Health Problems During Pregnancy

Pregnancy lasts 38 weeks on average; plenty of time, for many expectant mothers, to worry about every sensation and symptom they experience, and to wonder if their baby is healthy. Many of the symptoms pregnant women worry about are perfectly harmless, but others do need medical attention.

How can you tell the difference between normal and potentially dangerous?

If you already have a trusted potential prenatal care provider when you start trying to conceive, you can contact him or her as soon as you realize you are pregnant to ask when you should have your first prenatal appointment. Women who haven't yet found a prenatal care provider can start interviewing several in the early stages of the first trimester. It is important to choose a doctor or midwife you trust, and who takes the time to listen to patients' concerns and answer their questions.

Prenatal Care And Tests

During your first prenatal appointment, you and your healthcare provider will cover the basics: your healthcare provider will confirm the pregnancy, discuss the date of your last menstrual period and establish your estimated due date, and talk about your medical history.

The glucose tolerance test for gestational diabetes is another routine prenatal test that we cover in the next section, and of course your healthcare provider will be on the lookout for worrying symptoms at all times.

Ultrasound scans are planned at different times depending on the country in which you live, and on your particular doctor's practice. Many pregnant women will have a scan during their very first prenatal appointment, something that is the highlight of a pregnancy for many. You won't start to feel fetal movement until 13 weeks or later, but your doctor may be able to determine your baby's sex with the help of ultrasound technology as early as 12 weeks.

Prenatal care is also likely to include a number of diagnostic and screening tests. The double marker test determines if the baby is at risk of chromosomal disorders such as Down Syndrome, and this test is carried out between weeks 14 and 20. The triple marker test compares different factors including age, ethnicity, and the results of previous blood tests to estimate what your baby's risk of having a genetic abnormality or disorder is. This is usually carried out between weeks 16 and 18.

Amniocentesis is a definite diagnostic test that will diagnose nearly all chromosomal disorders, several hundred genetic disorders, and neural tube defects like spina bifida. Spina bifida causes problems with the brain, spine or spinal cord (they do not close completely in the early stages of pregnancy), and the risk of this disorder can be greatly reduce if the mother takes folic acid from three months before trying to conceive through the first month of pregnancy.

Moms to-be who are dealing with specific health problems will be monitored more closely by their doctors. Thyroid disorders require regular hormonal check, for example, and women who are Rh negative when their partner is Rh positive will need Rhogam shots to prevent Rh sensitization, which can cause the mother's antibodies to attack the baby's red blood cells.  

Pain Killers And Antibiotics During Pregnancy

Expectant mothers get ill, too. If you have a headache, backache, sore throat or a fever, paracetamol (tylenol) is considered to be a safe pain killer for use during pregnancy. You can use this popular over the counter pain killer during all three trimesters of pregnancy, but make sure you never exceed the recommend dose. Ask your doctor before using ibuprofen, meanwhile.

Antibiotics are best avoided during pregnancy, but when an expectant mom suffers from a condition that requires antibiotics, the treating doctor will choose an antibiotic that will treat the problem but is safest for use during pregnancy. 

Pregnancy Complications And Pregnancy Diet

Light, menstrual-like cramping is very common during the early stages of the first trimester and shouldn't worry newly pregnant women. They should still mention any cramping to their doctor or midwife, however. Heavier cramping or cramps during the second and third trimesters are more of a cause for concern. If you are at all worried, a call to your healthcare provider is in order.

Vaginal bleeding is one of the most frightening experiences a pregnant woman can have, because miscarriage is bound to be the first thought that will occur to her. It is important to be aware that bleeding during pregnancy is actually quite common and it has many possible causes other than miscarriage. They include cervical cancer, a sensitive cervix, ectopic pregnancy (when the embryo implants outside of the uterus, usually in the fallopian tubes in which case it is called a tubal pregnancy), placenta previa and placental abruption.

Any vaginal bleeding during pregnancy should be reported to your healthcare provider.

Doctors will usually recommend an ultrasound if you suffer from vaginal bleeding. An ultrasound will show what is wrong and can be used to diagnose ectopic pregnancy, a placental abruption (later on in pregnancy) and miscarriage. In the case of an ectopic pregnancy, women might have nausea and vomiting, lower abdominal pain, neck and shoulder pain and rectal pain as well as bleeding.

Ultrasounds are more ambiguous in the very early stages of pregnancy though. If you go in at six weeks pregnant and no fetal heartbeat is detected, you might be having a miscarriage but it is also possible that there is a heartbeat but it was not visible. A trans-vaginal ultrasound or a repeated scan at a later date will offer more clarity. Your embryo will officially become a fetus at eight weeks, and trans-abdominal ultrasounds will show a heartbeat more clearly at that stage.

Diet During Pregnancy

A healthy, responsible diet should be the priority of any pregnant woman — that much is clear to everyone. But what does that mean? Many myths surround the topic of eating during pregnancy.

Healthy-weight women should generally gain between 25 and 35 pounds during their pregnancy. They only require 200 to 300 more daily calories than they did before they conceived, so pregnancy is no excuse for excessive eating. No pregnant woman should starve herself to achieve weight loss, but overweight or obesity during pregnancy increases the risk of complications including gestational diabetes and preeclampsia.

Recent research shows that moms to-be who are overweight or obese can safely go on a limited weight loss diet by restricting calories, avoiding junk food, and focusing on eating vegetables, fruit, whole grains and pulses.

This form of “dieting” is more about reducing excessive weight gain during pregnancy than losing weight — not a bad goal, considering that 20 to 40 percent of expectant mothers in the US and Europe gain more than the recommended amount of weight during their pregnancy. A London-based research team that followed 7,000 pregnant women found that this type of dieting does not affect the baby's birth weight and reduces the number of weight-related pregnancy complications.

We should note that any pregnant woman can develop preeclampsia or gestational diabetes. Being overweight or obese is a risk factor, but that does not mean other categories are exempt. Detecting these, and other, conditions early on is one of the main reasons prenatal care is so important. Screening tests will look for both these conditions.

Gestational diabetes often has no noticeable symptoms, and this is why your doctor will perform a glucose test to check how your body regulates blood sugar levels. This is usually carried out between 24 and 28 weeks pregnancy. If symptoms do manifest, they usually include excessive thirst and urination, blurred vision and fatigue.

Preeclampsia is a very serious condition that involves high blood pressure and protein spillage in the urine. The only cure is delivering the baby. Severe headaches, swelling (edema) in the face and ankles, visual disturbances and abdominal bloating are the symptoms to watch out for. Pregnant women who recognize these symptoms should head to hospital.