A Mother Survives Two Strokes Post Partum and in Pregnancy

I am 36 and a survivor of 2 strokes.

My first stroke was 7 months after the birth of my first son, I was 34.  I had a normal pregnancy and a vaginal birth in a hospital after 31 hours of labor.

Due to my first stroke, my husband and I decided that it was best for my health if we didn’t have any more children.  Well, the powers that be had other ideas and we were blessed by getting pregnant almost exactly 2 years from the conception date of the first child.

At 9 weeks, I was hospitalized for a stroke again.  After a lot of testing and 5 days in the stroke unit, we still had no answers as to why it happened again.  I was discharged on the blood thinner, Lovenox, which is an injection that I had to give myself in the belly 2 times a day for the duration of the pregnancy. I started seeing a high risk OB once a month in addition to my regular OB and had a relatively easy pregnancy.

The high risk OB told us that it would be necessary to induce me at 39 weeks due to the risk of having another stroke.  In my mind, I knew that I could go the full duration of the pregnancy, but I did not want to risk having another stroke, so I went ahead with the induction.

From this, I learned that I am not a fan of Pitocin and hated every minute of the process, but after 9 hours, I had a healthy 6 lb 11 oz baby boy vaginally and he and I are doing well.

I know that my story is not that out of the ordinary other than I was a stroke survivor with my second child and I am stronger because of it! I know that there are other women like me that are scared/terrified and worrying about how to handle a birth after stroke or just surviving the birth in general following a stroke.

I just wanted to say it can be done, no it was not fun at all, but I survived and so will they.

{Gabriel, born (02/12/13) 40 weeks after my stroke}

{Steven (01/09/11)  born 7 months before my first stroke, holding Gabe}