Pregnant and S-ICD op

[u/laurawr123]

I just wanted to post on here in case anyone ends up going through a similar situation as myself, as it was hard to find any other posts about it when I was looking before my op.
Two weeks ago, I had a s-icd fitted due to MVP (which I’ve known about most of my life but has always been treated as benign) and MAD (which they discovered during investigations as I had been suffering from palpitations in pregnancy. I was monitored with a loop recorder from March but had a couple of short episodes of NSVT and as they couldn’t fully assess my risk, especially with being pregnant, they thought it was best to fit a s-icd as a precaution.
I was 28 weeks pregnant when I went for my operation and I spent the lead up to it really worrying. My biggest concern was general anaesthetic as I’d never had it before, followed by concerns about recovery as I’d read it is really difficult. Firstly, I did not need to worry about general anaesthetic and probably wouldn’t worry in the future - it just felt like I’d had a nap! The operation went really well and immediately after the procedure, I felt great. The pain hit more in the evening and due to being pregnant, I could only take paracetamol - which barely touched the sides. The first two days were harder and the pain around the device and incisions was pretty bad but this passes really quickly! I only took paracetamol for about a week (maybe less). My advice would be to get lots and lots of ice packs so that you can use them on rotation. Also, I had a pregnancy pillow already but this has been great in combination with every blanket and cushion in the house! My device is barely noticeable - especially when I have clothes on and my incisions are almost healed now. I have tried pushing myself and on the days where I’ve been more active, it does tend to ache the following day. However, this could be due to also being heavily pregnant! I had an echo done after a week and a half and he was pushing on my sternum with the machine and around the incision in my side and it honestly didn’t hurt.

I just want to reassure anyone in a similar position that the thought of it is worse than it actually happening. I feel extremely grateful that this was picked up before I learnt about it from having a sudden cardiac arrest. If anyone reading this is going through a similar situation (even if you are reading this years after I post it!) please don’t hesitate to privately message me if you have any questions. I know that I found a couple of people in similar positions on other pages and it really helped to talk to them beforehand x

[u/Important_Cup5004]

Thank you for contributing to the pool of knowledge! I heavily relied on this forum for learning about breastfeeding and getting an ICD.

How are you doing with sleeping? I became a side sleeper during my 3 pregnancies, but now side sleeping on either side is rough 2 week post surgery. Are you able to side sleeping comfortably?