Cross Over Post: "I Want Kids, But My Progressive, Fatal Disease Means I Can Never Get Pregnant"

The website xojane asked me to do a re-write of an article that I previously wrote here (previous article can be found here 'Why I Shouldn't Get Pregnant.') xojane posts a lot of real stories from other young women facing a variety of different issues. Some are fairly light hearted, others are more serious. If you haven't been there before, check out their website. I have even found a few other articles by other young women with Pulmonary Hypertension.

If you are interested in reading the re-write of the article I wrote for xojane please follow the link: http://www.xojane.com/healthy/pulmonary-hypertension-kids

I would like to add that xojane changed my title to be a real bummer. They also took the liberty of adding some pretty lame tags to my entry like 'death.'

Here is a preview of the article:

"December 21, 2013 is the day that forever changed the course of my life.On this day, I was told that I had Pulmonary Hypertension. I had never heard of this disease before, and chances are you haven’t heard of it either because it is fairly rare.

The news I received was bad, very bad. In addition to being rare, PH is also progressive, incurable and fatal. The doctor came into the room and announced that I have 5, maybe 10, years to live. I was only 25.

I looked out the window of the doctor’s office and saw many of my plans for the future floating away. I was immediately advised against pregnancy because of the high mortality rate associated with it for women with PH. I hadn’t even had time to process all my other losses.

In simple medical terms, Pulmonary Hypertension is considered a contraindication to pregnancy. Pregnancy for women with PH increases the risk of death for both the mother and child."

Please read the rest here