New Pittsburgh area clinic helps reduce maternal mortality by focusing on women’s hearts

There’s a big push to get maternal mortality rates down in Pittsburgh.

They are going up nationwide and they’re higher than in other developed, industrial countries.

Dr. Arun Jeyabalan, maternal fetal medicine doctor and Division Director of Maternal Fetal Medicine High Risk Obstetrics at UPMC Magee Women’s Hospital said there are several reasons for the higher rates: women are getting pregnant at an older age, the obesity epidemic, COVID-19, and a lot of women that would have been advised not to get pregnant, are.

Jennifer Morabeto of Glassport is sharing her high-risk pregnancy story, to shed light on the heart resources available to pregnant women around greater Pittsburgh.

“For us to both be alive after everything we went through and still be here it really is a miracle,” Morabeto said.

On April 29, 2021, Morabeto woke up in the middle of the night with chest pain. When it didn’t go away after a few hours, she went to the hospital where doctors confirmed she had a heart attack and three blocked arteries.

“Literally five months after that, despite all preventable measures, I found out I was pregnant at 40 years old,” Jennifer said.

“Pregnancy is actually a big stress on the heart,” Dr. Jeyabalan said. “The volume of blood in a woman’s blood vessels goes up and the work that heart does increases pretty significantly in pregnancy.”

Having a prior heart attack, plus high blood pressure and diabetes, put Jennifer in a very high-risk category for pregnancy.

“Our conversations continued then as: ‘how do we best get you and baby... to the end of this pregnancy in the safest way possible?’” said Dr. Katie Berlacher, cardiologist and Director of the Women’s Heart Center in the UPMC Magee Women’s Heart Program.

She and Dr. Jeyabalan worked together to manage Jennifer’s pregnancy.

They’re seeing more women, together, through the Cardio-Obstetrics program, part of the UPMC Magee Women’s Heart Program. Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes and contributors to maternal mortality, noted Dr. Berlacher.

“It was a hard pregnancy not only because of the symptoms because you’re scared,” Morabeto said.

Doctors adjusted her medicine, watched her blood pressure closely, monitored Jennifer’s diabetes and gave her more frequent ultrasounds.

But at 29 weeks, Jennifer’s preeclampsia was affecting her brain, so doctors made the decision to deliver the baby early.

March 4, 2022, Finley was born prematurely, weighing 2 lbs 8 oz.

The ventilator helped keep her alive for many of the 83 days she spent in the NICU. She was just barely bigger than a water bottle.

“As much as I fought for those 29 weeks, she fought for the 83 days after and it was really amazing to see,” Morabeto said.

And now?

“She’s a good, normal, healthy baby,” Morabeto said. “And I’m good. I have good days and bad days. As far as my heart.”

Morabeto’s preeclampsia during pregnancy puts her at increased risk for heart attacks, strokes, and high blood pressure— so she continues to see Dr. Berlacher, her cardiologist, through the Bridges Clinic. It carries high-risk women from pregnancy through the rest of their lives. Since it started in 2019, the clinic has seen 400 women.

“An interdisciplinary clinic like this, where you have two specialists seeing you at the same time to answer questions about pregnancy and plan for the future, it really decreases the risks of future heart attack, stroke, and heart failure,” Dr. Berlacher said.

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