Pregnancy with Mitral Regurgitation

[Debrinha GT]

Wishing you luck!

Wishing you luck!

I think there have never been so many people EXPECTING the same baby. When you least expect this whole thing will be behind you and you'll have your little boy in your arms. Don't forget to post a picture then, OK

´Débora from Brazil

 

[Christian]

Quick update: We've finished week 28 (just 83 days left). Blood pressure yesterday was 112/70, which is great -- no signs of pre-eclampsia. Everything else was "totally normal."

We visit a cardiologist next Wednesday for a routine checkup.

And I will, of course, post a few baby pics when I can.

 

[Debrinha GT]

great!

great!

Hi Christian, happy to hear all is going so well. This baby really does want to be born and judging by your posts, the two of you also want him so badly that I'm sure God will make this dream come true. Tell Jill to hang in there and take extra care of herself from now on.God Bless!

Débora from Brazil

 

[Janine]

Hello, Christian. This is my first post on the forum. I had to reply as soon as I read your story. I am 33 yr old mom of two small children. Joey who is 3, and Sophia who is 2. Six weeks ago I had Mitral valve repair surgery at NYU. I too, had mvp with moderate to severe regurgitation for many years. I have suffered with symptoms for about 12 years, passing out, palpitations, irregular heart beats, shortness of breath. I went every year to six months for my checkups, including echos. I was on beta blockers, and just went about my life. I was a first grade teacher and enjoyed every day. My husband and I decided to have children, and with our dr's advice we stopped beta blockers. I had the best pregnancies ever. I never felt so good. Never did it cross our minds that I would have any problems, which I didn't!!! Only recently did I look into my mvp due to my shortness of breath, and the fact that I was starting to have enlargement of the atrium. Thru MY OWN research did I wind up at NYU with a surgeon. He saved my life!!! They repaired my mitral valve , which was the anterior leaflet. I had a life changing experience that week. One week after heart surgery, I was home with my kids , taking walks as usual. Six weeks later, I am back to life, better than ever! So....I am sure your wife will be fine with her pregnancy, and if there is some bump in the road, it sounds like Cleveland is the best. Please ask afterwards about repairing her valve while she is young and before any problems develop that are unrepairable. Don't be talked into this "let's wait and see" mentality. Wait for what? For things to get worse? I was told I had a 80% chance of repair by one dr. Then my surgeon told me 95% chance of repair because of his yrs of experience and expertise. He was one of the best. I new instantly after our 2 hour consultation, that I was in the right hands. As far as I understand, Cleveland Clinic is supposed to be one of the best. I would be surprised if they can't give your wife great odds on a repair. Good Luck. I'll be looking for your updates. God Bless

 

[Christian]

Wow, Janine. Your story is very similar to my wife's.

I'm glad to hear you received a successful repair. That's our ultimate goal and we certainly won't wait until things get bad.

Even more glad to hear you had two uneventful pregnancies with just about the exact same problems. I'm sure that'll be as reassuring to anyone reading this thread down the road as it is to me.

Thanks for the post. Try to stay in touch.

Oh, and welcome to the forum!!

 

[Christian]

Another quick update. Only 70 days to go. Jill had an echo today. I got to watch for the first time -- actually *saw* the mitral valve. I have no idea what it's supposed to look like, but it seemed to be working.

Her regurgitation has dropped to "moderate" (actually "mild to moderate") due to the drop in systemic resistance caused by the pregnancy. That's good news. Blood pressure was 105 / 65 and we're at the peak of blood volume so it isn't supposed to get any worse. That's good too. No heart enlargement at all. In fact, the only change caused by the pregnancy is the aforementioned reduction in regurgitation. So all of you that have valve regurgitation -- go get yourself pregnant!!

She gets to deliver in a regular (rather than ICU) bed. As we expected, they recommended we have a "no push delivery" which means she doesn't push much and they use forceps at the end. That sounds crappy but I know nothing about it. I'll be peeved if my son has a dented head.

Delivery will be slightly risky. We were told that a sudden increase in blood pressure caused by heavy pushing or major trauma could cause severe shortness of breath and pulmonary edema (lung swelling) -- to avoid this, she'll have an epidural (no pain) and won't push much. Easy enough, I guess.

