 Hi, this is Dr. Pramod Krishnan. I'm a consultant neurologist at Manipal Hospital, Bangalore. I specialize in epilepsy. Women with epilepsy are expected to conceive normally, have a normal pregnancy and deliver like any other normal lady. And the children are generally healthy with normal physical and normal mental development. Large pregnancy registries are being maintained in the United States, in Europe, Australia and even in India which have confirmed the very low rate of complication associated with epilepsy. But the important thing is to plan the pregnancy in consultation with the neurologist. The neurologist would want to make some changes in the dosage or even the choice of medicines prior to the conception. And all women planning to conceive should use folic acid for several months prior to conception. Side effects due to the medicine to the baby are very low in the range of 2-5%. And even these can be picked up during a very good fetal ultrasound scan sometime in the fifth month of pregnancy. If any defect is identified, the choice is up to the parents to continue or discontinue the pregnancy. There is no need for the woman to undergo a caesarean section just because she has been diagnosed to have epilepsy. The neurologist should be involved during the pregnancy to adjust medicine doses as the body weight increases during pregnancy. Particular care should be taken following delivery because of the high likelihood of sleep deprivation related to caring for the baby and this might be a trigger for the seizures. Several effective anti-epileptic medications are available for use in pregnancy. The woman should not be unduly concerned and reduce the dosage of the medicine on her own or discontinue the medicines because if a seizure occurs during pregnancy, it could be much more harmful to the baby and even lead to termination of the pregnancy.