Protect your heart during pregnancy

If you’re pregnant, you have enough to be concerned about. Worrying about your heart and the strain a developing baby can put on your system should not be one of them.

Federico Mariona, MD, an Oakwood-affiliated maternal/fetal medicine specialist, said proper planning and adequate communication with your health care provider should alleviate those concerns.

“The majority of women go through a pregnancy without having significant issues to contend with,” said Mariona, who was instrumental in starting the maternal and fetal medicine program at Oakwood. “If the woman has been completely healthy before, she will go through a normal, garden-variety pregnancy.”

It’s important to remember, however, that pregnancy puts an additional strain on the body. You are not just eating for two—you’re doing everything else for two, as well. Every organ adapts to the presence of the pregnancy, according to Dr. Mariona, regardless of how healthy the mother-to-be is.

“Practically every function adapts to the needs of the person that is being created,” he said. “Every trimester has different implications.”

The heart bears part of that strain. During pregnancy, your blood volume can increase by as much as 30 to 50 percent as you nourish your growing baby. Your heart pumps 30 to 50 percent more blood ever minute, too. In other words, your heart is working a lot harder.

Most women will not experience any heart-related problems during pregnancy and it is rare for the rhythms of the heart to change during that 290 days, but women who have been diagnosed with hypertension before they became pregnant will want to take additional precautions, he said.

“A cardiovascular system that is chronically ill and misfiring when the women is not pregnant becomes more burdened during the pregnancy,” said Dr. Mariona.

Watch for symptoms such as fatigue, swelling of ankles or fingers, fluid retention, heartburn or chest pain. Because those symptoms are common during healthy pregnancies, too, they can often mask the signs of a more serious problem, according to Mariona. Treatment for those conditions—if they are serious—vary on the individual, and that is also true if she has been diagnosed with a chronic cardiac condition before she became pregnant. He said communication with your health care provider is important.

“It is ideal to be counseled before you conceive,” he said, “ to seek help, saying: ‘I’ve had high blood pressure for 10 years, now I would like to have a baby. What should I do, or what should I not do?’ That would be the beginning of a plan for pre-natal care.”

Recommendations will depend on how high blood pressure has already affected the body—which organs have been affected and to what extent. Medication may be changed because it is not good for the baby, or the amount or dosage may be changed, he said.

“These are discussed and planned very carefully during a pre-conception counseling visit,” Dr. Mariona said.  

Check here for other heart-related information and tips.