Heart health during pregnancy -
Women with pre-existing heart disease may experience worsening in their condition and have more severe signs and symptoms at any time during pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum. Cardiac complications may manifest themselves at any time during a pregnancy or within a year after what seemed to be a normal pregnancy.
Some of the risk factors for developing heart disease during pregnancy include:. Non-Modifiable Risk Factors: These factors are irreversible and cannot be changed. The more of these risk factors you have, the greater your chance of developing heart disease:.
Modifiable Risk Factors: These factors can be modified, treated or controlled through medications or lifestyle changes:. To diagnose heart problems, your doctor will take a careful medical history, review your symptoms and perform a physical examination.
To find out how your heart condition is affecting your pregnancy, your doctor may do the following diagnostic tests and procedures:. Treatment for heart disease during pregnancy involves a balance of the right lifestyle changes, and in some cases, medications. Treatment options include lifestyle changes and medications.
Medication you take during pregnancy can affect your baby. Often the benefits outweigh the risks, however. If you need medication to control your heart condition, your health care provider will prescribe the safest medication at the most appropriate dose.
Take the medication exactly as prescribed. Don't stop taking the medication or adjust the dose on your own. At RWJBarnabas Health, we aim to give you the best chance at a healthy pregnancy and successful delivery.
If you are pregnant and need cardiac care, make an appointment with one of our expert New Jersey cardiac specialists as soon as possible. Request an Appointment. Skip to Content Skip to Menu Content Only High Contrast Screen Mask Increase Text Size Clear All. Pregnancy and Heart Disease. If you need medicine to control your heart condition, your health care team will prescribe the safest medicine.
And the amount that you take, called the dose, also will be tailored to your needs. Meet with your health care team before you try to get pregnant.
Start by making an appointment with your heart doctor, called a cardiologist. Also make an appointment with the doctor who will handle your pregnancy. You'll likely be referred to a health care professional who takes care of people with very high-risk pregnancies.
This doctor is called a maternal-fetal medicine specialist. You also might want to talk with other members of your health care team, such as your family doctor. Your medical team will check how well you're managing your heart condition. They'll also consider treatment changes you might need before you become pregnant.
Certain medicines that treat heart conditions aren't used during pregnancy. Depending on your situation, your doctor might change your medicine or dosage before you become pregnant.
Ask what risks are involved. If you have a pregnancy that you didn't expect, see your cardiologist and a high-risk-pregnancy doctor as soon as possible. You'll see your health care team often during pregnancy. Your weight and blood pressure will likely be checked at every visit. You might need frequent blood and urine tests too.
How often you see your cardiologist during your pregnancy will depend on how severe your heart condition is.
You might need tests to check your heart health, including:. Your health care team will monitor your baby's health throughout the pregnancy.
Routine ultrasound exams can help track your baby's growth. Other types of ultrasounds can be used to find heart conditions. Your baby might need to be closely watched after birth.
The baby may need treatment as well. Know what's off-limits. Don't smoke, drink alcohol or take illegal drugs. These can harm your baby's health. If you tolerated 1 to 2 servings of caffeine a day before you got pregnant, talk to your cardiologist or pregnancy doctor.
Ask if it's safe for you to keep drinking this limited amount of caffeine during your pregnancy. You may be told to drink less than milligrams of caffeine a day. That's about the amount in an 8-ounce cup of brewed coffee.
Exact amounts of caffeine in coffee or tea vary by brand though. If you notice a fast or unusual heartbeat with caffeine, you may wish to stop drinking it — especially if you have an arrhythmia.
Call your health care team right away if you have any symptoms that concern you. Symptoms of a heart problem can include:. Your health care team might advise that you deliver your baby at a medical center that specializes in high-risk pregnancies.
In general, pregnant people whose heart conditions are under control can give birth when they go into natural labor. But sometimes, a procedure is done to help a pregnant person go into labor on a set date under controlled conditions. This is called induced labor. You might need this if your care team has certain concerns about your heart or blood flow.
Special equipment might be used to track your health during labor. Your heart rate and rhythm might need to be monitored throughout labor and delivery. Your contractions and the baby's heart rate are watched closely as well. Instead of lying flat on your back, you might be asked to lie on your side.
You might be asked to bring one of your knees toward your chest. Your health care team might recommend that you receive medicine to keep you from feeling labor pain, called anesthesia.
The anesthesia may be given through a thin tube into your spinal column, called an epidural. Or you might receive it as a shot into your spinal column, called a spinal block. If you give birth through your vagina, your health care team might limit your pushing. To do this, they may use tools that gently guide the baby out of the birth canal.
If you're at risk of endocarditis, you might receive antibiotic treatment just before and after delivery. It's unusual to need a C-section because of a heart condition. If you develop a problem that leads to a C-section, special care is taken to track your heart health during the delivery.
Your heart also is monitored for the next day or two afterward. If you have certain forms of severe heart disease, your health care team might suggest setting a date to induce labor. Breastfeeding is encouraged for most women who have heart conditions, even many of those who take medicine.
Ask your health care team if any treatment changes need to be made before you start breastfeeding. Some pregnant people were born with a heart problem that greatly raises the risk of endocarditis.
If that's the case for you, your doctor will likely talk with you about the risk of an infection while breastfeeding. The infection is called mastitis, and it could pose a special risk for you. That's why pumping and feeding breast milk from a bottle might sometimes be recommended instead of putting the baby to your breast.
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Products and services. Heart conditions and pregnancy: Know the risks Pregnancy stresses the heart and circulatory system. By Mayo Clinic Staff. Show references Waksmonski CA, et al.
Acquired heart disease and pregnancy. Accessed March 6, Mehta LS, et al. Cardiovascular considerations in caring for pregnant patients: A scientific statement from the American Heart Association.
Waksmonski CA. Pregnancy in women with congenital heart disease: General principles. Prenatal care. Department of Health and Human Services. Heart disorders in pregnancy. Merck Manual Professional Version. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
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