Pregnancy Complications

Not every expecting mother will get through having a child without pregnancy complications. You never really know how a pregnancy will progress. Sometimes it may work out okay and sometimes it doesn’t.

That's why getting the right prenatal care is essential in detecting complications at an early stage. If you think or feel like something might be wrong, you need to call your doctor immediately. No one knows you better than yourself.

There are times when the doctor will check you out to find that everything is fine but inside you feel like something could be wrong. This feeling that you get is just the start of your mother's intuition and you need to listen to it. 

I should know because when I was pregnant with my 2nd baby I was having contractions that worried me, because my first child was born prematurely. I went to the hospital, got a test done and was told that I was fine. Although my contractions had slowed down I knew I shouldn't be forced to leave when I left. I ended up giving birth less than 10 hours later.

Types of Pregnancy Complications

Gestational diabetes is a fairly common pregnancy complication. This type of diabetes develops usually during your second trimester. Gestational diabetes develops when your body can not produce enough insulin for your body.

It cannot be left untreated or it may cause complications with your baby. There are several factors that may determine if you will develop Gestational diabetes. These include Obesity, pregnancy at an older age, if you were a diabetic before pregnancy, if you developed gestational diabetes with your last pregnancy, if you carry large babies, or if you have Hypertension.

A routine prenatal test will be given at 28 weeks. It will determine if you have gestational diabetes or not. If you do, your doctor will go over the treatment options with you. Most of the time it can be controlled with a special diet, but your doctor may tell you that insulin injections need to be given in order to control the diabetes.

Pregnancy induced hypertension is another illness that strikes a lot of pregnant women. This develops when your blood pressure becomes extremely high, putting you and your baby in danger. It is hard to pinpoint what exactly causes pregnancy induced hypertension, but there are several factors that would suggest the culprit are things such as stress, having high blood pressure before pregnancy, carrying multiple babies, and being a diabetic.

Your doctor can determine if you have pregnancy induced hypertension by taking your blood pressure. If it becomes elevated, or if you come in complaining of a terrible headache, blurred vision, dizziness or swelling your doctor may want to monitor your blood pressure over a period of time to determine if high blood pressure is your problem. High blood pressure can usually be treated with medication and diet.

RH negative blood might be another problem. If you have a negative blood type and your partner has a positive, there is a chance that your baby will have positive blood as well. If this happens there is a risk of the baby’s blood crossing through the placenta and entering your blood stream. This can be fatal to you and your baby. Your doctor will order a shot to counteract any possibility of that happening.

Carrying multiple babies can cause other pregnancy complications as the pregnancy progresses. When the babies start to grow, the added weight may really take a toll on you. The doctor will probably recommend you go on bed rest early in your pregnancy to avoid problems or if they start to see complications arise.

Signs of Pregnancy Complications

Some general signs to look out for are:

• Vaginal bleeding of any kind
• Abdominal pain or cramping
• Abdomen gets tight feeling
• Leaking fluid from the vagina
• Sudden swelling of the extremities and the face
• Extremely painful headache
• Blurred vision or blindness
• Dizziness
• Pain or burning with urination
• Fever over 100 degrees
• Consistent nausea or vomiting

These are all symptoms that you need to report to your doctor immediately. Your doctor will advise you of your next steps. Catching symptoms early will make recovery easier.

Today with the right prenatal care, pregnancy complications can be detected early and treatment can start immediately. This will hopefully result in a healthy baby and a healthy you.