Preeclampsia

Hayleykettle_

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Type 1
Hello, this is a bit of a long one. I have been type 1 for 18 years now and I have two children age 5 and 10. During both pregnancies I unfortunately ended up with severe preeclampsia and both children were born at 32 weeks via c section. After the second time my mental health suffered quite a bit and I had bad anxiety. Call me crazy but I’m now starting to consider a third, the thought of having preeclampsia again terrifies me and I’m not sure if I am selfish to take the risk when I have 2 children at home to look after . I’m just looking to see if there is anybody else in a similar situation who has had preeclampsia twice and gone on to have a third? Thanks for reading
 
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Hi, it must very worrying for you, I understand how you are feeling.
I only had one child with diabetes and I had HELLP Syndrome, I was extremely ill with it and baby had to be born at 33 weeks to save both out lives, I had a transfusion of platelets under a general anesthetic for a C section, I was 42 1/2 at the time, my daughter is 18 now. If I was younger, I don't know if I would of gone on to have another baby, as it was a frightening and a life threatening experience at the time. you could talk it over with your GP or your diabetes team, take care.
 
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Hayleykettle_

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Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hello, thank you for the reply. You’re right it’s such a dangerous condition and that’s what’s making this decision so hard, I could be fine or I might not. Nobody can tell, I’ve been given a list of preeclampsia specialists in London that offer free appointments to people like me so I think my next move would be to go and speak to them x
 

Sweet_Sophie

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Hi I was in the same situation (eldest born 29wks 2nd born 34 weeks both very very small). Is there any thing in your notes referring to IURG intro uterine retarded growth... which I had. I was given medication for the second child. Could you get referred to your consultant or special clinic ? For a chat?
 

NicoleC1971

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Hi there! I was told that PET was more common in 1st pregnancies or subseuquent ones with different dads plus type 1 women were more at risk.
I had it relatively late on at 34 weeks and was clamped to a hospital bed until my daughter now 16, was delivered. It was terrifying because somehow I did not expect birth to be anything other than a painful but straight forward process.
The fear of things going wrong again really made my 2 subsequent pregnancies less enjoyable and pretty medicalised. But because I was watched so closely they both ended successfully though my 3rd child's heart stopped the night before I delivered and who knows what could have happened if I had not been being monitored.
So I think it is really difficult to advise other than talking to your partner about the idea and how you will cope with 3 kids or 2 kids plus a tricky pregnancy?
Are you thinking of this as a way to banish the trauma of the previous 2 pregnancies perhaps?
Lastly can you get access to an obstetrician specialising in diabetic pregnancies to get an understanding of your absolute risk given you are now older, still diabetic etc.? My 1st pregnancy also led to massive retiopathy and 2 tricky eye surgeries so for number 2, I was referred to a consultant with the title 'medical obstetrician' who was able to reassure me somewhat.
Having said all of that my own motto is that diabetes will never stop me doing anything I want to do so I'd be a hypocrite to advise you against this!
 
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Hayleykettle_

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There was no iugr, infact they were both over 5lb and were only in hospital for 10 days, they did very well. I was watched like a hawk during my second pregnancy (and first really) because of the preeclampsia, same father and given aspirin to try and prevent yet I still had it. I have complete faith that it would be picked up very early if I was to get it again. I’m just trying to weigh up the risks in my head and I also worry if there will be any long term consequences of having preeclampsia 3 times. I wonder if I am able to look back at my pregnancy notes wherever they are?
 

NicoleC1971

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If you want to get those notes I think you will need the GP on side and I am sure those notes will be of use to the specialist and then at least you will make a decision based on the best knowledge of the risks and hopefully no regrets whichever way you decide.
Best of luck!
 

Hayleykettle_

Newbie
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Type of diabetes
Type 1
Thank you, have just been looking online and have found a form for my hospital to request my medical records. Im going to request these and then make an appointment with the specialist, I’m so grateful of the two healthy children that I have and all my recent blood tests and eye tests etc are perfect. It’s such a risk but I’m only 30 and feel like I will want another child for the next 10 years if I don’t decide either way now. It’s playing on my mind every day so I feel I need to get as much information as I can and make a decision!
 
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Jkarn83_

Newbie
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3
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hello, this is a bit of a long one. I have been type 1 for 18 years now and I have two children age 5 and 10. During both pregnancies I unfortunately ended up with severe preeclampsia and both children were born at 32 weeks via c section. After the second time my mental health suffered quite a bit and I had bad anxiety. Call me crazy but I’m now starting to consider a third, the thought of having preeclampsia again terrifies me and I’m not sure if I am selfish to take the risk when I have 2 children at home to look after . I’m just looking to see if there is anybody else in a similar situation who has had preeclampsia twice and gone on to have a third? Thanks for reading

Hi Hayley,

I had severe pre-eclampsia at 36+5, at which point my daughter needed to be delivered by emergency section (she needed some oxygen and was then fine) and I had temporary kidney failure and liver damage (from which I have made a full recovery). My advice would be to go and see a pre-pregnancy specialist (you need a referral from a GP) who will look at your previous clinical history and advise on your risks from there. When I went to see the specialist I was expecting her to say my risk of severe pre-eclampsia occurring was 20-25%, and what she said was there was a 3% chance of it recurring, and if I took aspirin throughout pregnancy that risk would decrease by 25%, so my chances of severe pre-eclampsia are just over 2% (with the same partner).

I am currently 28 weeks pregnant (and between my first and this pregnancy we suffered a miscarriage), and having to live everyday in the knowledge there may be a repeat of what happened in my first pregnancy is incredibly tough, but I have got absolutely no regrets.
On a pragmatic note I have changed hospitals (to a significantly better hospital in my opinion), and bought the same BP monitor as they have in hospital, I appreciate it doesn't guarantee there won't be severe pre-eclampsia, but I figure severe pre-eclampsia thats gone on for a day, should be significantly less dangerous than severe pre-eclampsia thats gone on for 3 or 4 days. In terms of emotional support I believe most or all hospitals have a specialist midwife/ midwives that deal with mental health issues in pregnancy if that helps.