Ending The Pregnancy (Termination)

 

As most diagnoses of complex heart disease are made after the 20th week of the pregnancy it is important to think about the method of termination that would be needed.

 

At this stage of pregnancy the only way for the pregnancy to be terminated is to deliver the baby. Labour will be induced and the baby will be delivered vaginally. It is a difficult prospect to imagine going through a labour and parents often ask why the baby can't be born by Caesarean section. There are risks to the mother associated with Caesarean section and so it is felt that the safest way to deliver the baby is to have the labour induced with all methods of pain relief being available. Usually the baby will be born within 6 - 8 hours.

 

Your obstetrician will discuss specific details about your individual circumstances with you.

 

 

Most parents feel apprehensive about the birth and the midwives caring for you will talk to you about your concerns. You will be given a choice as to whether to see and hold your baby and this is a very individual choice. Many parents have found that seeing and holding the baby enables them to have very previous and real memories of the baby, and this has helped them in coming to terms with their loss. Most hospitals will take photographs and make a remembrance folder of the baby, which will be kept in your hospital file if you do not wish to see the baby at birth. Some parents choose to take photographs of their baby with their own camera.

 

 

Following the birth you will be visited by a member of staff responsible for bereavement services and they will discuss with you what your individual wishes are regarding funeral arrangement. The hospital will do its best to accommodate any religious or cultural beliefs that the parents wish to be observed. It will be your individual choice as to whether you wish your baby to be buried or cremated. Hospitals can make all the necessary arrangements for the baby to be cremated or buried, however some parents prefer to make their own private arrangements for a funeral. This member of staff will also inform you of the legal requirements surrounding registering the baby.

 

Following the birth you will be asked whether you would wish your baby to have a post-mortem. It is another very difficult decision for bereaved parents to face, but it can give additional answers which otherwise would not be known.

 

 

Following a termination, the question uppermost in the parents' minds is, "will this happen again in a future pregnancy?" To answer this accurately a number of essential pieces of information are required and a post-mortem may be the only way to complete the jigsaw.

 

If the heart condition is associated with other abnormalities or problems in the baby's genetic make-up, then the risks of this happening again may be higher than if we know that the heart condition is the only problem the baby has.

 

If the obstetric team feel that there is a high risk of a recurrence they may refer a family to the Genetics team who will look into the family history of congenital problems and will then draw up a risk assessment for an individual family. This is known as genetic counselling.

 

 

Terminating your pregnancy for abnormality will be a physically and emotionally traumatic experience for you, however it should not mean that you cannot have other children.

 

There are a few physical risks associated with termination and women usually recover relatively quickly.

 

The emotional effects of termination vary for each individual and you need to grieve for your baby in your own way and time and this may affect your decision of whether or when to try for another baby.

 

Associated physical risks: