Becoming pregnant

None of my pregnancies were planned. With having epilepsy, I have a very limited options for contraception.

My main worries were ‘Will my child have epilepsy because I do?’ ‘Could I hurt the baby?’  ‘Do people with epilepsy find pregnancy harder?’

From 16 years old I was always told that pregnancy would be a struggle. The main thing doctors said was that if I was trying to become pregnant, to talk to them about the medication I was on. Also, if I ever thought I was pregnant to go to see the doctor. This was because of medication risks.

I’ve sadly lost two babies. With first baby I had a miscarriage at 2 months. With my second baby, it was 12 weeks before I found out I was pregnant.  I nearly lost my life. The baby was ectopic and I needed surgery to save my life.

I asked the doctors after if this was because of my epilepsy and they said that there was no way of knowing. After talking to other mums, I realised a lot of people had gone through similar situations and it wasn’t my fault, epilepsy or no epilepsy.

After being told me and my husband would struggle to have children, we got pregnant with our daughter. Although it wasn’t planned, it was the most amazing feeling and I couldn’t have been happier.

The biggest advice I would give people is if you’re planning on becoming pregnant, talk to your doctor first before you start trying to get pregnant because of the medication risks.