Most people with a heart condition tolerate pregnancy well. However, depending on the nature of your heart condition, there may be associated risks to you and your baby.
Pregnancy places demands on your heart, increasing its workload throughout pregnancy even from the early stages. The additional demands around the time of delivery can place an even greater stress on your heart and circulation
It is advised that women with a heart condition avoid an unplanned pregnancy. This gives you time to have a discussion with your healthcare professional about pregnancy and any risk there may be.
We have provided answers to some frequently asked questions below.
Please contact your healthcare professional if you would like to know more about pregnancy and your heart.
General information for women with a heart condition
Contraception & pregnancy with a heart condition
Information for teenagers
It is important that everyone with a heart condition gets specialist advice about contraception and planning a pregnancy. This short video helps raise awareness of this to teenagers.
Aortic disease
Planning pregnancy with aortic disease has been developed by Aortic Dissection Awareness.
Pregnancy in women with aortic disease can be high risk. However, the risk can be reduced with the right care and planning.
A minority of people are at risk of an aortic dissection, which is a tearing of the aortic wall. Those include people with syndromes that are strongly associated with aortic dissection, such as Marfan, Loeys-Dietz, Ehlers-Danlos and Turner Syndromes. People may also be at risk if a close relative has aortic disease or has had an aortic dissection or surgery for an enlarged aorta. Lastly, the risk can sometimes be identified by chance, such as discovering an enlarged aorta on a heart ultrasound scan performed for another reason.
If any of these affect you, whether the risk has already been identified, or if you know your family has a history of aortic disease, this booklet will help you navigate the issues around pregnancy and aortic risk.
Click on the image to access the booklet
Fontan/single ventricle circulation
Pregnancy with a single ventricle is associated with some risks to the mum but significant risks to the baby. For this reason, people with a single ventricle are advised to speak with their congenital heart disease nurse or cardiologist about their individual risk in pregnancy. This information will help support informed decision making about contraception, pregnancy and other ways to start a family.
This booklet, published by Little Hearts Matter, provides information for people living with a single ventricle. The booklet covers:
- Sex & relationships
- Contraception & pregnancy
- Sexually transmitted diseases
- Sex with a heart condition
Click on the image to access the leaflet
