Hello,

I have been following this board for a long time but haven't posted much. I was hoping to tap into this wonderful network to get some advice from any mothers with BP out there who have more than one child.

I am thinking of getting pregnant. I have one child who I had before I was diagnosed. That was six years ago and my illness has gotten quite a bit worse since.

During my last pregnancy I was on antidepressants and was hypomanic but managed. Recently, when I tried to discontinue my mood stabilizer in preparation for pregnancy it was a disaster and I crashed into a terrible depression.

My question is this: for those who have been pregnant more than once, did your mood/stability remain the same with each pregnancy? If you did well in the first pregnancy were the subsequent ones the same (or if your pregnancy was difficult in terms of your BP were your subsequent ones as well)? I am wondering if I should expect (hope) that I will do well again or if now that my disease is worse I should expect that the pregnancy will be as well.

I know no-one can predict what will happen but I am just trying to find out what others' experiences have been. Thanks