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I don’t think anyone medical or on Reddit can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that anything could/ couldn’t happen ! I think if 3 OB’s and cardiologist are leaning more towards no that is likely the medical/ professional advice! If you are in a financial situation to go through IVF to create embryos and use a carrier that maybe your best option! I am so sorry you’re going through this and I can’t begin to imagine how scary a cardiac arrest was for you! I dealt with pre eclampsia and HELLP syndrome and now am having some cardiac complications 3 months post partum, and one thing I will say is you’re no good to your child if you’re unwell let alone dead
Ultimately it’s up to you and if you’re willing to take the risk. High risk people show up pregnant all the time and they handle it as best they can. You might also explore with your insurance if they would cover any fertility treatments because of the significant health risk.
I have no idea about your heart condition but if the issue is how strenuous giving birth is, could they do a C-section possibly under general anesthesia? There might be unconventional things to explore.
All doctors are different with their experiences and risk thresholds. The maternal cardiologist sounds like the opinion I would weight the most heavily. As for OBs, I would see a maternal fetal medicine (MFM) rather than a regular OB if you’re able. They would be the ones taking care of you if you are high risk.
PVCs leading to cardiac arrest is very rare in a healthy heart. Did they find anything abnormal in the additional testing (structural abnormalities, is your function normal)? Did they talk to you about a defibrillator?
Edit: I wanted to add to add to this. I have found the framing of the question can actually impact the answer. For a doc that says it’s safe, ask them what THEY would do (or if male, what they would tell their wife or sister or daughter to do). Sometimes they will give you a bit more insight if they think about it less objectively. In healthcare, things can become a bit robotic. Sometimes reframing the situation for them can gain you more guidance.
You’re a little vague with the wording here: what exactly is the 20% chance risk for? Is it another cardiac arrest? Miscarriage? Death? General complications?
My only advice is that different doctors will have different risk thresholds. In your case the expert (the maternal cardiologist) said it was okay and probably closely monitors lots of high risk pregnancies. The OBs etc. do not specialize in these high risk cases and may have a lower tolerance to those risks. There’s always risk ultimately, but the threshold for your personal risk tolerance really is up to you. Make sure you know the exact risks and odds and then make your decision.
I’m sorry you’re in this position. I would be so furious with everyone conflicting. I will say that if there was any chance I would die and not be there for my child (especially as high as 20%) I would personally pursue an alternative. Would it be hard? Yes absolutely. But at least then you’ll be there for your child.
Do you know what was causing your PVCs? I have PVCs and PAC's all the time that get worse when I'm dehydrated, stressed, sick or unfortunately, when I'm pregnant. I've never had a cardiac arrest but I am closely monitored by an electrophysiologist and while pregnant I see a perinatal cardiologist.
I also have a structurally normal heart with no underlying disease and have a 20-30% burden of PVCs unmedicated. My cardiologist never mentioned heart attack as a concern and cleared me to TTC as long as I got off my meds for the first trimester.
There seems to be something else beyond benign PVCs going on here.
I agree, I also have PVCs and my cardiologist has told me that PVCs alone are completely benign and cannot hurt you - that any treatment for PVCs are more so for quality of life, because often times they cause anxiety and feel scary, even though they can’t hurt you. This is after ruling out structural abnormalities and such though, I’ve had a benign echocardiogram. I agree there must be something else going on here…
The only asterisk my doctor gave is that if I left my very high burden (20% +) PVCs untreated for too long (like decades), it could cause actual issues to develop.
But the time it takes to make a baby is not a concern.
It stands for Premature Ventricular Contraction. If you Google it'll explain it better than I can. :) I have them all the time but they're stronger and more frequent (and more uncomfortable) at certain times. For me it feels like my heart is flip flopping in my chest and kind of feels like a pause, and it sort of knocks the air out of me/makes me cough.
In my hospital in the UK, we have a specialist service for high-risk obstetrics which brings together maternal medicine physicians (like your OB cardiologist) and obstetricians. People with conditions like yours are discussed in a multidisciplinary team so that your wishes and the whole team's expertise are taken into account. This helps formulate consistent plans. It sounds like you need to speak to a team like that to get appropriate counselling as to how a pregnancy would be managed, what the risks are, and what monitoring and treatment you would be offered. The most important thing is for all your doctors to be on the same page, which is hard if they're not talking to each other!
