Pregnant women need to be aware of high-risk pregnancy dos and don’ts. A high-risk pregnancy test is required at times.
A high-risk pregnancy is a health condition in which both the mother as well as the developing fetus are in danger during the pre or post-pregnancy. There are high-risk pregnancy factors to cope up with.
Factors That Causes High-Risk Pregnancy
1. Maternal Age
Age does play an important role in determining the common risks that are associated with pregnancy. Usually, women who belong to the age group of 35 to 40 years are at a higher risk as compared to women in their early 30’s. High-risk pregnancy dos and don’ts cannot be side-tracked.
Women who happen to be very young under the age group of 17 years are rather likely to develop complications later in pregnancy as compared to those who are in their late teens or early 30s. They are prone to give birth to abnormal babies and miscarriage. Women after 35 to 40 years of age are prone to give birth to a baby with Downs syndrome. If a mother has suffered from severe health problems before or during pregnancy, then there is a possibility of a high-risk pregnancy. High-risk pregnancy age cannot be ignored.
2. Maternal Obesity and High BMI
High body weight coupled with high body mass index (BMI) can cause high-risk pregnancy. Maternal obesity, as well as high BMI, can lead to birth complications and restrict the growth of babies. Mothers suffering from a very high BMI can develop:
- Gestational diabetes
- Pre-eclampsia
- Hypertension (high blood pressure)
- Premature birth
3. High Blood Pressure
Several factors can regulate blood flow to one’s fetus and blood pressure happens to be one of them. If a mother suffers from a very low or very high blood pressure during pregnancy, she can also suffer from the following health conditions :
- It can damage the kidneys thus causing low birth weight in the baby
- It can also lead to Intrauterine Growth Restriction in the baby ( unusual growth or restriction in the baby)
- Risk of suffering from hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy ( risk for oxygen deprivation injuries)
4. HIV/AIDS
If a mother is suffering from HIV or AIDS, much damage can be done to the cells of the immune system, thus progressively destroying the body’s ability to fight infections as well as certain diseases. HIV does pass on to the baby while giving birth or via breastfeeding.
5. Preterm labor
Preterm labor starts before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Since the baby is not yet fully grown, it will not be able to survive outside the womb. In such a situation the doctor tries to stop labor if it occurs before 37 weeks.
Diagnosis
A woman with a high-risk pregnancy does require continuous monitoring than pregnant women who are not. Such monitoring can include the following:
- Frequent visits with the primary caregiver
- Certain tests to monitor the medical problem
- Amniocentesis
- Blood tests to check the levels of medication
- Fetal monitoring
These tests are required to verify that the fetus is healthy and whether it is necessary to induce labor for early delivery.
Treatment
Treatment for high-risk pregnancy does vary according to the type of disease, and the effect that the disease has on pregnancy. Non-invasive prenatal testing does help doctors to detect problems in high-risk pregnancy by detecting fetal cells in the mother’s blood, thus assessing the risk for a genetic abnormality.
Thus, high-risk pregnancy dos and don’ts need to be adhered to.
