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For The Mommies, Were Your Babies Low Weight?


jangle

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OK Jangle- hard to trust you on this one, w/o knowing WHY you are asking the question :rolleyes:, BUT my son was a very normal weight, 7lbs, 7oz. That being said, when he was delivered the nurses gasped and said, "OMG, I have never seen such a small umbilical cord!" I never quite knew what to make of that.

I did miscarry my first, early second trimester AND gained a whopping 40lbs with Mack. I was quite underweight to start with...so that little umbilical cord had plenty of opportunity to carry nutrients over to my son :D

Hope it helps!

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Oh, I had a hypothesis that the thing causing our POTS was an ACE2 deficiency. ACE2 converts angiotensin II to angiotensin (1-7). In this study it was shown that POTS patients had an altered response to angiotensin II infusion

http://circep.ahajou...11.965343.short

and it was shown in this study that ACE2 is heavily involved in the renin-angiotensin system

http://www.sciencedi...043276004000566

And then it was shown in this study that people who had ACE2 deficiency had lower weight babies

http://hyper.ahajour...ontent/58/5/852

So I was making a pseudo test to see if it was low ACE2 levels we were suffering from.

HOWEVER!

In that last study I cited, it did show that mommies have an increase in ACE2 levels upon getting pregnant. So presumably, if we have low levels of ACE2, then upon getting pregnant, it should alleviate the symptoms of POTS somewhat. Depending on whether or not the ACE2 levels increased enough. I do remember some moms saying their POTS symptoms decreased upon getting pregnant, and some didn't. Now I'm wondering if for those whose symptoms did not decrease if they had lower than average weight babies.

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I found this article, about autoantibodies that can target the angiotensin II enzyme. http://arthritis-res...ontent/12/3/R85

It kind of all makes sense. Our symptoms have always mimicked connective tissue autoimmune disorders. Difficulty swallowing, Raynauds, Shortness of Breath, Nausea/Gastroparesis, also people with the connective tissue disease EDS have an increased risk of POTS.

This could be our autoimmune disorder. We have antibodies that target our ACE2 enzyme, thus limiting the conversion of angiotensin II to angiotensin (1-7). Thus making us have a blunted effect to angiotensin II infusion (as cited in the previous study). Also explains why people who are pregnant have reduced POTS symptoms (It increases their ACE2 enzyme levels).

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8 lb. 10 oz.

7 lb. 14. oz - this one I'm worried about he is too thin

8 lb, 10 oz.

7 lb. I think 7 oz. Also a string bean

I did not necessarily have POTS during pregnancy or not to a level I noticed.

I felt pretty good pregnant till the last 3 months and then I had difficulty with some swelling in legs.

Feet would turn bright red in evenings when standing.

Had to be careful how I laid in bed or I felt too much strain on heart.

I was concerned enough about weight gain with last baby that I cut out all desserts as soon as I found out I was pregnant because I feared getting so big and miserable.

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Mine were low birth weight but that's cause they are twins. They were both 5.5 pounds but healthy. Your theory is interesting. Are you referring to ace or angiotensin in regards to the antibodies? Something interesting to go with your theory - I had pre-eclampsia come on at the exact same time as the pots at about 34 weeks pregnant. I have read research that pre-eclampsia is thought to be related to the baby releasing large amounts of angiotensin and it effecting the mothers blood pressure. Maybe that is somehow related in my case. I have always thought this pots is somehow related to ang 2 because I get days of extreme thirst and elevated Bp for no reason

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I started having acute symptoms during my second pregnancy. My symptoms didn't get better with pregnancy, and my second and third children (both boys) were 8 lbs 13oz and 8lbs 10 oz. Except for the general misery caused by crazy POTS symptoms, my pregnancies were all very healthy and normal with non-eventful births. As well, my BP stayed at 90/60 (or sometimes 80/50) throughout all of my pregnancies.

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8lbs 7 ounces 23 inches long......3 epidurals that didnt work....local freezing didnt work....finally general anasthesia birth......sometimes I wonder if all the anasthetic I have undergone in the last 9 years hasnt screwed my nervous system up......but thats another theory :) I myself was 2 pounds at birth....maybe thats another factor.........

Bren

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Although my POTS symptoms were mild at the time, my pregnancies were difficult.

First pregnancy - stillbirth at 20 weeks due to blood clots in umbilical cord. Positive test for antiphospholipid syndrome.

Second pregnancy - baby girl born 3 weeks early weighing 6 lbs 1 oz. Put on total bed rest at 28 weeks due to preterm labor.

Third pregnancy - baby girl born 3 weeks early weighing 7 lbs.

Fourth pregnancy - miscarriage at 12 weeks.

I never tested positive for antiphospholipid syndrome again so my doctors believe the first test was a false positive. I recently found out a family member has a homozygous genetic mutation for a clotting disorder that is also related to pregnancy loss, migraines, and cardiovascular disease (mthfr gene). It is probably likely the mutation is the reason for my pregnancy issues and maybe my migraines.

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I was not diagnosed with POTS when pregnant but I weighed 6 lbs and was preemie when I was born. First child born 5 weeks early, weighed 6'1" (35 now and only recently found to have congenital coarctation of aorta and dilated ascending aorta--I have EDS). He went down to 5 lbs 4 oz and had to be fed by tube (couldn't suck) and had blood infection and was in incubator and bili lights. 2nd pregnancy ended in spontaneous abortion.

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Again, we are all so different and no apparent pattern here that I can see. FWIW, I was relatively small but healthy at birth (6 lbs 5 oz). I have only had one pregnancy and I felt much better during it (and I'd already had hyper POTS for over 10 years at the time). But I found out later that during pregnancy I'd had gestational diabetes (they tested me twice but I couldn't keep enough of the drink down apparently), and my daughter was probably as a consequence quite chubby at birth (she weighed in at 8 lbs and 10 oz, but was only 20 1/2 inches long so appeared full cheeked/full belly compared to other newborns). She has since slimmmed out and is an average weight at age almost 12 (but not skinny or thin arms/legs like her adopted Chinese sister of about the same age). The only other problem I had during pregnancy was blood pressure tended to go up too much. But despite the BP and diabetes issues, I felt great all 9 months. After giving birth, I felt awful for quite a long time.

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