Another Baby

My daughter is 17 months old. I was diagnosed with 3rd degree heart block. I have a dual lead pacemaker. I follow up with the electrphysiologist, not a cardiologist. Was told by hospital that my heart is actually fine....just electrical system is screwed up.

Can I have another baby? Sounds weird but do women with pacemakers have babies?

Curious...

7 Comments

hi

by pacergirl - 2009-10-08 09:10:08

Yes, if you want to. There are a number of women on this site that have had babies and have pacemakers. Better to have a good working heart with a pacemaker than a badly working one without a pacemaker. Hope all works out for you.

The other women will chime in any min. now I'm sure :-)

Pacergirl

absolutely!!

by Tracey_E - 2009-10-08 10:10:24

With a third degree block, the heart is structurally normal and our natural pacemaker (SA node) works fine on its own, we just have a short circuit that is fixed by the pm. I had 2 perfectly normal pregnancies and deliveries after I got my pm, and other ladies here have also. I was born with 3rd degree block and never could have handled a pregnancy without my pm.

Get your cardio/ep to have a chat with your ob so everyone is on the same page, but if you have no other problems odds are good you won't even be considered high risk. I wasn't. The only thing they did differently with me was put me on antibiotics and a heart monitor when I delivered, and told me that if my heart showed signs of stress that they would immediately do a c-section. (it didn't!)

And know that av block is not genetic, we can't pass it on to our kids.

3rd degree

by Shell - 2009-10-09 03:10:07

I was born with 3rd degree HB. Unlike Tracey I didn't get my pm until after my kids were born. (my sons are 9 &11 and my pm is 3 1/2 yrs old) I was considered high risk my first pregnancy but not my second. The only thing my doctor wanted my to do while in labor was to have an epidural so my heart wouldn't be under as much strain. (that was fine with me)

3rd degree as well

by Hot Heart - 2009-10-09 04:10:31

hi there, the powers that be seem to think that i was possibly born with 3rd degree hb as well, had 2 babies and lived to the ripe old age of 55 without a pm. HH

TraceyE

by wenditt - 2009-10-09 06:10:25

Thank you! I feel so much better now! Do you follow up with only an EP as well? Difficult for me to still "wrap my brain" around this whole thing...in that I have a pacemaker but don't see a cardiologist.

Does that seem right to you? And I delivered my 1st baby without the pm (i didn't know about the block yet), so I suppose I should be counting my blessings even more now that everything turned out so well.

Wendy

docs

by Tracey_E - 2009-10-09 08:10:21

Most people newly diagnosed go straight to an ep. Cardiologists are mostly plumbers, ep's are electricians. I've never seen an ep. I was diagnosed in 1970 and referred to a cardiologist. I don't think they even had ep's then and pm's were new and not at all common. The pm fixes my problems, so all I really need the doc for is to keep an eye on my heart and make sure it doesn't change, and when it's time for replacement. I usually don't even see him once a year. I just see the St Judes rep for quarterly checks and he gives the report to the doc. You'll find that once you heal and get on an even keel that you need very little follow up.

didn't finish my thought

by Tracey_E - 2009-10-09 08:10:41

the reason I've never seen an ep is lack of need and I adore my cardiologist. If something comes up that he can't figure out, I'll ask for a referral but so far so good! Between him and my awesome St Judes rep, I haven't seen the need to bring in another opinion.

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