Well, I am very, very sorry for what you're going through, and I do understand. My PE was diagnosed much later than yours, but I was exactly a month postpartum when diagnosed with PE. The best news for you is that you did get diagnosed, and survival is quite high once you're receiving treatment. So you may very likely still feel that you're at death's door, but you are really recovering and you have every reason to expect that you will be around to see your children grow up. The most dangerous period is already over. But that's not to say that recovery won't be a struggle. Just to be honest, it will be a struggle and it's very hard to recover well while caring for small children. Again, I know about this because mine happened also after my second baby, and my first was 3 at the time. The best advice I can give right now is to get a good support system around you and accept whatever help you can get in terms of taking care of the kids and your mom/household responsibilities so that you can concentrate on getting as much rest as you need. I pretty much did nothing but sleep for three weeks, then decided I was good to go (huge mistake) and pushed myself to do everything with almost no help. For me, that was a huge mistake, because I was truly not well enough at that point in time to handle that much responsibility, and I look back on that time and shudder in fear because I think that I'm very fortunate nothing bad ever happened to my kids during that period. Now, you'll have to guage your own situation by how you feel - you may well be able to do more on a faster time frame. It's hard for anyone to know except you what you feel well enough to do. I firmly believe that the one benefit of having small children and going through this is that it gives us some extra motivation to work hard to get well again. Just don't expect to get better in a few weeks - it's usually a kind of up and down process where you'll have times you're feeling better, then feel like you take a few steps back again. But rest assured that you are getting better.

Right now, I would just concentrate on the most immediate part, trying to get rest and let your body recover (and remember you're recovering from your delivery as well as the PE). Once you start feeling well enough, try to get up and move around a little, do little things even if it's just a walk across from one side of your house to another. My doctor had me doing a little bit of walking from the very beginning while still in the hospital and stressed the importance of moving whatever little bit I could on a regular basis. Then slowly build that up over time. I wouldn't worry about the long-term for right now - how to prevent it happening again. There will be plenty of time for that later.

Your doctors are not off-base just having you take warfarin and keep checking your INR. That's really all there is to do at this point. There really isn't even any necessity for a follow-up CT scan - some doctors do it and some don't, but usually it's not really necessary because there is a very predictable pattern to how our bodies get rid of the clots once we get treated, and your clots were likely new when you started getting treated, so that makes them softer and easier for your body to clean up, all good news for you!

If you have any specific questions please feel free to send me a message. My younger son is 3 1/2 now, so I've had some time to distance myself from the initial fear and natural panic we feel in the beginning, and I've had time to look back and think I'm glad I did this or that, or I wish I'd done this differently. So I might be able to help you get though some of that. But most importantly, remember that you are healing now, it's natural to be scared, but you have no less reason than any other mom to believe you'll be with your kids as they grow up and be an involved and important part of their lives.

Welcome to the forums

I'm sorry you have had to go through this

Im 23 weeks pregnant and got diagnosed at 10 weeks . Its really hard but theres a lot of experience and info on here, please feel free to message if you want to talk at all

much love x

Welcome! Glad you are here to join us!

At this point (three weeks out or so), you're really past the danger zone and well into the processing zone. This is the point when I think the anxiety and fear hit most of us the hardest.

I mean, at this point, you've been on meds for a few weeks, your INR is (hopefully) in range, and your body is working on dissolving those clots. The chances of throwing more clots at this point is really, really slim. Your life really isn't in danger any more and you'll be around for your girls, for sure.

For a lot of folks, the hardest thing is getting diagnosed and the biggest danger comes when they aren't or when the diagnosis is delayed. Once you're diagnosed and getting treated, you're on your way to recovery. Right now, just focus on getting some rest and trying not to push yourself too hard. Your body has been through a lot and even if the clots disappeared this second, it still has to recover from all the trauma.

That said, though, the anxiety will about kill you even if the clots pose no more danger. I couldn't sleep in a room alone for several months after my PEs, I had to do therapy and anti-anxiety meds, I wound up back in the ER a few times just due to the anxiety working me over.

For me, at least, the mental recovery was probably more challenging than the physical recovery. Even if your brain knows that you're not in danger, you can still feel really on edge and scared for quite a while.

Many docs never order a follow-up CT. You don't really need one and docs want to avoid exposing you to the extra radiation. And yeah, the treatment is pretty low-key. Take warfarin, get your blood checked, keep in touch with your doc -- that's really all there is to do for a while.

Hang in there! You're past the real danger and now you just have to deal with the stress of recovery. Recovery is NEVER as fast as we want it to be.

Keep us posted on how you're doing!

Welcome. Gee during that post partum period I can't imagine having had this to deal with. You are a strong person to be managing this even if it doesn't feel like it.

