Pregnancy Complications:  Karyn and Lexie

Karyn and Gareth had only just started antenatal classes and were beginning to relax about their pregnancy when Karyn found herself admitted to National Women’s Hospital. Like most first-time mothers, Karyn felt the most dangerous phase of pregnancy had passed once she had reached 29 weeks. Despite suffering from migraine headaches more frequently than usual during pregnancy, Karyn had felt generally well. The fact that the baby appeared to be on the small side of normal wasn’t considered a problem until a Doppler scan, which measures the placental blood flow, revealed not only was the infant small for its gestational age, but the placenta supporting it was functioning poorly.

A week later she was admitted to National Women’s and a week after that, Lexie, weighing in at 1000 grams (2lbs 3ounces), was born by emergency Caesarian. Karyn had developed a severe form of preeclampsia which had restricted blood flow to the baby and begun to affect her own organ function.

“Preeclampsia is such a frightening disease because of its stealth,” says Karyn. “Some women experience fluid retention and consistently high blood pressure which provides good indication that something is wrong – and usually this happens in the last weeks of pregnancy. I didn’t have any of the typical symptoms apart from slightly elevated blood pressure. It was a very frightening experience; one minute you’re at work thinking you really ought to start getting the baby’s room ready, the next minute you’re being told you’ll be delivering a tiny baby at any moment – and you have no idea how long the baby has been starved of oxygen and nutrients, and no idea what the outcome will be. Will I take home a normal healthy baby? Will I take home a baby at all?”

Lexie, who is now a bright two year-old, was the smallest baby ever discharged from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. “I can’t imagine now how tiny she was when we brought her home at just over three pounds,” says Karyn. “Looking back, it was an amazing time in some ways – we’re proud that we coped and we’re grateful that Lexie is with us and doing so well. But I wish that her early start could have been avoided”.

The SCOPE study aims to prevent serious pregnancy complications by developing a simple diagnostic test that will help to identify first-time mothers, like Karyn, who are at risk. “The SCOPE study gives me hope that in the future, mums and babies like us won’t have to suffer this traumatic experience because the problem will be detected early, and prevented”.

To read about the SCOPE study, please click here