Epilepsy treatment at UCLA Health gives patient the confidence to have a baby
A multidisciplinary medical team helped Meg Linker-Estes decrease her seizures and address parenting fears
For women with epilepsy, the thought of having a baby can present a host of concerns. Will my seizures become more frequent while I’m pregnant? Will my medication affect my baby? What if I have a seizure and fall while holding or bathing the baby? Can I breastfeed while I’m taking anti-seizure medication?
Those were some of the fears Meg Linker-Estes confronted while contemplating getting pregnant. She had long dreamed of having a child, but in her mind, motherhood was something that would stay on her list of things other people could do.
That is, until she met the treatment team at UCLA Health that would eventually give Linker-Estes and her husband, Sam, the confidence to start a family.
Meg Linker-Estes, now 42, gave birth to a girl, Kathryn, in 2018, and the couple are expecting a boy in April. “I feel that finding UCLA was an answer to our prayer,” she says.