Gabriel's Life

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1. gabbie2009
   Member

   My fiance and I were wondering if we could get pregnant, with me having a VP shunt. Everyone I know has told me that it would be dangerous because of the tubing. I have spoken to an OB-GYN and I was told that I would be able to have children, but would be a high risk pregnancy. As one can imagine, we are both apprehensive about becoming pregnant.

   Does anybody have any insight to this topic. Better question to ask, has any couple experienced what we are going through right now ?
   Any insight to this would be helpful. Thank you for taking time to read this.

   Posted 9 months ago #

2. ShelbyKarelynn
   Member

   Gabbie -

   I would like to reassure you that everything would be okay and that no complications from the VP would interfere with you and your finance's choice to go a head with child birth.

   My husband and I are working on child number three all three children were alive and well, no complications during the pregnancy, delivery or healing afterwards. So far I've had an epidural with both of my girls (with no complications) and even had a vaginal delivery both times.

   The only difference between a VP shunt delivery and a normal delivery of a woman without a shunt is that we will be required to have the antibiotic drip in our IV's basically rendering the GBS test useless that you will have towards the end of your pregnancy.

   I've had my VP shunt since I was 9 years old, the tube goes into my large intestines, since your uterus sits below your intestines there is no chance that the baby will get tangled up in your tube...(My husband was jokily concerned about this last week)

   Neither of my pregnancy's were treated as "high risk" - Good luck and congratulations!!

   Posted 6 months ago #

3. shauna7084
   Member

   I am 8 months pregnant and have a VP Shunt (due to hydrocephalus caused by a brain tumor that was removed nearly 4 years ago). So far my pregnancy has been completely normal. However, my OBGYN has some concerns about delivery and pushing. I've tried asking my Neurologist - but they really do not want to give me any definitive answers. Is pushing problematic for delivery if the mother has a VP Shunt? Is vacuum assistance necessary?

   Posted 5 months ago #

4. rhilew22
   Member

   Im currently 6 months pregnant, I had a VP shunt inserted in oct 2009 (last yr) for hydrocephalus which I only found out that I had end of sept 2009. I wonder whether Im ok to have normal birth or whether a c section would be best??? I have see an OBgynae she wasnt v helpful an said point blank a c section was not needed but iv read things that make me query this. any help???

   Posted 2 months ago #

5. Tamara
   Member

   I had a brain tumor at the age of 9 and then got hydrocephalus and my vp shunt was inserted. I am now 28 & currently pregnant with my second child. With my son who is now 3 I had a vaginal delivery and had no problem with pushing although I was told that I might. My son however was premature but is just fine now I don't think this had anything to do with my shunt but non of my drs can come to an agreement. Good luck on becoming pregnant and delivery I don't feel a vp shunt should be an issue at all

   Posted 2 months ago #

6. hresler
   Member

   I am approximately 8 weeks pregnant and I've had a shunt since I was 6 months (due to a stroke during birth). Before my husband and I started trying I asked my neurosurgeon if there was any reason to be concerned about becoming pregnant and he told me everything would be fine. Also, one of my mother's friends is a nurse that has helped deliver several babies to mothers with shunts and she said she has seen very few complications(usually the complications were due to other health issues the mother had). Most deliveries are normal. I have been concerned myself, but after all that I have heard I feel much better. I hope this helps to put others at ease.

   Posted 2 months ago #

7. drdionne
   Member

   I have a VP shunt that was placed when I was ten. I had my daughter when I was 35 and she was born by normal vaginal birth at 40 weeks. I did have some neurological complications during my pregnancy that, with further studies done after birth, we now know were because my shunt is very long and actually coils on the bottom of my pelvis. Our current hypothesis is that periodically the baby would pin my shunt against the bones of my pelvis and block it and I would get symptoms of increased intracranial pressure. Then the symptoms would spontaneously resolve. This happened twice during my pregnancy and during labor. At the time no one could figure out why it was happening because we didn't want to do all the imaging tests that were required while I was pregnant. I did have one CT without contrast with the first onset of symptoms and then a full workup of studies a few hours after she was born. I also had two different neurosurgeons who wanted to do a shunt revision while I was pregnant and an OB who wanted to deliver my baby early. We were able to avoid all those surgeries while I was pregnant, thank goodness, because the symptoms resolved. Most people's shunts are not as long as mine so it is normally not an issue for the baby to be able to pin the shunt in the pelvis. If it is just floating in your abdomen then there is nothing to "pin" it against to block it. I only wanted to post this as a thought to just make sure you know where your shunt is before you get pregnant to avoid issues later. Have a happy and healthy pregnancy!

   Posted 1 month ago #

8. Lisa
   Member

   Hi I am currently pregnant with my 4th babe and the only problem that I have encounter is Not being able to have a epidural and the other is if I had to have a c-section I would have to have a general anastetic,so I do it as natural as it can b done,the other problem is pretty bad headaches after the birth due to the Hydrocephalus and lack of sleep!hope this helps:-)

   Posted 3 weeks ago #

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