Thinking of having a baby!!!

Wow, I haven't been on here in a year, but I wanted to pop in and say hi and say that after a good healthy year with my first pacemaker, my hubby and I are actually talking about trying to have another baby! We have two older girls from before my pacemaker, so this will be my first one with the pacemaker. My ob/gyn wants me to go see a high-risk specialist first, so that appt. is scheduled for next Wednesday the 23rd. But I'm not too worried, I think everything I've read says it'll be just fine with the pacemaker. FYI I am about to be 26 years old, have had the pacemaker for one year, for really bad Neuro-Cardiogenic Syncope/Vaso-Vagal Syncope (NCS and/or VVS). I've had it for about 14 years. I tried a bunch of prescriptions but they didn't help my fainting and dizziness and problems and of course they had awful side effects. I am now Rx drug-free and so I have just the PM and I LOVE IT!!!!! Anyways, good to be back and I hope everyone is doing well!

5 Comments

babies

by Tracey_E - 2008-07-15 08:07:14

Congratulations on your decision to have another baby! And congrats of feeling so good and being rx free.

I've had two babies with a pacer and was not considered high risk. Talk to your cardiologist first, not a high risk specialist. High risk specialists don't know diddly about pacers and most heart conditions. :o) No disrespect intended, but it's not something they see often so you probably know more than they do if you've done your homework. Your cardiologist can tell you if pregnancy will exacerbate your problem.

I have a totally different problem than you, but my ob was ready to send me to a high risk specialist, neonatal cardiologist, etc, simply because he'd never had a pregnant patient with a pacer and he wanted to cover his bases. He had me freaked! Thankfully I called my cardiologist first and he said there was no reason to bother with any of it because the pacer had my problems under control and none of my problems are genetic or likely to get worse from the stress of carrying a baby, so I was no higher risk than anyone else.

The cardiologist was on call when I delivered in case anything went wonky and they had me on a heart monitor the whole time I was in labor. Other than that, I had two perfectly normal pregnancies and deliveries.

Two notes...
one, I opted not to do an epidural during delivery because it can mess with your heart rate and blood pressure. I'm a little overly cautious but I tend to react to the smallest dose of any med so decided I'd rather deal with the pain for a few hours than risk complications even though the chances were slim.

two, you get a lot of big eyes from the delivery staff at the hospital! They don't get many of us, prepare to be the novelty of the hour. :o)

curious myself

by Brooklynn - 2008-07-16 01:07:57

I was actually wondering if people with defibrillators/pacemakers can have babies. I am by no means ready at this point(kinda need to get a boyfriend then a husband first lol) But I was told by my cardiologist that I more than likely would not be able to conceive and it would be too much of a strain on my heart....So it's nice to hear about some success stories...btw CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

conceiving

by Tracey_E - 2008-07-16 04:07:47

Brooklyn, I can't think of anything heart related that would affect your ability to conceive. However, possible and advisable are two different things. It may be that the stress would be too much, it depends on your condition. I'd definitely get a second opinion before accepting it as gospel.

Even if they tell you no now, remember that huge advances are made every year in medicine, so something not possible today might be possible or even routine five or ten years from now. The year my heart was diagnosed, pacemakers were just an experiment and a hope for the future, now they're routine and technical wonders.

Don't lose hope! I have two separate medical issues- unrelated to my heart problems- that I was told would keep me from getting pregnant. I got the pm, I got a good fertility doctor, and I have two wonderful children. And the second baby was an accident! All but impossible according to the doctors. I firmly believe that God's will trumps doctor's odds.

Sorry to babble! I get annoyed when doctors give an overly negative prognosis or make off the cuff comments that aren't well thought out. I spent a lot of years thinking I'd never have kids or be able to do normal activities, and I have both now.

Avoiding the epidural

by carismendez - 2008-07-18 01:07:13

Thanks TraceyE, I would love to hear more about your pregnancies/labors/deliveries! My older daughter is not my blood-relative (a love-relative!!) so I had no pain whatsover with her (wink)... My younger daughter was a pretty easy and fast delivery, no epidural was wanted or needed by me and I seem to remember handling the pain and dizziness ok... and that was actually before the pacemaker... but of course I was younger and fitter back then... I would really like to skip the epidural again for any future children and would love to hear some supportive encouraging words on the subject. I go to see the high-risk dr. on Wednesday and my hubby wants to go with me so we are very excited!!! I agree, I want to see my cardiologist also once more before we start trying. I'm about ready, maybe in a month or two to get off the birth control. We waited sooooo long to get me healthy and controlled with the fainting before trying to have more kids (FINALLY agreed to the pacemaker last summer and love it... should have done it sooner). Our daughters are 10 and 9 so we nearly waited too long I feel like!!! They will be great babysitters though!!! ;-)

how exciting

by Tracey_E - 2008-07-18 09:07:14

My girls are 10 and 11 :o) Your girls will be old enough to enjoy helping.

Isn't it amazing how much difference a pm can make in your life?! I should have gotten mine a good 3 or 4 yrs before I did. I had no idea how bad I was feeling until it was behind me and I felt normal again.

Second deliveries usually go a lot faster than the first one! (well, it won't be as easy as your first one, hee hee) I pushed for 2 hours with the first one, I pushed 3 TIMES with the second. That's fairly normal. If you went without an epidural the first time, there's no reason to think you'll want one this time unless the baby is turned or something like that.

No one ever told me I could not have the epidural, it was my choice after talking to the anesthesiologist and getting all the side effects. I'm one of those people who gets side effects from aspirin so I'm paranoid about taking anything. It's been 11 yrs since I asked so the cocktail they use may have changed, but I was told at the time that epidurals can cause blood pressure to drop and heart rate to slow down. Can, not necessarily does. I was told by both the cardiologist and ob that I could try delivering on my own, but if there were any complications or things got too drawn out, they would do a section. I chose to not do anything to increase my chances of a caesarian.

My email is tceller@gmail.com if you want to take this off list and chat more :o)

You know you're wired when...

You participate in the Pacer Olympics.

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