What Is Preeclampsia and Eclampsia?

Preeclampsia is a dangerous condition and many pregnant women in the country bears it. The cause of preeclampsia and eclampsia are not exactly known. It may be related to defective blood supply to the uterus. Woman with preeclampsia have very high blood pressure with swelling in the legs, abdominal wall and face along with high levels of protein in the urine. Preeclampsia occurs after the completion of 20 weeks of pregnancy.

When a preeclamptic woman has symptoms of headache, blurring of vision, upper abdominal pain, vomiting etc. then she is said to be in imminent eclampsia. If she develops seizures and becomes comatose, then she has developed eclampsia. Pregnant teens and women over 40 are more prone to develop eclampsia. Patients who develops high blood pressure are admitted to the hospital and managed depending upon the severity of her condition. If signs and symptoms are severe then her pregnancy is terminated before dates either by inducing labor or by Cesarean section.

Should I Wear A Seat Belt While Driving In Pregnancy?

The above question is often asked by pregnant patients, and the answer for this question is affirmative. Yes, all pregnant women should wear seat belts while they are in the car; irrespective of whether they are driving the car or seated as a passenger. Studies have found that wearing the seat belt protects the woman and her unborn baby in many ways.

The seat belt should have a three point restraint. When a belt has a three point restraint it will have two straps: the shoulder strap and the lap strap. The lap strap should be kept below the protruding belly; it should be adjusted in such a way that it is across the hip and below the belly. The shoulder strap should be kept between the breasts and not behind the back. During the accidents, the restrained individuals are not thrown out of the vehicle and sustain lesser degree of injury as compared to those who are not using seat belt. The same applies for the pregnant woman.

Herpes During Pregnancy

Herpes is a sexually transmitted infection. When a woman gets this infection for the first time, she may develop fever, body aches and painful sores in the genital area; with vaginal discharge and painful lumps in the groin area. She may develop recurrent episodes of the sores once she gets the infection. A woman who has the genital herpes often wonders if she will be able to deliver the baby naturally. Most woman delivers the baby normally, provided that, the infection occurred long back and there are no active lesions or sores in near term or near the expected date of delivery.

A sad thing about this infection is, once it is acquired it stays dormant in the patient body producing symptoms whenever the patient is stressed out. If the infection occurs in near term than patient’s doctor decides to do cesarean delivery to prevent the baby from getting this infection

Third Trimester Scan

Ultrasound examination of the pregnant woman is done in the third trimester to make sure the fetus is not compromised. Ultrasound examination is a noninvasive procedure, meaning, it does not produce any harm to the mother or the baby in her womb.

When the woman does not deliver and has become past due, the fetal well being is monitored using ultrasound and fetal heart beat tracing. The doctor looks for baby’s movement, the water surrounding the baby and few other parameters to decide about the time of delivery. Other reasons for the third trimester ultrasound are: to confirm fetal death in the womb, to identify placental location, to observe the fetus presentation that means to see which part of the baby is presenting at the mouth of the womb. The head of the fetus at the mouth of the womb, is present in 85 percentage of the patients; other types of presentation will be the buttock, legs, or shoulder.

Second Trimester Scan

Every pregnant woman is advised to have a second trimester ultra sonogram. Ultrasound examination is a procedure where high frequency sound waves are used to scan the pregnant woman’s abdomen to see the 2 or 3 dimensional images of the baby in real time, and look for the presence or absence of any abnormality in the baby, placenta, the umbilical cord and the water surrounding the baby. It even checks for the blood flow into the baby. Baby’s internal organs are visualized and if there are obvious abnormalities, can be picked out easily.

Second trimester ultrasound is done to diagnose many issues: fetal malformations such as Down syndrome, other defects like neural tube defects, to verify dates and growth of the fetus, to confirm multiple pregnancies, to confirm fetal death in the womb, to see if the water surrounding the fetus is normal ,increased or decreased, and to evaluate the well being of the fetus.

Things To Think Before Pregnancy

Conception usually occurs two weeks before the next period is due. Most women will not know that they are pregnant initially; they will come to know about it when they are almost around three weeks into the pregnancy. The growing embryo is most sensitive to harm in the two to eight weeks after the conception. This is the period when the baby’s organs develop and so it is called the period of organogenesis.

First and foremost question to ask is, are you and your partner ready for the parenthood? Consider all the factors thoroughly because your entire life will be changed by this decision. The next important thing to do, is to start on folic acid 0.4 mg daily. Studies have clearly found evidence that the folic acid and vitamins prevent some serious birth defects such as deformity of the brain and spinal cord of the growing embryo. Once you are considering pregnancy you should stop all the bad habits like smoking, drinking alcohol and using recreational drugs. If you have any medical condition such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, kidney problem etc., you should have pre pregnancy counseling with your doctor. If there is any family history of Downs or other genetic disorders in your family or your partner’s family, then you should get pre pregnancy genetic counseling.

Triple Screening In Pregnancy

Triple screening is a blood test done to measure the levels of 3 kinds of substances or hormones in the blood. They are called the alpha fetoprotein, human chorionic gonadotropin and unconjugated estriol. The result helps your doctor to see whether your baby is at a higher risk of having certain birth defects such as neural tube defects and Downs syndrome.

The test is routinely done in most of centers but not all are in favor of doing this test because it does not give absolute test result; it may suggest that there is a possibility of having an abnormal baby. The test is done in around 14 to 18 weeks. If the test result is abnormal then the doctor goes ahead and does other tests like ultrasound to make sure of the date of pregnancy, and monitors the baby’s brain, spinal cord, heart and kidneys. The second test done is known as amniocentesis - a sample of water surrounding the baby is removed and checked for abnormality.

Monitoring Fetal Movements In Third Trimester

You may be asked to keep a record of the baby movements once you complete 31 weeks of pregnancy in some clinical centers. Not all clinics favor this practice. But to keep a watch on the baby’s movement is very reassuring to the pregnant woman; some think it even starts the bonding process between the mother and her unborn baby.

A chart is given and the patient is asked to mark the fetal movements for about an hour or 2. Normally the fetus finishes 10 movements in 2 hours. If the baby is moving less than the usual, you should see your doctor to make sure the baby is not in stress. The doctor performs heart beat tracing of your baby and does a scan to make sure your baby is fine. If your doctor finds any compromise he or she might ask you to get admitted into the hospital to sort out the problem.

How To Calculate Due Date

The first question any pregnant woman faces, is about the expected date of delivery or simply the due date. Do you know how they calculate the due date? It is calculated by using the first day of the last menstrual period and adding 280 days to it. It is not always possible to know the exact date of ovulation or conception except in the case of test tube babies.

The calculated date is not exact; it is only an assumption so the doctor tells you the expected date and says it could be anywhere between 7 days before or after the due date. According to one study, they found that only 5 percent delivers on their due date. Calculating the due date is very important because as the pregnancy grows it may become more difficult to arrive at the due date. Some woman who have a history of irregular periods, it may not be possible to use the Naegele’s rule to calculate the due date. Then her doctor uses the due date calculated by means of the first trimester ultrasound. If your baby is born before 37 weeks then the labor is considered as preterm labor and the baby is considered as premature.