Transplant 4 years ago and now Pregnant!

[maritza0486]

Hello and thank you for reading,

So, I joined this site 4 years ago, when I was on dialysis. I became very lucky and received a cadaver transplant 3 months later. Interestingly enough, the first transplant I had compares nothing to this one. This one, the doctors call, "twin" match. I am only on 2 medications (prograf and azathioprine) With my first kidney transplant I was taking 30 different meds from what I remember. I had high blood pressure, anemia and high cholesterol with that 1st one. It is almost as if the first one was simply a trial run.

With this kidney transplant I have been diagnosed with low blood pressure and that is it.

I am not pregnant with my 1st child. I am so scared. 3 months pregnant. I fear things such as preeclampsia, gestational diabetes and rejection after labor. My doctors say my chances are great in having a successful and healthy pregnancy and birth because I am healthy in all aspects. I work out, I eat healthy and I am of appropriate weight. I fear so much and was wondering if anyone else with a kidney transplant (preferably female), has been pregnant and how great it was (or not).

I thought pregnancy would feel awesome! The first weeks of knowing I was ecstatic. Soon what followed was misery and disgust. I think pregnancy sucks. I feel absolutely emotional, bloated, fat and miserable. I know this is a blessing and I am utterly in love with my fetus, but it's just the overall feeling I feel. I need some friendly advice and comfort. Thanks.

[jeannea]

This is a happy announcement! I hope everything goes really well. The doctors will help you with what you need to do to keep the baby healthy. I have never been pregnant but I understand some stages are harder than others and it's very individualized. In a few weeks you could be feeling fabulous. Take a little time to not worry and just allow yourself to be happy about your baby.

[cattlekid]

I only have this knowledge second-hand having never been pregnant myself, but my two friends who just had babies within the last 8 weeks both said the same thing.   They weren't the glowing preggos, they were the fat, bloated and miserable preggos.  Both love their babies to pieces but pregnancy itself just didn't agree with them.

I thought pregnancy would feel awesome! The first weeks of knowing I was ecstatic. Soon what followed was misery and disgust. I think pregnancy sucks. I feel absolutely emotional, bloated, fat and miserable. I know this is a blessing and I am utterly in love with my fetus, but it's just the overall feeling I feel. I need some friendly advice and comfort. Thanks.

[okarol]

  Congratulations! On the pregnancy AND what sounds like a wonderful kidney!
There are so many people who would love to get pregnant, but cannot, so I wouldn't complain too loudly.
All the hormonal and physical changes will be challenging, but hopefully it will be a pleasant experience overall.
Best wishes to you! 

[lainiepop]

Huge congratulaions! On your pregnancy and a great kidney!

What i would say is listen to your doctors, go to all you neph/obgyn appointments and know your body, trust your gut if u feel somethings not right then ask.

I am 31 i have a 6 year old son and 2 and half yr old daughter. I hadn't had a transplant but had kidney disease all my life so had the same worries u fear. I can tell u what happened to me although everyone is different!

I fell pregnant with my son relatively easily despite having a gfr of around 30 and felt pretty good during pregnancy not sick at all but did feel tired (old wives tale has it u glow with boys feel crap with girls, was right for me!) The obgyn told me i would def get pre-eclampsia. Diabetes was never a concern raised and obviously didnt have the rejection worry so i cant ease your mind about that, have ur docs said this is a possibilty? I cant see why personally as long as ur kidney function is good and can withstand the pregnancy? Im guessing you'll have more regular blood draws? I did.
I also had monthly growth scans which increased to 2 weekly growth scans from 28 weeks or so to check the size of the baby (a decrease in size plus blood pressure increasing can both be indiccators pre eclampsia could be coming!) My neph was adamant i should have a planned c section 4 weeks early as the last 2 weeks typically sees most pressure on the kidney, but obgyn had other ideas and didnt listen, i ended up having him a week early but only from insitence from me and my neph. Had i known a bit more and he hadn't been my first i would have been much more pushy to get him out! All the growth scans had shown him average weight then towards the end of the pregnancy he slowed off the average line and my creatinine was slowly rising. I pointed this out to be told it is because of my size (5 foot 106lbs odd) and i simply couldnt have a bigger baby?! Anyway i finally called neph when lastest bloods showed gfr had dropped to about 20, in the space of a week, he got me in and obgyn finally conceded yes now would be ok! I was inducded and lucky had him very easily in 3 and half hrs but days after delivery my blood pressure shot up to 200/160, i had pre-eclampsia (which apparantly i was still at risk from up to 7 days after the birth). I was given lots of meds to bring it down but it took a few days and i was so poorly had to give up breastfeeding (the bp drugs were not safe to breast feed on). We were in hospital for a week and my gfr recovered to 26. My son was 5lbs12 (he hadnt grown for a month, which the scans had shown and were ignored!) He was fine and quickly gained weight, now he is v tall like his dad one of tallest in his class. However me and neph felt he shouldve been delivered earlier and the post partum pre-eclampsia could have been avoided! To be fair i know a lot of people without our medical issues who had pre-eclampsia, in a way being high risk like us is an advantage as we are better checked (certainly in the uk !!)

