Heart Disease Could Lead to Pregnancy Risks

July 8, 2009 by  
Filed under Heart Disease

Having a baby simply proves that life is truly a miracle. However, this miracle could be at risk if you suffer from heart disease. Being pregnant puts a lot of pressure on the women, including her heart. And with pregnancy, the heart works overtime since it has to deal with the baby’s extra weight and supply the baby with oxygen, blood, and other nutrients, as well. With a healthy heart, pregnant women will be able to take the extra strain that her pregnancy will need to cope with.

Being pregnant could be extra troublesome, if the pregnant woman in question has a heart disease; this may also give certain health issues during the pregnancy. Since there are various kinds of heart disease, this could pose various problems during pregnancy.

Pregnant women may suffer from heart disease risk factors where there is lower blood flow to the lungs. Pulmonary stenosis could happen if the blood flow from the heart to the lungs is hindered due to issues with blood flow. Mitral stenosis could happen if the blood flow operation from the lungs to heart is affected.

No matter what the case, the problem is that there is not enough blood flow needed, in order to keep the baby and yourself full of the required oxygenated blood flow in the body. If this happens, various diseases including heart disease could happen, as well as pulmonary hypetension, Cor pulmonale, Eisenmenger syndrome, and other pulmonary vein conditions. Even the risk of death during pregnancy could be as high as fifty percent due to heart disease alone.

Sometimes, when it comes to heart disease, a normal pregnancy is still feasible with the result of a completely healthy baby. If your heart disease is due to rheumatic fever, you are sure to be fine, though the baby may be a just a little underweight. But even those with congenital heart disease have chances of completely normal births.

If your heart disease lets you strain in keeping a healthy blood oxygen level, then the chances are that your unborn baby is also straining with it and may be born with some sort of retardation due to the lack of oxygen. In some cases, miscarriage could occur, as well as premature birth or even spontaneous abortion.

There is also a small chance that the babies could be born congenital heart disease or other heart disease. It is quite common that the baby will end up with the same heart disease as the mother suffering from it.

Generally, while heart disease patients have higher heart disease risk factors, it is still possible to have normal births. Heart disease may, although, determine what heart disease your unborn baby could have during pregnancy.