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Preeclampsia leading to Family Centered Cesarean
When Megan Ray had her first baby, she was planning a water birth at home; but, she was overdue. She went in for a biophysical profile, and found out her blood pressure was through the roof and she was admitted for severe pre-eclampsia. They tried an induction, but her condition continued to deteriorate, so she had a c-section. It was family centered and very special, but she was very sick and doesn’t remember much of the actual birth.
Megan got pregnant again right away (breast feeding isn’t birth control!) when her son was just 3 months old. She wanted a VBAC with the same nurse midwife group that ended up being her care provider when she went to the hospital with her first. She came to her due date again, after spending several weeks on BP meds for high numbers, and had a bad 24 hr urine test result. They moved forward with another induction, but after 24 or so hours trying to get things going her labs were getting worse and baby was not coming down. They said it was possibly a positioning issue, or maybe even breech, so she moved forward with a second family centered c-section.
VBA2C with Gestational Diabetes
Megan and her husband waited a little longer to get pregnant a 3rd time so they’d have 18 months between births. Continuing care with her midwife, she changed some things about her pregnancy care, like different supplements and other care like scar tissue work with the C Section Recovery Center and lots of chiropractic care. She ended up with a gestational diabetes diagnosis that crushed her; but, with the support of her midwife she continued on her journey to a VBA2C. Since she needed medication to help control the GD, she moved forward with an induction at 39+2, this time with no signs of pre eclampsia! She had a cooks catheter placed the night before, pitocin started the next morning, and her baby girl, Jeanneva was born after only 15 minutes of pushing less than 12 hours later!
After Jeanneva was born, Megan had genetic blood testing done and found out she has a MTHFR mutation as well as another autoimmune clotting disorder, which most likely caused her pre eclampsia with her first 2 pregnancies and why taking a low dose aspirin with her 3rd kept it away. She says she will have to be on injected blood thinners if she has another baby. She recommends that anyone who’s had multiple pre eclampsia experiences should have genetic testing done.
Megan Ray Bio
Megan and her husband live on a small family farm with goats, horses, cows, dogs, cats, a parrot, and a fish aquarium. Oh yeah, and their 3 kiddos are aged three years and under! John Luke was born via unplanned c section in August 2013, Jessa in September 2014 by another unplanned c section, and Jeanneva was born March 2016 in a triumphant VBA2C! Megan is a lover of natural childbirth and a leader of a local cloth diapering mom’s group on Facebook. She is also pursuing becoming a leader of ICAN for North Texas.