Hi , I have VEDS and didn’t know when I had both my kids and dang beard died along with both of them but that’s cuz I had no idea what was going on with me . Knowing you have EDS puts you 100% ahead of problems and knowing why you are having issues. My sister has EDS and she had her 2 kids like they did back in cavemen days . I swear I’m jealous, she had them fast , easy and recovered like Iv never seen anyone ever go back to being amazing . So it’s kinda random tbh . I mean in a not random kinda random way . I wish I knew I had VEDS before I had kids , I could have saved myself ALOT of pain and trauma . I have an Arcuate uterus to begin with , it has a partial septum or the top so it’s kinda shaped like heart with the v part inside made of connective tissue that does not have any vascular system like the rest of my uterus and when I’d have a fertilized egg implant on that part it would end badly. I had a miscarriage at 8 weeks that landed me in the ER and eventually at a fertility dr to figure out wtf was going on . A couple of years of treatments . I had silver nitrate flush that was supposed to unblock my tubes but felt like I was dying . I had a bunch of Iui cycles and nothing happened. Then I got pregnant between iui cycles and had my drs scare the crap outta us by saying the serum tests came back as abnormal, ugh . They pretty much said my baby was going to be born with downs . I got one NEVER believed the drs . My husband is Irish and has shorter limbs then what you would expect from like an English or Anglo man. My baby kept measuring as having short arms and legs and having echogenic bowels . It means the intestines were showing up as the same color as bones do on an ultrasound . I refused an amniocentesis test because it has some risk associated with it and even if it came back as positive fir downs I wouldn’t terminate so to me it felt like taking a risk that wouldn’t change the outcome . I had a dream when I first got pregnant , it was before I tested positive on a blood test of with the pee tests . I knew before my dr could test for it . I’m my dream I was handed a baby and it was a perfectly healthy normal baby boy and I had asked who’s baby it was and in my dream I was told it was my baby . I know it sounds funny to say I knew but in my heart I knew I was pregnant and going to have a boy and he would be ok . So long pregnancy, I moved cross country, Navy wife here . The Navy drs are funny , they treat pregnant women like an assembly line. They have a book that is published every year by some drs who go by treatment that is proven necessary or they don’t do it unless you are high risk or get out of the military treatment facilities but that’s damn near impossible if you live near a major installation. Both in San Diego and Norfolk I ended up at the Navy hospitals and they deliver a ridiculous amount of babies every month . I Will see if I can find the info on the numbers but it’s crazy how many babies they deliver. I saw a new nurse and dr at every appointment. I met the dr that did the delivery 5 mins before the birth . It’s strange compared to what I saw my mom do white my sisters birth . My mom saw the same dr at every visit and he delivered my sister . The Navy hospital is like who ever is at work that day is your dr . So I had my son 2 weeks early and they tell you at the Navy hospital that if you come in early they will send you home . So being that The Navy hospital in Portsmouth VA is a stupid drive thru tunnels that is always stop and go , I waited until my water broke to go to the hospital . I had been in labor for 28 hrs at home and around the time my contractions were 3-4 mins apart my water broke and we went to the hospital. I was there less then 2 mins when the drs started taking off my jewelry and telling me I HAD to get an epidural cuz I was going into surgery ASAP . I was in so much pain that I could sit still for an epidural but somehow I did . Ended up with a crash c section … mayhem , total freaking mayhem . My son was born with 2 holes in his heart and taken to the nicu right away . I got to see his little face and then he was taken to the NiCU . His heart rate was dropping every time I had a contraction and the drs suspected that his umbilical cord had gotten smashed when my water broke and when I contracted it was cutting off his oxygen so that’s why they had to do the c section . He ended up in the NiCu for 24 hrs and did not need surgery like they were prepared for . The worse hole in his heart closed up by the end of the first 24 hrs and the second one was fully closed by the time he was2 . It was freaking traumatic . My son had inter Uterine growth restriction and was 6lbs when burn and after the nicu stay he was barely 5lbs when I finally got to see him and feed him for the first time . They did an umbilical Iv and gave him some iV sustenance and then some colostrum once he was cleared from needing heart surgery . He also did not have Down’s syndrome . All that worry and he was fine .

