Is continuing this pregnancy dangerous ?

[windsong1602]

I have a 3 month old baby and am pregnant again. This is my 8th pregnancy in 11 years. I have had one miscarriage and 6 births - 3 vaginal and 3 cesarean. One was a stillbirth the others were all complex pregancies. We have also just discovered after the birth of this last baby that there is a genetic condition that affects me and all my children - some of my children have very serious medical problems. The last pregnancy I really struggled with and ended up with severe anemia (hb 7) resulting in the beginning of high output heart failure. I had a cesarean during which my blood pressure fell so low they had to sqeeeze loads of bags of fluid through me. This 3rd scar was slow healing and required a pressure dressing in hospital because of splitting in middle and bleeding lots. Once home the scar split open in middle about 6 times and finally stopped coming open after about 3 weeks. After the birth I spent 3 days in HDU and needed 2 pints blood transfusion because of the anemia which raised my hb to about 9. I was supposed to take iron tablets 3 x a day for 4 months afterwards but I haven't. I suspect that it is not a good thing to be pregnant so soon after a 3rd ceserean - I have known a few weeks but not consulted a doctor yet or told anyone (too scared of everyones reaction) I am worried that I am putting myself in danger - I have already been experiencing pains in my cesarean scar. I would very much appreciate anyones input on this.

[JM9783]

Not to be rude... but why havent you used birth control?  I believe if you have a C section your suppose to wait almost a year so your body can heal. Hope everything works out ok.

[polley]

i agree with the last comment in the fact that you should have waited a little longer, especially with all the troubles you are having. this is def. something you should discuss with your husband and your doctor. only you and your husband can make the best decision, but if it were me, i can honestly say i would not go through with the pregnancy. i mean you have kids and you need to be there for those kids, that is the most important. you wanted input and i am only saying what i would do, i feel my husband would feel the same and i bet your husband would to. have you talked to him? i bet it is more important for you to be here with him raising the kids you already have than risking losing you to have another baby. i hope i did not upset you, that was not my intention. good luck and keep us posted.

[BabyJrsMom]

Just a quick question first;  How old are you?
Not to be rude either, but why don't you have your tubes tied?
Then you really don't have to worry about birth control.  I think after that many kids and with the medical problems that you have and have passed on to your kids it is safe to say you are done having children.  And if your not, there's alway adoption.  Nobody can give you the answer to your question but yourself.  This is a decision you have to live with the rest of your life.  If I were you, I'd ask God for the power to make the right decision.  And then whatever you decide, immediatly following the results of that decision, HAVE YOUR TUBES TIED!!!!
I just had my first baby in January and it was by c-section.  It's been 7 months and I still get pains and numbness!!  I don't even want to think about stretching that area out again for at least another year!!  But anyway, before the operation I had to sign a paper saying if I wanted my tubes tied or not, were you ever offered that decision?
Good Luck and God Bless!

[jluhart]

Are you catholic?

[Christie2004]

I posted a response in the Womens forum, check over there if you haven't read it.

Bottom line--see a doctor specializing in high risk pregnancy.  Good luck to you.

[boycrazy]

I have to agree with the other ladies who posted.  You have a responsibility now to the children you already have and to jeopardize your life to have another and leave them without a mother would be selfish.  When I had my miscarriage in Feb and then a chemical pregnancy in May, my first question to the dr. was would I be jeopardizing my own well being to have another child.  Lucky for me the answer was no, but in your case I would think it may be yes.  Please give this decision to have another baby your priority and think about all the factors involved.  The children you already have and your dh should be at the top of the list. I wish you good luck in your decisions.

[mgi]

If you have a spouse that forces you you have no choice.  Is this ideal no.  Does it happen - yes.  With a devoted woman she will submit to her spouse.  It is out there!  SO, I was implying if that is teh case with Windsong then I understand her plight and know that the comments telling her it was too soon etc.  were useless.

[cinnamonheart]

Hell if my spouse gave me no choice his ass would be kicked to the curb!!!
This is the year 2005 and slavery went out long ago.
Its 50/50
I do believe its out there look at Iraq where women have to cover their faces etc...and Lord knows what else.
But if thats the case I say RUN and RUN as fast as you can!!

