{"id":36231,"date":"2018-03-28T13:03:46","date_gmt":"2018-03-28T17:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/?p=36231"},"modified":"2021-03-15T15:27:16","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T19:27:16","slug":"kidney-specialist-helps-at-risk-women-through-pregnancies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/healthy-tomorrows\/kidney-specialist-helps-at-risk-women-through-pregnancies\/","title":{"rendered":"Kidney specialist helps at-risk women through pregnancies"},"content":{"rendered":"

After years of trying to have children, Dawn Lau and her husband, Troy Lau, are happy to finally be able to hold their sons, Ethan and baby Isaac.<\/em><\/p>\n

He is the \u201cgo-to\u201d doctor in the Ottawa area for treating pregnant women with kidney disease. And patients like Dawn Lau are grateful to Dr. Ayub Akbari for his supportive, attentive, responsive care that even includes handing out his personal phone number in case patients need to reach him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe even took the time to call me for an update on a Saturday afternoon once, which I thought was great care, and so kind,\u201d said Lau, who was finally able to have children \u2013 two lovely boys.<\/p>\n

A nephrologist who specializes in treating pregnant women with kidney disease, Dr. Akbari and RN Claude Baril are the nephrology pregnancy team at The Ottawa Hospital\u2019s Riverside Campus. Baril, the primary contact for patients, is an expert in teaching patients to monitor their home blood pressure.<\/p>\n

Lau has been a patient of Dr. Akbari\u2019s for more than three years. After having a liver transplant, she had to take antirejection medication, which gave her high blood pressure and caused decreased kidney function. Lau struggled with fertility issues and, as a result, underwent five years of fertility treatments. During that time, she met with Dr. Akbari, who advised her about the risks she faced with pregnancy. Despite the risks, she decided it was worth it, and when she got pregnant she was thrilled.<\/p>\n

\"Image

Kidney specialists in the Ottawa area usually refer their pregnant patients, as well as those who want to get pregnant, to The Ottawa Hospital\u2019s: Dr. Ayub Akbari (right) and RN Claude Baril.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cSince my pregnancy went well, I kept seeing him every few months because I knew I would want to try for another baby,\u201d said Lau. Her next pregnancy went smoothly as well, although she had to be induced early because of high blood pressure, as with the birth of her first child. She and her husband, Troy Lau, now have two young boys, Ethan and Isaac.<\/p>\n

Dr. Akbari\u2019s interest in this field began when, as a primary care doctor, he and many colleagues didn\u2019t know how to offer the specialized support needed by pregnant women with medical complications. At the University of Chicago, where he completed his nephrology fellowship, he was inspired to specialize in nephrology and pregnancy by his mentor, Dr. Marshall Lindhiemer, a world-wide kidney disease and pregnancy expert.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really liked it,\u201d Dr. Akbari said. \u201cThe body of a woman changes completely during pregnancy, so what is normal for a non-pregnant woman might be abnormal in a pregnant woman, and vice versa. The whole physiology changes. It made me think I should specialize in this area. After that, I glued myself to Dr. Lindhiemer and did a year of studying pregnancy and kidney disease, and it has been my passion since then.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dr.

As The Ottawa Hospital\u2019s nephrology pregnancy team, Dr. Ayub Akbari (left), Administrative Assistant Anna Micucci, and RN Claude Baril support women through their high-risk pregnancies.<\/p><\/div>\n

He said he enjoys the challenge of working with these unique patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe majority of kidney disease patients are older, but these are young women. There\u2019s a lot at stake. You\u2019re caring for two patients \u2013 the baby as well as the mother,\u201d he said. \u201cA bad outcome is catastrophic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pregnancy and kidney disease is a relatively uncommon combination. So, kidney specialists in the Ottawa area usually refer their pregnant patients, as well as those who want to get pregnant, to Dr. Akbari, who has seen patients from as far as Kingston.<\/p>\n

He and Baril make a point of being very responsive, attentive and approachable to their patients, even giving them his personal phone number for reassurance. They build relationships with their patients, supporting their emotional needs as well as their physical.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny time I called, they were really quick to get back to me and answer any questions or help with the concerns I had,\u201d said Lau, who has continued to see Dr. Akbari since the birth of baby Isaac in December 2017. \u201cHe always gave me options and took my emotions into account.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here for you and will do whatever we can to help you,\u201d is Dr. Akbari\u2019s message to women with kidney disease who want to get pregnant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He is the \u201cgo-to\u201d doctor in the Ottawa area for treating pregnant women with kidney disease. And patients like Dawn Lau are grateful to Dr. Ayub Akbari for his supportive, attentive, responsive care that even includes handing out his personal phone number in case patients need to reach him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":36239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[320,421,174],"class_list":["post-36231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-tomorrows","tag-kidney-disease","tag-mother-health","tag-womens-health"],"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"Dr. Akbari is a leading nephrology and pregnancy specialist ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}