrome. I was directed to take more calcium and take benadryl before bed.
At one
point I had a very bad migraine, the stress and pain from the migraine had
induced contractions. When I went to the hospital they gave me Demerol for the
pain and Triptolene to stop the contractions. Both worked great.
I
delivered 3 weeks early, a healthy 7 pounder. I had no issues with blood
pressure with this pregnancy.
My fourth pregnancy was difficult.
The pregnancy was going great until mid-late second trimester when the Dr.
noticed an erratic fetal heart beat. Knowing my history the Dr. recommended we
see the fetal cardiac specialist. The closest one was over 4 hours away. Once
we saw the specialist they explained that all babies have holes in their hearts
and they eventually close after birth causing no problems. They thought that
the flap that was to eventually close the hole had come free and was flapping
while baby’s heart was beating, causing almost an echo sound. They recommended
we deliver in a nearby town that had bigger facilities, a nicu and a pediatric
cardiologist on hand just in case there were complications during or after
birth. We were also to have biophysical profile ultrasounds twice a week until
delivery of the baby in addition to our normal prenatal dr. visits. Two weeks before
our scheduled c-section the irregular heart beat cleared up.
As planned we went to the bigger
hospital for our planned c-section. Seconds after delivery I knew something was
wrong. The baby was whisked away to the nicu..
Turns out that the flap had closed
but baby had a lot of fluid in his lungs and was not breathing. He was sent to
the nicu where we faced even more struggles. After finally getting him off all assisted
breathing and oxygen he struggled with jaundice. He was struggling to nurse and
that led to him not pooping which led to him being jaundiced. It seemed it was
one thing after another. Six days after
birth we were finally released home.
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