[mgi]

You need to checkl with your doctor.  If he says there isn't the "real danger"  to your life - my opinion- is that itis not fair to kill this child.  If you didn't mean to get pregnant can you just choose better to avoid it so soon next time  (I know some women do not have a say because of their spouse) Please make sure it is medically necessary before doing anything drastiv to the baby.  As you know since you have been pregnant before there is a precious little life within you with potention to be anything.  I will pray for you!

[cinnamonheart]

Well the damage is already done...The way I look at it God made a decision --your pregnant
You can only look forward at this point and hope it all gets better, every pregnancy is different
Truthfully my last pregnancy was the best and I was 37 not in my 20's like the other two. ALl mine were c sections
As for waiting a year I had a 9 month old and got pregnant again both were c sections and slow to heal also..

But after this child I would really look into some kind of birth control method..I know some religions dont agree with it But they dont have to feed, cloth and look after the kids either!

[shubunkin]

AMEN!

[gonza]

I agree with the others.  I dont agree with MGI about some women not having a choice getting pregnant so soon because of their spouse.  You have a choice.  It is your body.  I guess I just dont understand what MGI meant, if I have misunderstood, please explain.

[windsong1602]

Thanks to everyone that has replied.

In answer to some of your questions:

I am 32, am not catholic (or any religion)
There are reasons why birh control was not used but all things considered its pointless to go into it i think. Yes its my body and my responsibility  - and I accept responsibility for this stupidity.

Yes you are right - my first responsibility must be to the children that I already have. I think that if I saw a dcotor and I was told that it is too risky to continue I would terminate for the sake of my family. I guess I am avoiding seeing a doctor until its too late to make any decisions so I am not in a position to make that choice.

I have no idea how many weeks I am but I think at best , my baby was less than 10 weeks old when I concieved. I realsie that I won't know how risky this is until I see a doctor - but I have a sick feeling that it is not good.

The thought of having a termination kills me - and yes I know , I should have ensured I didn't get myself in this position if thats how i feel.

[Stacie30]

thanks! :o) this pregnancy actually hasn't been too bad. i waited long enough (not by choice- we TTC 5+ years for this baby) that my present doctor doesn't see a risk for me, but, like you, I was scared to hear if there even was a risk so I put off telling him about my previous history until I was about 5 months... all that cost me was 5 months of anxiety because he said everything would be fine.

my c-section is scheduled in 10 days and the waiting is killing me. LOL. i'm on bedrest for severe adema (major swelling) so I am bored out of my mind.

oh- I wanted to mention- just because your incision on the outside was having trouble healing doesn't mean the one on the inside was.... did your doctor say anything to you about the uterine incision? i'd be more worried about that one than anything.

[windsong1602]

Bedrest sounds great ......for the first day. In my third pregnancy I was kept in hospital for 10 weeks on bedrest (the baby had IUGR and became my 1st section ) I was so bored my mind was numb - it felt like 10 years not 10 weeks! I really feel for you. The positive is that good rest before the birth should be helpful to your recovery from the cesarean.

I have no idea what the internal scar is like. I had a lot of trouble from my second scar still causing pain 4 years later. In the last pregnancy the pain was agonising if i coughed or sneezed. I was worried that if they cut it open again it would cause me more pain. They said they would clean up the internal scar tissue in the 3rd section. They made the cut 1cm smaller each side and said they had tidied it up. I have experienced far less pain in the scar since.
However, this section was complicated. It took them a long time to cut through the old scarring to get to the baby - over 25 mins - during which my blood pressure fell so low two of them had bags of fluid in each hand that they were pushing in. I was drifting in and out of conciousness and had so much fluid in me I looked like a puffa fish.

I don't know if that means the internal scar isn't much good - hopefully they were able to tidy it up better.

[Christie2004]

By not seeing a doctor, you ARE making a choice.  I hope everything works out for you.  Keep us updated, ok?

I will warn you--if you do eventually choose termination, you might not want to post here--go to womens health instead.  Many of the women here are either pregnant or facing infertility issues and the thought of abortion is very troubling to them.  Out of respect for that, it would be better if you posted on Womens health.

Good luck, and I mean that sincerely.

[cinnamonheart]

Best of luck in any decision you are going to make
Yes you do have to think of your family but also yourself and whatever decision you have to make you have to live with..I do wish you luck raising children is one of the hardest jobs and you have your hands full!!
My statment is (in regards to slavery) women dont need to let men make them feel beneath them or have to do what they tell them.. Wasnt necessarly pertaining to you.I dont know your situation I just dont think any woman now a days needs to feel TRAPPED!!
Best Wishes!

