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Possible Pregnancy Complications

While most women have perfectly healthy pregnancies with only minor discomforts, it never hurts to know the warning signs of conditions that can cause serious health problems for you and your baby. There is a range of different symptoms you can experience during and after pregnancy, from minor discomforts like nausea and leg cramps, to more severe problems like bleeding. Every woman and every pregnancy is different though, and some women even have a problem-free experience.

Hundreds of thousands of women have pregnancy complications every year. Among women who become pregnant in the United States each year, at least 30% have a pregnancy-related complication.

Every year in the United States, approximately 875,000 women experience one or more pregnancy complication, about 467,200 babies are born prematurely, close to 307,000 babies are born with low birth weight and over 154,000 babies are born with birth defects. It's predicted that this year, 1,050,000 women will develop hypertension, 420,000-840,000 will experience abnormal bleeding, 380,000 will go into labor too early, 210,000 will come down with viral infections, 139,000-420,000 women will have babies with intrauterine growth retardation, 126,000-504,000 will have gestational diabetes and 42,000 will have too much amniotic fluid.

The majority of problems are relatively gentle, but some carry significant health risk to both you and your growing baby.

Complications that appear can range from minor (morning sickness, leg cramps, edema, etc) to more serious complications that may need medical intervention including ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, incompetent cervix, bleeding in pregnancy, intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR), placenta previa, placental insufficiency, placental abruption, premature rupture of membranes (PROM), low or excessive amniotic fluid, preeclampsia, (pregnancy-induced hypertension) and eclampsia.

There are several specific tests done during the first trimester of pregnancy, and a few screenings later in pregnancy to help prevent certain complications, or spot them early. Your doctor or midwife can provide you with a schedule for prenatal tests.

If you consult your doctor from the very start of your pregnancy you have chances to be diagnosed on early stage. If your doctor or midwife identifies a potential problem, they may refer you to a perinatologist, who is a specialist that handles pregnancies that are at higher-than-normal risk for complications.

Also a neonatologist may be called in to advise about problems that occur (or are expected to occur) shortly after delivery. A neonatologist is a pediatrician who works exclusively with newborns, specifically those born premature, have a serious injury, illness, infection or a birth defect.

Remember that you minimize the risk of experiencing complications by maintaining a healthy lifestyle, particularly by eating well and refraining from non-prescription drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, as well as getting regular prenatal care.

It's imperative to follow your doctor or midwife's recommendation, to lower your risk for complications and to heighten your odds of delivering a healthy baby.