Pre-eclampsia

[StongWoman]

I am trying to get a feel for how often people who had pre-eclampsia in their first pregnancies ended up with pre-eclampsia in their subsequent pregnancies.  It was a horrible and traumatic experience for me the first time around. Anything you did differently from one pregnancy to the next?  The perinatologist that I saw yesterday said he would want me to start taking calcium, magnesium, and a baby aspirin prior to conception through my pregnancy.  

[AlexisT]

Overall, the average is 20%, but it varies substantially depending on severity and time of onset. A woman who gets severe PE at 24 weeks has a much higher chance of recurrence than someone who gets mild PE at term. Underlying chronic hypertension is also associated with a higher rate of recurrence (I can't find the study now, but I saw one indicating a recurrence rate of 46% in chronics), which makes sense, since we have a 25% chance of developing it period!

I had severe superimposed preeclampsia in my first pregnancy. Too soon to tell with this one. I developed it close to term and I don't have any clotting factors, so my MFM didn't advise anything beyond better control of my underlying HTN and close monitoring.

You might find the Preeclampsia Foundation website useful: www.preeclampsia.org

[cinderella08]

My personal experience was that I developed preeclampsia which wasn't managed by my OB and went into full blown HELLP syndrome at 38 weeks with my first.  Induced, ended with a cesarean.  My 2nd I developed PIH, which went into preeclampsia, but was induced BEFORE things go worse and ended in a VBAC.