Questions about HG and Loss?

[justme]

Hi There,

I have a friend who is a nurse. She recently went to some CE training and let me read the section in the little workbook about HG. It had a statement that although it was true that morning sickness seemed to indicate a healthy pregnancy (one that would *stick*), that did not seem to be the case for Hyperemesis - that perhaps it had a higher incidence of loss. I was wondering about HG and the incidences of loss - first trimester, second trimester, and terminations?

I am also curious because all of the pg books say how important it is to eat healthy, gain weight, etc. But many of us can't do that - and even end up losing weight. How concerned should we be about this? My dr. didn't seem to bat an eye at it when I lost around 20 lbs. (rather quickly I thought) - but my dh and I are were understably freaked. Didn't understand how our baby could be okay in those conditions.

On important Casey anniversary dates I send out letters to family and friends and ask them to make a donation at HER in her honor (one family member actually did - yeah for my aunt!!!!!). And I usually refer to HG and loss and say that their donations can help save mommy's and their babies.

For the record, I do not believe my loss was HG related (It seems to be chromosonal). But, having suffered quite a devastating loss (and what loss isn't), part of my personal goal and plea to others is to help with HG so that my HG sisters don't have to deal with loss on top of HG (a great injustice). So I guess I am looking for some type of info. to use in my letters to family and friends.

Thanks (that ended up being much longer a post than I anticipated),
Karen

[IslandDreamer]

Hi Karen,

I'm not admin, so I hope it's okay if I chime in. I've spoken with Kimber about this a lot.

The stats for us are really sad. Read more here: http://www.helpher.org/mothers/get-support/loss.php

Malnutrition/starvation information: http://www.helpher.org/health-professio ... rition.php

It sucks.

[teddi]

Per a previous HER conducted study, about 20% of women terminated their pregnancies.

The rate of miscarriage was about double for HG women versus regular rates of m/c.

http://www.helpher.org/PressCenter/pres ... 0final.pdf

[IslandDreamer]

Teddi, is that 20% of women have terminated one or more pgs, or is it that 20% of pgs have been terminated? Stats mess with my head

[HGx3]

I love what you are doing! And even if your loss wasn't hg related, I think having hg and then suffering a loss worsens the blow. "All that suffering for what??" kwim?

Regarding the weight loss... my ob wasn't worried about the weight either-said the baby would manage to get what it needed and all 3 did. The problem is that after the pg is over, many of us end up with long term health issues because we gave so much of our reserves maintaining a pregnancy.

Many here have immune system problems as well as a slow or non existant metabolism.

[aaronsmommy]

The increased rate of miscarriage is for second trimester losses in people with significant weight loss.

The decreased miscarriage rate is for all people with vomiting in pregnancy, not just hg, and it is decreased up to 20 weeks.

[Atsie]

I never realized how high those loss statsics were.

[Cheri]

It is "good" to see those statistics, a bit of validation, if you know what I mean. Thanks for the links Suzanne & Teddi.

[teddi]

Suzanne-

I don't know the answer to your question honestly. I am going only off the survery summary and... not sure if it was total # of pregnancies or # of women. Maybe Kimber or Aimee might know the answer to that!

[IslandDreamer]

This language is unclear: Still more deal with miscarriage or late loss and still born infants.

Late loss is undefined...Miscarriage is under 20 weeks and stillbirth is over 20 weeks. Can we just say that?

[aaronsmommy]

I no longer have a copy of the actual data.

Here is a quote from the website "According to our international survey, about 25% of the women visiting our site have terminated an average of 1.8 pregnancies due to ineffective care and lack of support. Some have terminated as many as eight much-wanted pregnancies"

As far as percent of pregnancies that get terminated - Kimber has 10% listed in a couple of places.

I don't have the numbers on how many actually have second trimester losses. I'll keep looking, or ask Kimber.