[windsong1602]

Thanks Christie

Yes, you are right. By not making a choice (and going to see a doctor) I am making a choice. It may not be the right one but nevertheless it is my choosing.

Abortion is extremely troubling to me too, which is why I am too scared to see a dr - scared he will say its far too risky to continue. Then I will have to make a choice - put myself at risk or end a life to save my life. I cannot contemplate the personal horror of doing that. The thought is unbearable and breaks my heart.

I don't want to tell my husband because he doesn't want any more children for a start and won't be best pleased - and because he will have me up that hospital to see a dr and get checked over faster than i can get the words out

[windsong1602]

Thanks cinnamonheart.

I cannot really go in to my situation too deeply here on an open forum - the gist of it is that i gave up a very long time ago with  the battling and found it simpler to give in rather than have the sulks. Of course this is my choice and I could choose differently - but instead i choose the easy way out (except of course it isn't the easy way in the end as the number of preganacies i have had tells you that much !)

I'm not a unintelligent person and I know there are other choices i could make that are probably better ones. However I do take responsibility for the choices that I make - therefore this pregnancy is as much my responsibilty as it is his.

[Stacie30]

I became pregnant 2 months after a c-section with my son. my daughter was fine, but my uterus did rupture during my 2nd c-section with her (requiring a 2 pint of blood transfusion). my doctor at the time told me to wait at least a year to get pregnant and then I would have to be on bedrest from the 4th or 5th month, but that the outcome should be ok. it's been 10 years since I had a child and am now pregnant with my 3rd (37 weeks) which will also be a c-section (my last- I'm having a tubal done). i too was worried about the risks to myself and the baby this pregnancy. I can tell you from extensive research that there is very little information out on the risk of uterine rupture after a previous c-section during the actual pregnancy. there are several studies done on vbac, but none that I can find on "our" issue...

i do know from my research and talks with my own ob/gyn that if your uterus ruptures you have a maximum of 30 minutes to get to a hospital and have surgery and most likely the baby would not make it through a uterine rupture (you'd be very lucky if you did).

my advice- talk to the doctor who performed your last surgery, ask his advice, and get all the facts. it may not be as bad as you think it is... with regard to the genetic issue- only you know if you are willing to take on another child with a potentially serious medical problem...as for being pregnant so soon after your previous one... don't let judgemental comments by others get you down. there is no sense beating yourself up (or letting others do it) over a situation you already find yourself in. just make sure you are informed about your health, your options, and that YOU can live with any decision you make. best of luck to you and let us know how it goes.

[windsong1602]

Hello Stacie,

Sounds like you have had a scary pregnancy ! I looked it up too and as you say there is very little about risk of rupture in pregnancy but lots about vbac. By the way, I tried that twice, the second time I ended up with an emergency c section because I wasn't progressing well after 16 hours and they couldn't be more aggresive (aggressive) with the drip because the scar was burning. My little boy nearly died in ITU. I think you made absolutely the right choice to have another c-section. Vbac is just too risky.

I found several articles about rupture in pregnancy even one in first trimester which is a bit scary - but they are all rather vague. Risks are higher with 3+ sections and 5+ births. At 3 sections and 6 births I was rather dismayed at that!

I have found nothing about becoming pregnant within such a short time period of a 3rd c-section or becoming pregnant soon after a scar that was so poor at knitting together and healing. I only had to move and it came open (about 2 inches) in the first 3 weeks or so.

I hope that all goes well for you - you must be very close to delivery now ? I presume they are not letting you go much further than you are now ?

Good luck and best wishes for you and your family x

[gardennyc]

I guess as you would see all the comments, it is really not advisable to have a baby that soon.  I have a family friend who is an OB-GYNE, she said that at least two years after your had a C-section (i just had one), that you can get pregnant again. So, for your own good and family, you could have waited. Wish you well in your current pregnancy and the rest of your family.

[duehring]

I would go see a high risk pregnancy doctor. Do not kill your baby. I would tell the doctor that is out of the question. Obviously you don't want to and that is something you will regret for the rest of your life. Don't let anyone talk you into doing that.