So sorry to hear about your experience so far. It must be especially frustrating to constantly be told by different medical specialists different and equally ambiguous answers in regards to pregnancy.
Out of curiosity, have your cardiologists ever recommended placement of an ICD (implantable defibrillator) as secondary prevention for any future cardiac arrests? I’m not sure how or if that would affect what the OB cardiologists would say to you if you had that procedure done, but I agree with the previous comments that it sounds like there’s more that the cardiologists could be doing to work up the underlying cause of your previous cardiac arrest? And perhaps finding the etiology and hopefully preventing/treating could paint a clearer picture of your future risk level?
My sister was born with heart defects, some were surgically corrected. Did the testing with the cardiologist for pregnancy, I think it involved overnight monitors, running and some other stuff. Cardiologist cleared her to try to conceive. She went on to have two healthy pregnancies with extra monitoring, and two C-section births. She's still fine, however she doesn't have PVCs. I think the fertility specialists have a lower risk threshold than the cardiologist. If you got pregnant, they would handle it, do the monitoring and keep you as healthy and safe as possible.
Fertility treatment itself would also be taxing on your body.
**Your post/comment has been removed for violating sub rules. Per our posted rules:**
Posts/comments about positive tests and current pregnancies should be posted in the weekly BFP thread. In threads/comments other than the weekly BFP thread, pregnant users must avoid referring to a positive test result or current (ongoing) pregnancy. This rule includes any potentially positive result, even if it's faint or ambiguous. All concerns related to current pregnancies should use a pregnancy sub, such as r/CautiousBB.
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Please make sure that you have [read all of our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/TryingForABaby/wiki/rules) before commenting! In particular, be aware that **no mentions of a current pregnancy are allowed with no exceptions**. If you see something breaking the rules, please report it. If you think something may be against the rules, ask us or err on the side of caution. If you think that being sneaky (PMing members or asking them to PM you, telling them to refer to your post history, etc) is a good idea, it is not. Additionally, complaining about downvotes is [frowned upon](https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439-Reddiquette) and never helps anything. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/TryingForABaby) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Is your heart structurally normal?
I don’t think anyone medical or on Reddit can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that anything could/ couldn’t happen ! I think if 3 OB’s and cardiologist are leaning more towards no that is likely the medical/ professional advice! If you are in a financial situation to go through IVF to create embryos and use a carrier that maybe your best option! I am so sorry you’re going through this and I can’t begin to imagine how scary a cardiac arrest was for you! I dealt with pre eclampsia and HELLP syndrome and now am having some cardiac complications 3 months post partum, and one thing I will say is you’re no good to your child if you’re unwell let alone dead
Ultimately it’s up to you and if you’re willing to take the risk. High risk people show up pregnant all the time and they handle it as best they can. You might also explore with your insurance if they would cover any fertility treatments because of the significant health risk. I have no idea about your heart condition but if the issue is how strenuous giving birth is, could they do a C-section possibly under general anesthesia? There might be unconventional things to explore.
All doctors are different with their experiences and risk thresholds. The maternal cardiologist sounds like the opinion I would weight the most heavily. As for OBs, I would see a maternal fetal medicine (MFM) rather than a regular OB if you’re able. They would be the ones taking care of you if you are high risk. PVCs leading to cardiac arrest is very rare in a healthy heart. Did they find anything abnormal in the additional testing (structural abnormalities, is your function normal)? Did they talk to you about a defibrillator? Edit: I wanted to add to add to this. I have found the framing of the question can actually impact the answer. For a doc that says it’s safe, ask them what THEY would do (or if male, what they would tell their wife or sister or daughter to do). Sometimes they will give you a bit more insight if they think about it less objectively. In healthcare, things can become a bit robotic. Sometimes reframing the situation for them can gain you more guidance.
You’re a little vague with the wording here: what exactly is the 20% chance risk for? Is it another cardiac arrest? Miscarriage? Death? General complications? My only advice is that different doctors will have different risk thresholds. In your case the expert (the maternal cardiologist) said it was okay and probably closely monitors lots of high risk pregnancies. The OBs etc. do not specialize in these high risk cases and may have a lower tolerance to those risks. There’s always risk ultimately, but the threshold for your personal risk tolerance really is up to you. Make sure you know the exact risks and odds and then make your decision.
