A
Anthony
Hi everyone,
My names Anthony. My wife and I have one child. My wife had him with a St. Jude mechanical valve. First I want to say that having a baby with a mechanical valve is not recommended and there is great risk as you will see reading our experience with it. (That being said adoption is a great alternative.) However, we have done it and we understand the risks. I hope that you will consider our story and not approach this posting with negativity. It is crucial that we have positive, supportive people surrounding us during this time. That doesn't mean I don't want to here your experiences, suggestions, even if they don't have a good ending. I just mean that we are not considering an abortion so it's not necessary to bring it up. There is enough difficulty and discouragement in trying to be pregnant with a mechanical valve.
If my wife wasn't brave enough to try I would not have the beautiful son that I have. And that is priceless. I hope that some of you will respond to this and share your knowlege and feelings. Hopefully your comments will help us and others. Especially if you have tried any of the approaches I've listed below. We would love to here from you.
At the age of 16 my wife Willow had her first mitral valve repair surgery due to Rheumatic Fever. (No, I didn't know her then.) The repair didn't hold. Six months later she had her first St. Jude Mechanical valve. At 22 she married me (I'm so lucky). She explained that she had a mechanical valve. But she said she could still get pregnant and have kids. I was naive and didn't question her, as a matter of fact I really had no idea what was in store for our family.
We had a very good High Risk OB. He transitioned her on to Lovenox. He checked her blood regularly throughout the pregnancy and everything seemed fine. Toward the middle of her pregnancy I noticed that half of her face was going numb for about thirty seconds at a time. We met with a few doctors, all of them said that it couldn't be a TIA (mini-stroke) because it didn't last long enough. Well despite my gut instincts I trusted their opinions. At 28 weeks in September of 1999, my wife woke me up. She said that she was in major pain. I took her to the emergency room. She had gone into premature labor and they couldn't stop it. My son was born at 1 lb 11 ounces. So after only a year and a half of marriage I had a baby in NICU and a wife in ICU. During this time the doctors said that my son may or may not make it, but that it appeared he had no birth defects. However, they said that only time would tell.
A few days after, while my wife was recovering, a nurse came up to me and asked me if I had noticed numbing in Willow's face. I told her yes. She asked me how long it lasted. We walked into the hospital room and Willow's face was numb again. It lasted under a minute. I told her that this had been going on for some time but the doctors said that it was too short to be anything major. The nurse talked to the doctor and they did an echo. Guess what?! They found a clot on the valve and a few days later my wife had her third heart surgery with a replacement St. Jude Mechanical valve. The doctors mentioned the idea of a pig valve, if we wanted more kids, but my wife and mother-in-law had already made up their minds.
I am very fortunate. My wife made it through surgery again. My son also amazed everyone. He is now six years old and is perfectly healthy. At the hospital my mother-in-law told me to get clipped that way Willow wouldn't get pregnant again. My family over heard this and said that Willow should get her tubes tide. They said nothing was wrong with me and if Willow ever died I would be able to have more kids. This all happened within an hour after my wife having heart surgery. (I realize in some instances men being clipped is reversable but not for me.) When I was twelve I had an operation that 95% of the patients who have can never have children. So the idea of getting clipped after surviving a miracle operation is very difficult for me. My wife and I talked about it and decided to just use protection and be careful. We feel that a decision to get "clipped" is ours to make not either of our families. Since then my wife has still wanted to get pregnant. I am not naive anymore. The risks involved in pregnancy are great. We have done research on this. There is no perfect answer. There are three approaches to pregnancy with a mechanical valve that I'm aware of:
1) Stay on coumadin the entire time.
This is the favored approach by the Heart Association. Many studies show that woman usually don't get clots on coumadin. However there is a high risk of having a miscarriage, 60+ percent. Plus the baby is completely at danger of many birth defects as you already know. But it is the safest for the mother.
2) Take Lovenox the entire pregnancy.
This is what we did with our first son. This is the safest approach for the baby. But the problem is most women that do this end up with a clot on their valve by the end of the pregnacy. Some die during pregnancy because of this. That of course makes it unsafe for the baby as well. If mom doesn't make it, the baby doesn't make it. (My wife had her lovenox levels checked all the time. Everything looked good. If someone tries this approach make sure you have regular blood tests, and "echos" during the pregancy. Please learn from our experience.) I cannot argue with the benefit of not hurting the child. My son has NO birth defects. He is perfectly healthy.
3) Take Lovenox the first trimester, 6-12 weeks, of pregnancy. Then go on coumadin until about 34 weeks. Then change to heprin/lovenox a week before surgery. Have the baby delivered by c-section the 35th or 36th week of pregancy. This is the approach we plan to take. We realize that the baby is still at risk. That being said, I've been told that the majority of the baby is developed by the end of the first trimester. This approach seems to make sense for our situation. Especially with my wife's previous history of clotting on Lovenox.
My wife is eight weeks pregant. She was put on Lovenox in the fifth week of pregnancy.
We have also added some more things to the list. We have five doctors watching my wife. We have the delivering OB, High Risk OB, Hematologist, Cardiologist, and her Primary (Just in case we need a referal no one else will give, do to HMO's). Oh and we have a clinic we go to. That way we can check her levels. If the Lovenox dose is off at all she gets drawn every day and redosed until it's right.
Once we get through this pregnancy we plan to have Willow's tube's tide. If she miscarries I have decided to get clipped. But it's our decision not our families. Infact we haven't discussed this with them and we don't plan to.
We have added one more thing to the equation. PRAYER. I can't think of something more important than prayer. Anyway I pray that all goes well. Your comments are appreciated.
