Miscarriage and relapse

Women with Multiple Sclerosis run an increased risk of a relapse after a miscarriage as well as after delivery of a baby at the expected time. Miscarriage occurs quite commonly (about a third of all pregnancies miscarry), although many of these miscarriages occur so early in pregnancy that you may not realize what has happened. There is, however, no evidence that a larger number of pregnancies – or a large number of miscarriages – result in any worse outcome as far as MS is concerned.

Delivery problems

Some women with MS who have muscular weakness in their legs or lower bodies, or who may have spasms, might need some assistance with childbirth – perhaps an epidural anaesthesia, for example, or the use of forceps or even a caesarean. However, there is little evidence that MS causes major additional changes in the way that babies are delivered compared to those of women without MS.
The general experience in relation to women with MS is that their pat- tern of delivery is no different from that of other women. The overall advice for women with MS in relation to preparing for the birth is the same for all women. Prenatal classes, run by your local midwives, and often also by the National Childbirth Trust, would be useful both for you and your partner if you have one, so that you can be taken through the stages of labour and how best to manage them. It may also be worth dis- cussing techniques of pain relief with your midwife and the obstetrician.
There is one other point that you may need to know. If you have been taking steroids over the past few months, such as Prednisone (generic name prednisolone) – and this is one of the drugs that pregnant women have taken safely – then it is possible during the delivery that you will need an extra dose of this drug. This is because during labour the adrenal gland may be ‘overloaded’, if you have taken steroid drugs over the preceding months, and an additional dose, a ‘boost’, is needed. This issue ought to be raised with your midwife, and with the obstetrician before the delivery itself, so that they are aware of the situation.

Breastfeeding

If you decide not to breastfeed your baby, you can start taking your drugs again shortly after the delivery of the baby. If you decide to breastfeed, then you do need to seek your doctor’s advice – for drugs may be passed to the baby in breast milk.
Breastfeeding is generally recognized as giving the baby the best possible food in the first few months. Of course breastfeeding is only a part of an often exhausting experience that all women have in caring for a newborn baby. If you can, arrange for someone else to help you in the first few weeks after the birth, and whilst it is important – if you wish to continue breastfeeding – to undertake all the feeding yourself in the first
2 or 3 weeks, someone else could help with the particularly exhausting night-time feeds with previously expressed breast milk, or with a relevant formula feed.
Just to reiterate, it is important to be very careful about drugs you are taking during breastfeeding, for they may be passed to the baby through breast milk. With the newer interferon-based drugs and copolymer (Copaxone), you must seek your doctor’s advice and you may have to consider not breastfeeding your baby, if you take these drugs.