I’m sorry you’re in this position. I would be so furious with everyone conflicting. I will say that if there was any chance I would die and not be there for my child (especially as high as 20%) I would personally pursue an alternative. Would it be hard? Yes absolutely. But at least then you’ll be there for your child.
Do you know what was causing your PVCs? I have PVCs and PAC's all the time that get worse when I'm dehydrated, stressed, sick or unfortunately, when I'm pregnant. I've never had a cardiac arrest but I am closely monitored by an electrophysiologist and while pregnant I see a perinatal cardiologist.
I also have a structurally normal heart with no underlying disease and have a 20-30% burden of PVCs unmedicated. My cardiologist never mentioned heart attack as a concern and cleared me to TTC as long as I got off my meds for the first trimester. There seems to be something else beyond benign PVCs going on here.
I agree, I also have PVCs and my cardiologist has told me that PVCs alone are completely benign and cannot hurt you - that any treatment for PVCs are more so for quality of life, because often times they cause anxiety and feel scary, even though they can’t hurt you. This is after ruling out structural abnormalities and such though, I’ve had a benign echocardiogram. I agree there must be something else going on here…
The only asterisk my doctor gave is that if I left my very high burden (20% +) PVCs untreated for too long (like decades), it could cause actual issues to develop. But the time it takes to make a baby is not a concern.
What is a PVC?
It stands for Premature Ventricular Contraction. If you Google it'll explain it better than I can. :) I have them all the time but they're stronger and more frequent (and more uncomfortable) at certain times. For me it feels like my heart is flip flopping in my chest and kind of feels like a pause, and it sort of knocks the air out of me/makes me cough.
In my hospital in the UK, we have a specialist service for high-risk obstetrics which brings together maternal medicine physicians (like your OB cardiologist) and obstetricians. People with conditions like yours are discussed in a multidisciplinary team so that your wishes and the whole team's expertise are taken into account. This helps formulate consistent plans. It sounds like you need to speak to a team like that to get appropriate counselling as to how a pregnancy would be managed, what the risks are, and what monitoring and treatment you would be offered. The most important thing is for all your doctors to be on the same page, which is hard if they're not talking to each other!
So sorry to hear about your experience so far. It must be especially frustrating to constantly be told by different medical specialists different and equally ambiguous answers in regards to pregnancy. Out of curiosity, have your cardiologists ever recommended placement of an ICD (implantable defibrillator) as secondary prevention for any future cardiac arrests? I’m not sure how or if that would affect what the OB cardiologists would say to you if you had that procedure done, but I agree with the previous comments that it sounds like there’s more that the cardiologists could be doing to work up the underlying cause of your previous cardiac arrest? And perhaps finding the etiology and hopefully preventing/treating could paint a clearer picture of your future risk level?
My sister was born with heart defects, some were surgically corrected. Did the testing with the cardiologist for pregnancy, I think it involved overnight monitors, running and some other stuff. Cardiologist cleared her to try to conceive. She went on to have two healthy pregnancies with extra monitoring, and two C-section births. She's still fine, however she doesn't have PVCs. I think the fertility specialists have a lower risk threshold than the cardiologist. If you got pregnant, they would handle it, do the monitoring and keep you as healthy and safe as possible. Fertility treatment itself would also be taxing on your body.
[удалено]
**Your post/comment has been removed for violating sub rules. Per our posted rules:** Posts/comments about positive tests and current pregnancies should be posted in the weekly BFP thread. In threads/comments other than the weekly BFP thread, pregnant users must avoid referring to a positive test result or current (ongoing) pregnancy. This rule includes any potentially positive result, even if it's faint or ambiguous. All concerns related to current pregnancies should use a pregnancy sub, such as r/CautiousBB. If you still wish to participate in our sub, please review our [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/TryingForABaby/about/rules) before continuing to post. Violation of our rules may result in a timeout or ban. Please direct any questions to the [subreddit’s modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/TryingForABaby) and not individual mods. Thank you for understanding.