Pregnancy with FVL or other clotting disorders in UK?

Hi all!

I am currently in the US and deciding whether or not to wait until next year when we're in England to have a second baby (for financial reasons really). I have no experience with NHS and am not really concerned about quality of care being and issue except in this one circumstance.

I have a blood clotting disorder called Factor V Leiden that will require me to have daily injections of Lovenox (blood thinner, possibly called Fragmin there) for the duration of my pregnancy and 6-8 weeks after and I would see my OB and work with my hematologist to try and protect the pregnancy. In my case I've not had any major clotting events but have had 2 pregnancy losses that resulted in testing for this disorder.

My question is for those of you that have a clotting disorder or know someone who does. How were you treated? Did you see an actual OB and hematologist throughout your pregnancy? If you have a case similar to mine were you put on blood thinners? Did you have additional ultrasounds?

I just don't want to get there and find out that it's treated differently there or not monitored as closely. I just recently had a loss at 12 weeks and with this disorder later term losses are more common so I'm terrified and want to take as few risks as possible but we're trying to save every penny right now to pay off our car and meet my visa requirements so adding $2000 for pregnancy and birth costs would be a bit of a hardship.

Thanks in advance!

I don't have what you have, but I do have ITP. In my case, the midwife checked my blood every month and that increased to every week by the end of my pregnancies. I was seen by an OB and hematologist at the start of both pregnancies and given strict instructions for what to do if I thought things were getting worse.

In your case, I would expect that you would be seen and monitored much more closely. It would be very important, obviously, to bring all your medical notes. You might even be able to get an appointment with a specialst here before you conceive given the high-risk factor of your condition.

That said, it's hard to be more specific as things can vary from region to region. I know in Somerset I was checked for gestational diabetes simply because of my weight, but in Devon I wasn't.

Sorry I can't be more helpful, but I am reasonably certain you would get good monitoring care.

I would agree coming over half way through the pregnancy (I moved half way through my last one) and I did not get nearly as much care as I required due to problem pregnancies, as I did with the OB who had known me for 10 years at that time, I would say that with out complications you would be fine but to be honest the NHS is great to have but unless you have an established history with your OB first I would have a baby there or come over and ask to be refered as soon as you get here and get a GP, bring all your notes and medications list with you.

If you have the chance to do this it will make you feel better and you will have more confidence in whom ever is treating you.

Maybe you could let people know what area your looking at moving to and if anyone lives there and knows of a good OB that would be a start.

Good luck

I had a miscarriage in March of last year at 19 weeks, the results from all the post mortems were inconclusive, but the one thing that stood out to the consultant that it might be a clotting disorder. She advised that I had some blood tests and if I got pregnant again, I would be under the care of a consultant. Fast forward about 3 months and I found myself pregnant again, the consultant advised that I take 75 mgs of asprin daily and be considered a high risk pregnancy. So everything was treated as normal until my 20 weeks scan (I was still taking asprin everyday) when I saw the consultant and she said, why didn't you see me sooner (okay, so apart from my ringing and begging the midwives to let me see the consultant no one seemed to care that I wanted to see her) Anywhoo...after the 20 week scan when everything looked great I started to come in every 3-4 weeks for appointments, growth scans etc and just general reassurance. So I am 36 weeks this week (scary stuff!!!) and baby is doing great. I don't know if you will get the same care as you would get in the US, Lovenox was never mentioned,  but I wanted to share my experience! Good luck with your decision!

oooh, and I remember when I was in hospital after having my son, they do give you fragmin on a daily basis. Its stings like a bugger!!!

Thanks ladies! After reading this and a lot of posts comparing UK and US birth/pregnancy care I think I will have my 2nd here before we go (assuming everything goes according to plan). I don't feel that the care isn't as good in the UK but I really enjoyed my experience with my son even though it was an emergency c-section it all went very well and neither my husband or my baby was away from me for one moment of my hospital stay. We had a nice private room and it was just so peaceful, the three of us getting to know eachother those first few days. I would hate to trade that for free care when I do get 80% coverage here anyway.

So thanks again! I really appreciate you all sharing your experience