They sat in her cardiologists office. He had yet to grace them with his presence. Whitney was hopeful, she was so sure that her doctor would side with her. John sat next to his wife, although he had agreed to come with her and hear what this doctor and her normal Primary Care doctor had to say he was still very against the idea of trying to have a baby naturally.
"Why does anyone make appointments anymore." John bitched. Whitney looked over at her husband and rolled her eyes. Could he be anymore blatantly miserable.
"John- Whitney. I am so sorry to keep you waiting. We had an emergency at the hospital that just threw my whole schedule off. But everything is alright now." Whitney was very fond of her doctor. His name was Jackson Winters and he had been with her since she had been first diagnosed with heart failure. He was an older man with snow white hair and a wrinkled face. But when he smiled everyone around him was at ease.
"It's alright Dr. Winters." Whitney assured him. "We are just glad you were able to see us on such sort notice."
"So I believe that last time you had asked me about cutting down on your medications." Whitney nodded. "Well I have been looking into your specific situation and there is really not much to tell you." The young woman frowned. This could not be good. John shifted in his seat. He was now very interested in what this particular man had to say.
"There are very few studies on women who have become pregnant after having heart transplants. This what I do know. You cannot cut down on your meds, that is plain and simple. We can try to look into different medications if you should choose to go ahead and get pregnant. But your body needs your immunosuppresants and your steroids."
"But from the little studies there are out there how many of the mothers and babies died?" Whitney asked.
"Well for the most part the mothers have survived birth. Out of maybe one hundred and thirty nine cases only four women have died." Whitney looked at John. Making sure that he had heard what the doctor had said. " But also of those same cases there were four miscarriages and six abortions for medical reasons."
"What would be the risks to the baby because I am taking these drugs?" She asked. Even with all the facts being laid out on the table like they were she still felt hopeful. She knew she could do this. The hardest part she felt was going to be getting her husband to agree.
"There really isn't much know about that either. There are no reported birth defects caused by any of the medications that you are taking. But that does not mean there aren't any. This baby will probably not be born full term. Like any premature baby low birth weight is always an issue. Underdeveloped organs is another."
"Have there been any serious complications reported of the mothers while they were pregnant?" John decided to throw a question out there.
"The biggest problem I saw while researching would have to have been high blood pressure which in most of the cases lead to preeclampsia. There has also been rejections and kidney dysfunctions."
"But I am healthy right?" She asked her doctor. "You said it yourself that my heart is working perfectly."
"Yes it is." The older man agreed. "I am just pointing out that this will be a very high-risk pregnancy. Which will require weekly checks of your blood pressure, constant blood work and fetal monitoring. If this is something you choose to do then I will be with the two of you every step of the way. But all this is very serious and could be very dangerous. I suggest you two go home and think about everything I have told you. Then together you make a decision."
"We will Doctor." Whitney promised. "And thank you again for taking time out to research this and explain to us the risks."
A/N: I apologize for the shortness of the chapter. I also apologize for taking so long to update. I have been spending a lot of time researching the whole transplant/pregnancy topic. Everything I have written out in this chapter is pretty much what I have learned from all that research. I hope you enjoyed it.