Dealing with Peripartum Congestive Heart Failure: My Personal Experience

I am currently a 30 year old female with three beautiful daughters who is recovering from peripartum congestive heart failure. Yes, you have read right. I am living with congestive heart failure. I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure 8 eight days after giving birth to my youngest child. I had a normal pregnancy up until the end. I had developed preeclampsia in the last trimester of my pregnancy and was put on bed rest at 35 weeks gestation.

At 36 weeks gestation, my blood pressure was getting too high, I was losing too much protein in my urine output, and my body was retaining too much water. My doctor told me that they would have to induce me because my pregnancy was starting to become dangerous for both me and the baby.

At 36 weeks, I went to the hospital and was induced. I was given magnesium sulfate to help keep my blood pressure down during delivery and was continued giving doses of magnesium sulfate until 24 hours after delivery. My delivery was pretty easy. I was only in labor for 8 hours but the magnesium sulfate made me feel horrible and continued to make me feel bad even when they took me off of it.

After my magnesium sulfate drip was finished, my blood pressure was still high and I was feeling winded by walking to the bathroom. The doctor kept telling me that it was after effects from the magnesium sulfate. I took the doctor's word on that and just thought that my sick feeling was a result of the medicine. After spending two days in recovery, I was released to go home even though I was complaining of not feeling well.

When I went home with my new baby, I wasn't feeling right at all. I was getting tired extremely easily. I would get tired picking my newborn up and trying to nurse her. My heart was pounding extremely hard and I couldn't get the pounding to start. My swelling in my lower body didn't go down even though I was prescribed lasix to help get the excess water out of my body. I also lost my appetite and didn't feel like eating anything

I decided to go back to my ob\gyn to see if the way I was feeling was postpartum related. I knew something was wrong with my body but I just didn't know what. I went to see my ob\gyn and he could see that I looked miserable and that my heart was pounding. He couldn't even catch my pulse because my heart was beating so fast. My ob\gyn measured my legs and noticed that none of the swelling in my lower body went down. He immediately came to the conclusion that I might have peripartum congestive heart failure. My ob\gyn got another doctor to come in for a consult and the other doctor agreed. I was then sent to the main hospital to be admitted.

I was first admitted to the labor and delivery ward since I was still newly postpartumed. The resident ob\gyn at the hospital didn't know what was wrong with me and ordered some tests for me. I had a chest xray, ct scan, and an ekg before a diagnosis was made. After the tests came back, I was told that my heart has suffered some heart failure and it looked like the muscles on my left ventricle were weakened. I was then told that I would be transferred to the cardiovascular service since it was determined that my heart was failing.

While in the cardio ward, a catheter was placed inside me and I was given lasix through an IV since the doctors had to get all the excess water buildup out of my body. I was then hooked up to a telemetry monitor to make sure that my heart kept beating properly. I was utterly scared because everything was going by so fast and I thought that I was not going to make it.

The next morning, an echocardiogram was ordered for me so that the cardiologists could get a better a picture of my heart to see what was going on. Once the results came back, I was able to be diagnosed with peripartum congestive heart failure with cardiomyopathy. My results from the echocardiogram showed that my pump function was only at 23% and I needed to start treatment to get my heart pumping better.

My treatment started on the second day in the hospital. I was giving heparin shots three times a day for blood clotting, IV lasix three times a day to get the water out of my body, and lisinopril once a day to maintain my blood pressure. This process went on for 4 days in the hospital. I was miserable but I knew that I needed to keep fighting so that I could be there for my girls. I was getting depressed because I wasn't able to nurse my newborn infant and because I wasn't able to see my three year old while I was in the hospital.

On the fifth day, my charts showed that I had lost 50 pounds in water weight and the catheter was taken out. I was ordered to take 40 mg of lasix orally twice a day and lisinopril once a day. I was finally able to go to the bathroom on my own and I was moving around better. I was able to take walks on the cardiovascular floor without getting winded. My cardiologist released me on the 6^th day. I was ordered to light duty and a low sodium and low water diet. I was ordered to not return to work until my condition improved.

After being released from the hospital, I had to follow a strict diet and take my regiment of medicine every day. I would then follow up with my cardiologist in Temple once a week. I would also have to get lab work done every week on the day before I see my cardiologist. Day by day, I was getting better and feeling stronger. Six weeks after my first echocardiogram, I was given another one. This echocardiogram showed that my pump function had went back up to 45%. My cardiologist was very happy that I was making a rapid recovery and wanted me to keep up what I was doing.

I currently see my cardiologist once a month now and still have my labs the day before I see her. My labs show that I clinically don't show signs of heart failure but we know that I still have the condition. My next echocardiogram is scheduled for the end of July. My cardiologist says that I just got out of the woods and won't consider me fully recovered until I remain stable for the next year. I will still have to take my medication everyday for long term and I can't have anymore pregnancies or my heart will become weakened again.

I am currently being studied by my doctor because there isn't much information on why I developed peripartum congestive heart failure with cardiomyopathy. Research is being done to see why if 10 women develop preeclampsia then why do 2 women develop heart failure. My cardiologist is currently studying the two cases that are in the area. Half of women who develop heart failure are under the age of 30, happens with the first child, another pregnancy isn't recommended, and only 50% of women make a full recovery.

I am currently one of the lucky women that is recovering from heart failure. You can never tell. I've started working out again and living a healthier life. I'm lucky that I can continue to here for my family. My husband and I wanted to have more children but I just can't take the risk right now. Every day, I am working to get myself better and stronger and making sure that I am alive to see my beautiful children grow up.