So when Andrew was about 18mths old i wanted another. I have no idea why!!! I figured we'd be more prepared 2nd time and i knew what to look out for, plus we would be having baby somewhere else anyway. This pregnancy was totally different, for a start i took about 18mths to get pregnant, i got pregnant a couple weeks after andrew turned 3 and was ecstatic. This excitement quickly turned sour after my first blood test at 8 weeks pregnant showed gfr had dropped to about 17. (id been unfortunate enough to have a virus during the early weeks of pregnancy and kidney couldnt take that plus the pregnancy and knocked the kidney). This time obgyn was fab but we had a pretty dire first appointment with him, was told would probably need dialysis to get through the pregnancy and my body might not be able to make it near full term, but would aim for a 32 week delivery. Anyway i had an early scan which detected a heartbeat and then went home and vomited everywhere (i barely made it out the car, who knows what the neighbours thought of me being sick on the drive but i couldnt help it!) I suffered awful morning sickness (um all day sickness!!) from week 8 to 23 so i can totally relate to u feeling rough but it sounds corny i was happy to feel crap as i knew baby was ok!!!) I lost a stone in 3 weeks, which helped hide the pregnancy as we didnt tell people until 20wks when we knew baby would have fighting chance. Anyway sickness aside pregnancy was fine docs were great and kidney held, no dialysis. Then same time as with my son, she dropped below her line on the growth scan (she had been smaller from the start we think now because shes a girl but the size didnt matter as long as it was consistent for baby and she stopped growing she didnt grow for several weeks before her delivery.) I really wanted a natural birth with her but it was taken out of my hands, creatinine was rising so they tried to induce me at 34 weeks but it wasnt happening so they did a c section a week later. She was 5 weeks early and weighed 3lbs12. Id had steroid jabs at 32 weeks to strengthen her lungs and she came out screaming. I was quite poorly after (because of the low kidney function but didnt get pre-eclampsia this time!) I didnt produce breast milk this time so she was tube fed anyway and in the intensive care baby unit only for one night )and only as i was too ill to take of her, she was too well to be in there even to so small she was breathing on her own.) So next day she came to transitional care with me, pulled out her feeding tube and even tho they said she was too prem to suck from a bottle i begged to try and she downed more in the bottle than she was getting in the tube! Her weight had dipped to 3lbs 7 but she came home at a week old weighing 3lbs 9. She was and is super healthy never gets ill and eats so much and so well, she is just a naturally diddy doll, (like me!!)

So my two experiences were different and i am perfectly fine and so are my kids, i have no doubt that u will have less issues than i did seeing as u have a well working tx. My gfr dropped to 10 after I had Elena, but i managed to stay off dialysis until my dad donated to me just before her 1st birthday. Do keep us updated with your progress! I would love another one some days lol and think itd be easier now ive got a good working transplant lol but hubby says no and ive got a boy and girl so am very blessed.

The best of luck to u, pregnancy does have stages, it should look up soon, but some people suffer worse than others. It is an emotional time especially for us with extra complications, but i promise u it will be all worth it in the end and u do forget it all, once you hold your baby, and then the fun really starts

Marie xxx