Oh baby! The moment that I knew I was pregnant

I remember sitting on my bed with three ‘vital pieces of evidence’. Finding out I was pregnant was a real mix of emotions; joy mixed with a feeling of ‘oh no what have we done’. But, would having epilepsy have changed this moment and my feelings? I don’t have epilepsy, so I asked our mums instead.

First time lucky

Nicola: Surely this can’t be right!! What were the instructions again? Does that blue line really mean…?

I was expecting it to take at least a year to get pregnant. First time lucky is leaving me feeling very scared, excited and completely unprepared. I can’t quite believe it is real now. We really are going to have a baby!

But what about the epilepsy?

Rebecca: We were still in the process of thinking about whether to have a baby or not, when I discovered I was pregnant! It might have been fate, but whatever it was, it was happening and the decision had been taken out of our hands!

When I found out I was pregnant, I felt fairly prepared in a practical sense due to the research I'd done, but I still felt really frightened. Will my epilepsy get worse during pregnancy? What about the birth? What if the medication harms the baby? Will I have breakthrough seizures? Will I be able to look after my baby? How will I cope with the sleep deprivation?

I also had all the concerns that people without epilepsy have too. Where we would live? How would we manage for money? What impact is a baby going to have on our relationship? Although I had all of these feelings I knew it would be ok. We would deal with one thing at a time and we'd find a way to sort all of these things out. 

Ring the nurse

Clair: When I was four weeks pregnant I had a tonic-clonic seizure (at that point I didn’t realise I was pregnant). I hadn’t had a major seizure in a year, so it was a blow and my medication was increased.

It was a week or so later I found out I was pregnant. I was so scared. On top of the risk of birth malformations from my epilepsy medication, what could the seizure have done to my baby? I rang my epilepsy nurse who reassured me the chance of it affecting the baby is low. It is if you go into status epilepticus that the baby is more at risk.

Cautiously excited

Faye: In November 2011 I became pregnant, but had a miscarriage. It all happened quite quickly, so nothing related to my epilepsy really came up. And I knew it was quite normal for someone my age, so I wasn't worried.

I became pregnant again in May 2012, and will hopefully have a daughter in February 2013. It was exciting to become pregnant again. But having had a miscarriage, we were cautious about thinking about it too much, before the first scan.

Ingrid: I felt in shock after I’d done the pregnancy test. We had been trying for a baby for three months, but I wasn’t expecting the result to be positive. I assumed my period was late due to the stress of getting married in four days.

Status epilepticus – Note from Beth (epilepsy specialist midwife)

“Status epilepticus is when a seizure or cluster of seizures, continue for thirty minutes or longer. It is a medical emergency, and the person will need urgent treatment to stop the seizure. Thankfully status epilepticus in pregnancy is rare. But it is important that everyone knows when to call an ambulance to a person having a seizure. More advice is available from Epilepsy Action”