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Does hypoxia affect an unborn baby?

Posted by windsong on October 26, 2004 at 05:52:36:

I have looked this up on the internet and can't find anything useful. I want to know if lack of oxygen in a pregnant mother can affect an unborn baby, and if so in what ways.
The reason I ask is that I am currently pregnant with my 7th baby. One baby I miscarried and another was stillborn. The other 4 were difficult pregnancies and with 3 of them the placenta started to mature (break down) very early - by 34 weeks.
Two of these babies were born very sick needing intensive care and ventilating despite being term or nearly term.

All 4 of my children have a genetic disorder (what exactly unknown)and it appears that I also have it - OSA is part of this genetic disorder (one child has OSA, another is due for sleep study as OSA is suspected)

I have thought before now that the reason the pregnancies are complicated are something to do with me, and have never understood what since I eat healthily, don't smoke, don't drink and always do my utmost to take care of the babies - hardly daring to breathe sometimes !

The thought has been nagging me for a few months that I possibly have OSA. My son has been on CPAP for more than a year, and diagnosed over 20 months ago yet my own symptoms have only just come into my awareness. When the gentitist told me a few weeks ago that he feels I also have the gentetic disorder it has further fuelled my fear that I also have OSA.

I have always put my symptoms down to other things - tiredness from having children etc.
My husband tells me that I startle and jerk and twitch a lot while asleep and I am aware of startling as I fall asleep. I awake a dozen or so times a night and have to get up to use the bathroom at least a few times. I awake very tired despite falling asleep at 9-10pm each night and will fall asleep easily if reading , watching TV or being in the car (don't drive luckily )
I thought my awakenings at night were due to nightmares since I often awake with heart pounding/sweating . Now I'm not so sure. In the last year or two this has worsened, I even went to see a specilaist at the hospital 2 years ago because my fingers are very often blue and I felt so tired and drained of energy all the time (and short of breath at times) They did lung function test which was OK and said the blue fingers was a-typical raynauds disease. A-typical because doesn't match how raynauds manifests!

Now I fear I have been an idiot all these years not recognising the signs. My fear is that if I do have OSA that it could be a lack of oxygen that could be causing the pregancies to go wrong. My firstborn baby was stillborn and died from a lack of oxygen although no-one knows why as the cord wasn't tangled etc and i wonder if hypoxia in me could affect the oxygen going to the placentas leading them to start packing up early. Two of the babies were born in severe respiritary distress and no-one had an answer for that either.

I wonder if I'm just seeing more into this than is there, after all I do not snore and am of a slim build - yet I also can see the logic that if its a genetic syndrome the usual rules don't apply

I could go and see my GP and ask for referral to sleep clinic but that would take long time - prehaps too late to help this unborn baby. I want to do whatever I can to ensure this baby lives so am prepared to explore possibility that I may have OSA but don't know how I can get this done in good enough time to make a difference.

How have pregnancies fared in those of you that have had children before diagnosis of OSA (presuming that OSA was present at the time of pregnancy) ??


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