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Can you get chemotherapy while pregnant?
Chemotherapy can be an option during pregnancy. Find out how Kaiser Permanente helped a patient with cancer navigate chemo while pregnant.
Four months into her pregnancy, Stephanie Freeman was excited to meet her baby. Then she felt a lump in her breast.
She went in for a biopsy and learned that she had breast cancer.
Her Kaiser Permanente oncologist put together a treatment plan. And Morgan Swank, MD, a specialist in maternal-fetal medicine, joined her prenatal care team.
Maternal-fetal medicine doctors focus on patients with high-risk pregnancies. They help manage health conditions that can affect pregnancy, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancer.
They use advanced testing and work closely with other specialists to monitor both the parent and baby.
Kaiser Permanente’s prenatal care team members work together to ensure the best outcomes for both moms and babies before, during, and after birth.
Compassionate care for mom and baby
Freeman had many questions for her care team about having cancer during pregnancy. Is chemotherapy while pregnant even an option? How would she tolerate chemotherapy? And how would her growing baby respond?
“Before I’d ever spoken with Dr. Swank, she called me and reassured me that the baby was going to be fine,” Freeman said.
Dr. Swank explained that with certain types of cancer treatment, risks to the baby are small after the first few months of pregnancy.
Chemotherapy is not usually given in the first trimester of pregnancy because it’s a critical period for the baby to develop. Doctors usually stop chemotherapy after 35 weeks or within 3 weeks of the due date because it can lower blood cell counts in both the mother and baby.
Chemotherapy during pregnancy carries similar side effects as it would outside of pregnancy, including fatigue, nausea and vomiting, and decreased cell counts.
When a pregnant person gets several rounds of chemotherapy, the medicine can sometimes slow down the baby’s growth. This doesn’t mean the baby will be unhealthy — it just means the baby might be smaller at birth than expected.
Doctors watch growth closely and adjust care to keep both the mother and baby as safe and healthy as possible.
Every pregnancy and cancer case is different. It’s important to talk with your doctor to find the safest and best treatment plan for you and your baby.
“Doing chemo while pregnant was really scary,” Freeman said. “The biggest thing was finding doctors that I trusted who understood that I was pregnant and wanted to keep this baby, and who would make sure she was okay.”
Her family is growing after she survived breast cancer
Stephanie Freeman with her husband, AJ, their son, Max (left), and their daughter, Layla (right).
Both mother and baby made it through the cancer treatment and the delivery in good health. More than 4 years later, Freeman is cancer-free, and her daughter, Layla, is thriving.
“Layla is growing up beautifully,” said Freeman. “She’s dancing, cheerleading, doing gymnastics, riding her bike without training wheels, and swimming without floaties.”
“She is feisty and a fighter, like her mom,” Dr. Swank added. “To go through what Stephanie went through in the pregnancy and what Layla went through — I think the bond they have is pretty special.”
In another milestone, Layla became a big sister when Freeman gave birth to a baby boy named Max.
“My husband, AJ, and I feel very lucky that we get to raise our children together,” Freeman said. “I’m looking forward to hitting the 5-year milestone of being cancer-free.”
Learn more about cancer and pregnancy.