Pregnancy

Hi all, 

I have had a pacemaker my entire life. I was born with 3rd degree congenital AVB and received my first pacemaker shortly after birth. I ventricular pace 100% of the time. 

I would like to start a family in the near future but am concerned about the risk of heart failure due to the added stress from pregnancy and the negative effects of RV pacing. I am scheduled to have an echo to check my EF but I was wondering how many women out  who are RV paced almost all the time have had children?

Did you have to have your EF monitored throughout your pregnancy??

 

Thanks! 

Sam

3 Comments

pregnancy with cchb

by Tracey_E - 2017-08-04 22:06:46

There are a few of us here 100% paced with CCHB and have had kids. I am quite a bit older than you and was never paced until I was an adult. I saw my cardio before attempting to get pregnant, and he had a discussion with my ob. I did not have any extra monitoring or tests during pregnancy, the cardio told the ob to treat me like all his other healthy patients. I even worked out right up until I delivered. The only concession to my heart was a monitor during delivery and I was told if things got drawn out or my heart showed signs of distress, that there would be an immediate c-section. Two normal pregnancies, two easy deliveries in birthing suites rather than the main hospital, no complications cardiac or otherwise. My girls are both in college now, I turned 50 last year, and my EF is still excellent. 

I switched to an adult congenital practice last year and was fascinated with his insights. I've never before had a doctor with other patients like me and he spent a whole hour just chatting with me on my first visit. He said that for patients like us, if we can be paced 5+ years without EF dropping, then he almost never sees it drop due to pacing later than that. That was a huge relief to me because I'm very active and have always feared the day my function dropped. 

Good luck!!! 

Pregnancy

by Samantha87 - 2017-08-05 23:56:33

Thanks TraceyE for the reply. 

That's good to know about the 5+ year thing. I haven't had my echo yet but I've have my transvenous system now for over ten years and I've never had any heat failure symptoms so hopefully I'm in the clear. 

Glad to hear pregnancy is still possible and safe for us bionic women. 

bionic moms

by Tracey_E - 2017-08-06 16:17:52

Just make sure the ob is in touch with the cardio/ep, but there should be nothing to it. My ob was a little freaked at first and talking high risk specialists and cardiac neonatologists. They don't see many pacers in their practices! But the cardio talked him off the ledge and convinced him I was perfectly healthy and able to have a baby, and what we have is not genetic so there's no reason to have extra monitoring on the baby. 

I had a LOT of hospital staff poking their heads in the door when I was i labor lol. They don't see many pacing spikes on their central monitors. 

If you want to chat, feel free to private message me any time! 
 

 

You know you're wired when...

You read consumer reports before upgrading to a new model.

Member Quotes

A pacemaker suddenly quitting is no more likely to happen than you are to be struck by lightening.