Medications often play an integral role in controlling seizures in epileptic women looking to conceive, Harden explained.

"Most of the medications we use have a fairly low-risk as far as birth defects," said Harden. "So if the woman with epilepsy is taking one of those medications, usually it's the matter of discussing carefully having her on the lowest effective dose that controls the seizures and checking the serum blood level."

Some drugs carry more risk than others and have been associated with adverse cognitive outcomes and autism.

Studies show that children born to parents with epilepsy have an increased risk of developing the condition, but Harden warned, it's only about 1-2 percent.

Seizures in women with epilepsy can increase after the birth of a child because of stress and exhaustion, Harden added, so it's important for new moms to make sure they have support.

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