I didn’t think I’d be able to have any more babies after him because it was the follistem injections that made the pregnancy possible . We tried for a couple years and I got pregnant with my youngest with out any fertility treatments. I was feeling super tired and it hit me that it was how I felt when I was pregnant before . I kinda knew but I was in denial that I could be so lucky after going thru so much with my son to get pregnant . I think it was 2 years of fertility treatments with my son . I was ready to see a negative pregnancy test and had bought a back up 🫣. It came back positive and I swear I nearly fell over . My husband came home to me in tears because I couldn’t believe it . So after my son I wanted nothing to do with more surgery . I wanted a VBAC but if I had known I had BEDS I would have never even considered trying that . My daughter was 40 weeks and 4 days . I tried to go to the hospital as soon as I had bad contractions but my water broke really fast the second time . I got to the hospital and again got rushed to the OR because of the heart rate dropping and because even with an epidural I was screaming in agony and freaked the drs out . I didn’t know at the time but my uterus was trying to rupture … yeah it was bad . They did the crash c section and told me they saw a uterine window . It’s where the uterus is stretched so thin that it’s clear like glass . It’s the stage right before it ruptures. They fixed it and told me to consider not having any more babies because it would be very dangerous, that it was 50/50 chance of with me or the baby not making it or both . It broke my heart to be told that but my husband said he couldn’t risk losing me or having to choose who the drs save if it came down to it . We were told that in major emergencies that sometimes the drs can only save one , either the mother or the baby and sometimes they lose both . I was traumatized by both births . I felt so sad that both were crash c sections . It’s such a hard recovery while having a newborn . I don’t mean to scare you , it’s my story and the truth . I think knowing I VEDS would have saved me a lot of pain and reduced the risk . I think knowing you have Ehlers before hand makes you so far head that you will be great ! I think vascular Ehlers makes anything and everything more dangerous . I had my pelvic ligaments stretch during my second pregnancy and it hurt soo bad . I think it was called SPD . I would recommend wearing a brace to support your pelvic ligaments to prevent what happened with my stupid ligaments. My sister has hyper mobility EDS and she had fast , amazing natural births 2x . I’m so thankful she did because the hospital where she lives SUCKS and it is the worst place to have an emergency. I knew I was in need of a good hospital . The Navy hospital lacks the bed side manner of a smaller hospital but it has too surgically staff and top NICU . My sister recovered fast and got minimal stretch marks as did I . The only wonky thing that happened to my sister was the pregnancy hormone that makes it easier to give birth made her knee cap pop out of place just walking after she had her 2nd . It just went off to the side like it wasn’t held in place by anything . She had it happen again last year too and got knee surgery this year to fix it . Her youngest is 6 and she’s 32 . Her dr was shocked at how easily her knee cap moved around . Iv since had the blood supply to my femurs get compromised by a fall on my butt and my stupid femurs died . I had to get a double hip replacement at 40 because of it . My drs didn’t think I was old enough to be so messed up but VEDS does not discriminate. Ugh 😑 I swear I do EVERYTHING the hard way . I hope you have an amazing birth and life . I’m hoping you have it easier then I did and hope you have a fast smooth birth like my sister . Knowing g you have EDS puts you so far ahead of me not knowing. Educate your dr if they don’t know about EDS and take it easy on your self . I feel bad sharing my horror story of a birth but it’s my experience as much as I wish it wasn’t . My oldest is 11 and a giant 11 yr old . It’s crazy to think about the tiny 6lb baby he started out as . My youngest is 8 and she is so fierce . I swear now that know them I totally can imagine them as the strongest fastest little Sperm beating all the others . They are amazing kids . I feel so blessed they Survived and I still can’t believe I have kids let’s alone 2 !! You got this ! You are gone do great !!

Ehlers-Danlos and pregnancy