Sincerely,
Anthony
My names Anthony. My wife and I have one child. My wife had him with a St. Jude mechanical valve. First I want to say that having a baby with a mechanical valve is not recommended and there is great risk as you will see reading our experience with it. (That being said adoption is a great alternative.) However, we have done it and we understand the risks. I hope that you will consider our story and not approach this posting with negativity. It is crucial that we have positive, supportive people surrounding us during this time. That doesn't mean I don't want to here your experiences, suggestions, even if they don't have a good ending. I just mean that we are not considering an abortion so it's not necessary to bring it up. There is enough difficulty and discouragement in trying to be pregnant with a mechanical valve.
If my wife wasn't brave enough to try I would not have the beautiful son that I have. And that is priceless. I hope that some of you will respond to this and share your knowlege and feelings. Hopefully your comments will help us and others. Especially if you have tried any of the approaches I've listed below. We would love to here from you.
At the age of 16 my wife Willow had her first mitral valve repair surgery due to Rheumatic Fever. (No, I didn't know her then.) The repair didn't hold. Six months later she had her first St. Jude Mechanical valve. At 22 she married me (I'm so lucky). She explained that she had a mechanical valve. But she said she could still get pregnant and have kids. I was naive and didn't question her, as a matter of fact I really had no idea what was in store for our family.
We had a very good High Risk OB. He transitioned her on to Lovenox. He checked her blood regularly throughout the pregnancy and everything seemed fine. Toward the middle of her pregnancy I noticed that half of her face was going numb for about thirty seconds at a time. We met with a few doctors, all of them said that it couldn't be a TIA (mini-stroke) because it didn't last long enough. Well despite my gut instincts I trusted their opinions. At 28 weeks in September of 1999, my wife woke me up. She said that she was in major pain. I took her to the emergency room. She had gone into premature labor and they couldn't stop it. My son was born at 1 lb 11 ounces. So after only a year and a half of marriage I had a baby in NICU and a wife in ICU. During this time the doctors said that my son may or may not make it, but that it appeared he had no birth defects. However, they said that only time would tell.
A few days after, while my wife was recovering, a nurse came up to me and asked me if I had noticed numbing in Willow's face. I told her yes. She asked me how long it lasted. We walked into the hospital room and Willow's face was numb again. It lasted under a minute. I told her that this had been going on for some time but the doctors said that it was too short to be anything major. The nurse talked to the doctor and they did an echo. Guess what?! They found a clot on the valve and a few days later my wife had her third heart surgery with a replacement St. Jude Mechanical valve. The doctors mentioned the idea of a pig valve, if we wanted more kids, but my wife and mother-in-law had already made up their minds.
I am very fortunate. My wife made it through surgery again. My son also amazed everyone. He is now six years old and is perfectly healthy. At the hospital my mother-in-law told me to get clipped that way Willow wouldn't get pregnant again. My family over heard this and said that Willow should get her tubes tide. They said nothing was wrong with me and if Willow ever died I would be able to have more kids. This all happened within an hour after my wife having heart surgery. (I realize in some instances men being clipped is reversable but not for me.) When I was twelve I had an operation that 95% of the patients who have can never have children. So the idea of getting clipped after surviving a miracle operation is very difficult for me. My wife and I talked about it and decided to just use protection and be careful. We feel that a decision to get "clipped" is ours to make not either of our families. Since then my wife has still wanted to get pregnant. I am not naive anymore. The risks involved in pregnancy are great. We have done research on this. There is no perfect answer. There are three approaches to pregnancy with a mechanical valve that I'm aware of:
1) Stay on coumadin the entire time.
This is the favored approach by the Heart Association. Many studies show that woman usually don't get clots on coumadin. However there is a high risk of having a miscarriage, 60+ percent. Plus the baby is completely at danger of many birth defects as you already know. But it is the safest for the mother.
2) Take Lovenox the entire pregnancy.
This is what we did with our first son. This is the safest approach for the baby. But the problem is most women that do this end up with a clot on their valve by the end of the pregnacy. Some die during pregnancy because of this. That of course makes it unsafe for the baby as well. If mom doesn't make it, the baby doesn't make it. (My wife had her lovenox levels checked all the time. Everything looked good. If someone tries this approach make sure you have regular blood tests, and "echos" during the pregancy. Please learn from our experience.) I cannot argue with the benefit of not hurting the child. My son has NO birth defects. He is perfectly healthy.
3) Take Lovenox the first trimester, 6-12 weeks, of pregnancy. Then go on coumadin until about 34 weeks. Then change to heprin/lovenox a week before surgery. Have the baby delivered by c-section the 35th or 36th week of pregancy. This is the approach we plan to take. We realize that the baby is still at risk. That being said, I've been told that the majority of the baby is developed by the end of the first trimester. This approach seems to make sense for our situation. Especially with my wife's previous history of clotting on Lovenox.
My wife is eight weeks pregant. She was put on Lovenox in the fifth week of pregnancy.
We have also added some more things to the list. We have five doctors watching my wife. We have the delivering OB, High Risk OB, Hematologist, Cardiologist, and her Primary (Just in case we need a referal no one else will give, do to HMO's). Oh and we have a clinic we go to. That way we can check her levels. If the Lovenox dose is off at all she gets drawn every day and redosed until it's right.
Once we get through this pregnancy we plan to have Willow's tube's tide. If she miscarries I have decided to get clipped. But it's our decision not our families. Infact we haven't discussed this with them and we don't plan to.
We have added one more thing to the equation. PRAYER. I can't think of something more important than prayer. Anyway I pray that all goes well. Your comments are appreciated.
Sincerely,
Anthony