I am very sorry you find yourself here but I am glad you have found a supportive, helpful group at this time. When I joined this group I never imagined how much help I would receive, nor that there were others out there with situations like mine. I had my PE when my twins were 4.5 weeks old. It was an emotional rollercoaster for me at the time. When I came home from the hospital I was fortunate enough to be so preoccupied with caring for my children and dealing with medical appointments and tests, that I didn't have much time to think about what really happened. As ShilosMommy stated, the most dangerous period is over. It's hard to believe, but it's true.
Please try to make sure you get time for yourself every day. My internal medicine doctor, who was also a psychiatrist, reminded me upon my release to make sure I got out of the house daily. He told my husband the same thing. That was next to impossible to do, but some days I sat on my front porch and enjoyed watching the snow fall, or I walked to the mailbox. I wondered "Why?" for the longest time. I often wrote down my thoughts. I believe it was some of the best therapy I had. Having a friend in the same circumstances also helped. I wrote to her frequently. I tried not to internalize my fears. It was very therapeutic for me to talk to others, especially my husband. I know these seem like simple suggestions, but sometimes it's hard to even do the simple things when you are struggling to deal with difficult circumstances. Nevertheless, please be assured that there are people on this site who are or who have dealt with similar circumstances who want to help you cope with your circumstances. It's wonderful you found us and please keep us posted with your progress. I wish you all the best and please feel free to contact me at any time.

Just wanted to say thank you to all you ladies. It's been such a breath of fresh air to get your replies and read through the boards. It gives me hope and strength to carry me through this time.
As horrible as it be, I'm grateful to have replies from mothers who experienced a PE in their pp period.
Dengru - you are so strong to go through this while pregnant. I wish you and your baby all the health in the world.
Shilosmommy and twimmom I was wondering if the warfarin effected your pp bleeding that you can remember?

I hate to tell you my situation with post partum bleeding because it wasn't good. Despite having a DNC three days after my babies were born, I bled for eight weeks. When I had my DVT the babies were three weeks old and I was put on Fragmin(the shot) and warfarin. I started to bleed badly. My INR was uncontrollable and was at 5 after two pills. They took me off warfarin when that happened and decided to leave me on Fragmin since it is easier to manage dosage. A few weeks later I had the PE while I was still bleeding and I was put on a higher dosage of Fragmin. That made the bleeding get worse. All in all, I bled for eight weeks but it tapered off near the end. I was paranoid about my it because my hemoglobin was so low at the time so I took iron, EPO shots, and drank tonnes of vegetable smoothies to build up my blood. If you are worried about the bleeding, ask your doctor. I sense you might be a bit worried by it so it may be worth a call or a visit.

Well although I answered somewhat in your other post, I'm going to again here, because my experience, while ugly from my perspective, was way better than Twinmom's!!

Fortunately for me I wasn't diagnosed and didn't start anticoagulation until 4 weeks postpartum, so I had mostly stopped bleeding from delivery. That was especially important for me because I had to have clot busters, and my doctor was super careful with dosage on that so as to avoid starting the bleeding back up again. Then I had probably another couple of months at least before I had a period. And the first one was really, really bad, the ones that came after eased up just a bit. I had a hard time that first year, but even still I only was ever borderline anemic and I never had to do anything in particular, although I actually always eat healthy and juice a lot which keeps me in good shape in terms of vitamins and things. At this point in your recovery, your doctor shouldn't mind taking any questions you have, it's normal to want to double check that things are happening normally and honestly it's better safe than sorry at this point. Don't worry that you're being a nuisance or anything, this is one time in your life when you shouldn't worry about that, at least until you're a bit further recovered.

Thoughts and love are with you. Try to be strong. In time you will look back and be stronger for having gone through this. That time will come.

In the first week after diagnosis I found the combination of pain and worry very hard. (To be honest, the worry was the worst thing, the pain just made me worry). It's OK and natural to worry, but don't let it eat you up. Take each day a day at a time. Some days will be better, some worse. But over time, you'll improve and you'll get through this. We're with you. Hang in there.

ClarkJulieann, I got my PE two weeks postpartum, and I had to be separated from my baby for 8 days when I was in the hospital. That was the worst part, and I did the same thing when I came back from the hospital: Just looking at my baby and crying, because I kept thinking about it, what if I cant see him grow up, and can't protect him. (I have a mean step son, and is killed me to think how he is going to treat him when I'm not around.)
But it got better. I'm not saying I never think about it, but I'm more positive, and I turned the fear in to a determination, that I will stay alive for my kids, no matter what!
I made sure to stay hydrated, (more if you are nursing) and walked a lot.
Coumadin made my postpartum bleeding longer and stronger, but is going to be fine.
You'll be better, little by little!