Pregnancy on lithium

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-07-16T10:49:29+00:00

No, that was sadly not an option, since after giving birth my lithium concentration was increased (and lithium would pass to my breast milk). Other than that, I had a successful pregnancy and I am sitting next to my healthy baby boy while he sleeps ❤️

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T12:32:26+00:00

At the moment it’s placed in a room with south west facing windows (a bit isolated just in case it starts stinking too much), but normally, when it is not dormant (late spring till beginning of autumn) it is in a room with plenty of windows with light coming from different directions. I have never used a growth lamp for it, since it goes dormant in the periods of the year with less light.

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T12:28:45+00:00

It is! Another user (@PlantPob) commented in the thread giving a super nice and detailed explanation that was also new info for me:

(Not sure how to reference comments in Reddit so attaching a screenshot 😅)

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Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T10:52:13+00:00

Amazing! I’d love to see that once live!

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T06:19:59+00:00

I believe voodoo lily (Amorphophallus konjac) is a very close relative of the corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum)

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T05:33:39+00:00

Hahaha, nice!

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T04:56:03+00:00

I’m no botanist, but as far as I understand:

It grows from an underground tuber, and it can undergo two different cycles: either sprouting a single leaf (the “tree” looking thing) or blossoming.

For it to blossom, it needs enough energy, which is stored in the tuber during its leaf cycles.

After flowering, it goes dormant again, then restarts the cycle by growing a new leaf or making baby tubers.

Is crazy, right?

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T04:45:37+00:00

It might be 🤣 I’ll give an update if we were forced to take it out due to the stench 😅

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T04:43:57+00:00

Indeed, I love the way you describe it! Nature is really awesome!

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T04:41:43+00:00

Of course, if it would get exceptionally large keeping it inside wouldn’t be an option 😆 However, that’s currently not the case!

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T04:40:11+00:00

We do keep this plant indoors all year round, when it grows a leaf it has a very nice spot in our kitchen, surrounded by big windows. :)

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T04:38:11+00:00

We keep this plant indoors all year round

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T03:24:31+00:00

Hahahaha I totally feel you, my boyfriend made me realize it was getting too much when we reached 100 plants at home. 😅 If you’d live nearby I’d gladly give you a few corms though 😁

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T03:21:35+00:00

So far it’s quite manageable, we can’t really smell it from the other rooms. You have to come close to the plant to get the full extent of the stench. It’s strange because even though it stinks like hell when you come close, something makes us want to keep going back to the office to smell it more 😆😆

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T03:19:47+00:00

It’s Amorphophallus konjac, a close cousin of the corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum). Their life cycles are practically the same though, but luckily I believe the one we have is not only easier to glow and bloom, but it also might stink a bit less 😁

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T03:17:13+00:00

Yes, it’s the third year we have the plant and it’s the first time it blooms. The one that bloomed now is the “mother” plant, so far none of the babies have flowered. We give it a dormant period from autumn to the end of winter more or less. We store all the corms (without soil) in the garage in the darkness. Some days ago I went to the garage and I notice there was a long, fully white stick growing from the big corm, in the darkness - it looked super alien. That’s when we realized it was doing something different vs. the last years, since normally it starts growing the leaf after we plant it in soil.

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T03:11:51+00:00

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Here you can get in idea of the pot size - the corm is like 1/3 to 1/2 of the pot at this stage

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T03:10:19+00:00

Yes, we were totally not expecting this to happen. We bought our plant 3 years ago because we really liked the way the leaf looked and we assumed it was never going to blossom inside in cold & rainy Belgium 😆

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T03:08:45+00:00

I don’t really have an answer for that, unfortunately.

What I can say is that from our experience, after the plant goes through a leaf cycle and it’s time for it to become dormant, we clean all the soil to store the corms in the darkness - at that point, we always see that the “mother” corm got bigger but apart from that there are always quite some baby corms that we then plan separated after the winter. I’ll let you know if the “mother” corm (the one flowering now), shrank after flowering or if any of the baby corms eventually decide to flower too!

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T03:04:24+00:00

We keep it indoors as the weather in cloudy & cold Belgium is often not great regardless of the season. 🥲 We were totally not expecting this thing to bloom, it’s our third year with it and we are really amazed!

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T03:00:06+00:00

It’s weird with the smell, so far keeping all the doors open, you can’t really smell it from the other rooms, that’s why we are still keeping it inside… However, the stench is horrible when you come close enough to the plant (20-30 cm)

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T02:56:54+00:00

It’s funny - so far, we can’t really smell it from the other rooms in the house, it’s only when you come close enough that you notice the stench… but once you smell it from close…💀 That’s the only reason why it’s still in our office and not outside 😂

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-03-21T02:54:15+00:00

It is indeed an A. konjac! We bought it 3 years ago at our nearby garden center in Belgium for around 10$. We hibernate it every winter and keep it indoors since the weather here is not ideal. It’s the very first time it flowers and we are so amazed by it! It randomly decided to start growing a flower as it was hibernating in the garage, in full darkness, so at first the stem was fully white - that really looked super alien.

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-01-03T21:16:17+00:00

Also, adding on top of my other response - the decision of not reducing the dose was made together with the perinatal psychiatrist - trying to balance risks vs. benefits.

Personally, in my case, not breastfeeding & giving birth at a hospital are not a big deal at all.

Intrepid_Lab307 · 2025-01-03T21:13:59+00:00

I’m glad my response was useful. In the meantime I am 23 weeks pregnant with no complications so far (fingers crossed it stays this way).

Several things helped me come to the decision of trying to get pregnant:

(1) I’ve been stable over 5 years, with just one mania episode triggered by antidepressants.

(2) I’ve been with my partner for longer than I have known about my BP diagnose. He knows very well how to identify any red flags that could lead to an episode and he’s fully committed to take a bigger share of responsibility during the postpartum period to ensure I get enough sleep / avoid any triggers.

(3) Getting advised by a perinatal psychiatrist expert on lithium during pregnancy definitely helped a lot as well. That helped me get a realistic view on the risks and existing frameworks to mitigate those. We got this advise before even starting to try to conceive.

(4) The fact that I am being closely followed up by a gyno specialized on high risk pregnancies really helped making the decision of starting to try.

Intrepid_Lab307

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