A New Mom Despite Heart Disease

Specialty care helped Kim Lowe of Bethlehem, Pa., give birth to a healthy baby

Despite the risks—Kimberly Lowe of Bethlehem (with husband, Zachary) had a history of open-heart surgeries, but was able to give birth to daughter Reagan thanks to specialized care.

Kim Lowe and her husband, Zachary, wanted a baby very badly—but the odds were against them. At age 28, Kim had had four open-heart surgeries and many other procedures to replace faulty aortic and pulmonary valves and to close a hole inside her heart. She knew becoming pregnant would be risky to her health.

Despite the odds, Kim’s cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic (the couple lived in Minnesota at the time) was encouraging. Kim learned she was pregnant in January 2009. But she and her husband would soon have to move to Bethlehem, Pa., because of Zachary’s job.

Kim became a patient of obstetrician/gynecologist Joseph DeFulvio, M.D., who referred her to heart specialist Ronald Freudenberger, M.D., and maternal-fetal medicine (high-risk pregnancy) specialist William Scorza, M.D., at Lehigh Valley Health Network. Throughout the pregnancy, the doctors worked in collaboration with Carole Warnes, M.D., Kim’s cardiologist at Mayo.

As a high-risk patient, Kim had one or two checkups each week and flew to Minnesota twice. Her concerns were not only heart-related; she developed gestational (pregnancy-related) diabetes as well.

Kim planned to fly to the Mayo Clinic to have her baby Sept. 16, 2009. Then on Sept. 4, a routine ultrasound gave startling news: the baby wasn’t growing. Pressure on the placenta and umbilical cord was limiting the flow of nutrients from Kim to her baby.

Doctors at Lehigh Valley Hospital induced labor. The baby’s heart rate fluctuated wildly, and she was delivered by emergency cesarean section just after midnight Sept. 5. At 36 weeks gestation, Reagan McKenzie Lowe weighed just 4 pounds, 9.5 ounces. She spent her first week of life in the health network’s neonatal intensive care unit.

Reagan gained one pound in 17 days, and continues to grow as a three-month-old. “All our doctors worked together to make sure this high-risk pregnancy turned out well. They were all on the same page,” Kim says. “We are completely blessed.”

This page last updated 5/6/10 05:14 PM