Just found out i'm pregnant and i'm freaking out

So it's been 11yrs since my last traumatizing pregnancy, I say traumatizing cause my daughters pregnancy is what unveiled my bradycardia. I became very syptomatic during my pregnancy, fainting, palpitations, numbnessand heaviness in extremities, shortness of breath, dizziness, nausea, the works, and the whole pregnancy i was being told that i was having panic attacks, till i finally had my baby & matters got worse there after. It was only then that it occured to my then OBGYN to send me to a Neuro/cardiologist, to come find out I have bradycardia w/2nd degree heartblock. I had my pacer surgery in 2003, i struggled many yrs with it, had no quality of life for 5 yrs as i still struggled with feelings of syncopy, tachycardia... when my problem was the opposite, it was a very trying time, and till today i still have no idea why i did so bad with my first implant. Fast forward to Dec 2014, finally time to get a new pacer so i changed from a guidant to medtronic and what a difference its made, its been so much better, although i still have the occasional weakness and dizziness especially around that time of the month. Anyways, I've avoided getting pregnant for 11yrs now cause i am traumatized at the thought of what a pregnancy could do to me, i find myself thinking if it will resurface old symptoms or worse? well, i just found out 1 week ago that i am 4wks pregnant and while i want to feel thrilled, i am terrified!!. I have been feeling very exhausted and feel the need to sleep a lot, I also get the feeling of heaviness in my legs for no apparent reason, i know its normal to feel tired in the beginning but i'm a little worried about the heaviness i feel, sometimes tingling in my hands, and some heaviness in my head at times...idk what to think. I was just wondering if anyone of you wonderful ladies have had successful pregnancies with your pacers and if you had any crazy scary symptoms during pregnancy with your pacemaker. I guess i'm scared at the thought of developing serious symptoms as I head farther into the pregnancy, I am 39 yrs old and turning 40 in June so that also has me a little worried as well. I just worry i will become symptomatic during pregnancy or that the pregnancy will demand more than my heart can take causing symptoms. Sorry about this long novel i've written lol but i would really appreciate anyones story about their pregnancy with a pacer. Thanks!

3 Comments

been there, done that, 2 healthy babies

by Tracey_E - 2015-01-15 09:01:17

First thing, take a deep breath! I totally get where you're coming from, but panicking just makes it worse. Most of the problems you had before were because you were NOT paced. Not the situation now, you'll find it's much easier when the pm is keeping your rate up appropriately. I had two babies after getting a pm.
Both pregnancies were perfectly normal. I even worked out up until the week I delivered and both were born in the birthing suites rather than the regular hospital. My ob freaked a bit at first, but a phone call with my cardio took care of that. My cardio told him to treat me like everyone else.

Everyone is tired and dizzy first trimester!

random thoughts...
if you have both tachy and brady, the heart block was masking the tachy. Are you on meds for the tachy? If yes, your cardiologist needs to know asap because not all heart meds can be taken while pregnant

no need for genetic testing, imo. Heart block is a fluke, it's not genetic, so it's nothing you can pass on to a baby. My OB was going to send me for genetic testing and to have a work up by a neonatal cardiologist, my cardiologist said it was unnecessary. He's done check ups on both of my kids, mostly out of curiosity not because we expected to find anything, both are perfectly healthy.

If you have questions or just want to chat with someone who's been there, feel free to send me a private message any time! The pm will do nothing but help, this should not be a big problem.

Congrats!

by Theknotguy - 2015-01-15 09:01:26

Congratulations on your pregnancy. Everyone forgot to say that. In spite of potential problems, hope everything goes as well as it can.

Failed pregnancy :(

by Kaity - 2015-02-18 07:02:02

Sorry it took me some weeks to come around, thank you guys so much for answering on my post. TraceyE, you really took the worry away from me when I read your post and seen how you had 2 successful pregnancies with the pacer, it was like a breath of fresh air to read you. Unfortunately I started to have pains and miscarried :'(. I was anticipating a growing belly once again, now feeling overwhelmed by sadness. I know time heals all, but this really sucks. Thanks for writing me...its not the first time you've helped me out with your words, thank you for that, and the others on here as well.

You know you're wired when...

Your pacemaker interferes with your electronic scale.

Member Quotes

Try to concentrate on how you’re able to be active again and feel normal, rather than on having a machine stuck in your body.