That's it. We had a pretty good day.

 

[Karlynn]

My guess is that she'd want an epidural anyway. There's nothing quite like the pain of childbirth. Picture a Charlie Horse cramp in your calf, spread it all over your body and magnify the pain X10000!

Someone mentioned something a while back about reading that women with heart issues seem to have shorter labor. My son's was 14 hours, before I had any heart issues. My daughter's (my pregnancy with her tanked my MVP) was 20 minutes. So if I'm proof, there's something to that hypothesis. But I still took the opportunity in those 20 minutes to ask (okay - scream) for an epidural. Didn't get one, but it never hurts to ask.

So glad everything is going great. I hope you both are sleeping as much as possible, because it will be the last you get for about 20 years. They keep you awake as babies and as teenagers - the crying just turns to whining.

 

[Christian]

I'm not sleeping now.... Jill gets up to go to the bathroom every 45 minutes.

 

[KimC]

My labor with Coulson (in photo) started out with a BANG! Contractions began at 4pm. I convinced my husband to take me to the hospital ONE hour later when my contractions were a minute-and-a-half a part! My OB put me on a drip to SLOOOOOOW down the labor, then made me sign a consent form that said forceps were OK.

 

[Christian]

We finally took some pictures. Here's Jill at 29 weeks (we're in week 32 now). She's standing in our new nursery, clearly pleased that I managed to paint the stripes in a straight line.

 

[Karlynn]

The picture proves, once again, that women with faulty valves are just naturally gorgeous!

You 2 are going to have a very good looking baby!

Nice stripes Christian. Try doing that again after about 3 months of having the little critter out in the world!

 

[Rain]

Christian's baby...

Christian's baby...

I can?t wait to see the baby pictures!!

My first born didn?t have a name for two weeks... he was supposed to be 'Sara Lorraine'. Second child didn't either!!

Do we get to vote on names?! Cause I wanna vote to keep Christian as the baby's middle name!

It didn't work for me Karlyn.... all three were very loooong labors. And mitral problems from child one on. No pain meds with any of them.

 

[hensylee]

you sure she's pg, Christian? She hardly looks it at all. What a lovely lady - we finally get to meet her! I agree that you will have a beautiful baby, what with the double set of genes you have both passed on.

 

[Christian]

We finally chose a name for the baby, but we didn't use "Christian." We've decided to keep the name quiet until he's arrived. We want to have at least one surprise on his birthday.

48 days to go -- today's day one of Week 34. The little guy will be "full term" in less than four weeks. Time sure flies!

I don't expect to have any more updates until he's here. There's really nothing to report except for smooth sailing. Looks like I got the boring pregnancy that I was hoping for when I started this thread. Hooray for that!

 

[Englander]

Lovely couple you are and you will have a gorgeous baby. will look forward to hearing the good news
Bess

 

[Christian]

Thank you Bess. And I was happy to see the post about your daughter's positive test results.

29 days to go -- nothing new to report.

 

[weekycat]

Here's a strange coincidence...

Here's a strange coincidence...

If your baby boy is due in 29 days, does that mean the due date is October 13th? My daughter, Jessica is due to have a little boy that day also...(here's the funny part), she called me the other day and said, "Mom, how do you feel about the name "Christian"! I told her I loved it, by the way .

Strange, huh? Here's hoping for two healthy little boys to be born that day, (or somewhere around there, anyway).

 

[Christian]

I'd guess her son would thank her for "Christian" a hundred times over a lifetime... I'd use it if it wasn't already taken.

We're due on the 14th. But you never know.

 

[sylviayasgur]

hi christian!
i have been thrilled that things are going so smoothly for you two and jill's pregnancy. she is carrying beautifully!
just wanted to mention that oct. 14th is a great day_ our youngest daughter's birthday.
please let us know how things go...this entire family is anxiously awaiting this new baby!!!
wishing you both all the best....just remember, labor is temporary... there IS an end in sight... and you get this prize!!!!
be well, sylvia

 

[Ross]

I need to send you a box of crayons to doodle on that nursery wall and make it look like it really will in a year or two.