Being pregnant is a time of excitement, expectation, and change as you go through the trimesters to prepare for the new life being added to your family.
With nearly four million babies born in the last year, you’re certainly not alone, whether it’s your first child or a brother or sister being born. Every pregnancy has its own challenges and affects everyone differently.
This also means different potential complications each time you have a child, which can increase your chances of a high-risk pregnancy. If you’re looking for ways to manage a high-risk pregnancy or other issues, Dr. Christopher Serrano and his dedicated staff at Serrano OB/GYN in Serrano, Texas, can help.
Let’s explore what high-risk pregnancy means, what factors can lead to it, and what can be done to manage the issues associated with it.
With a high-risk pregnancy, there’s a possible threat to the life of the mother, child, or both. This means taking extra precautions and additional measures to ensure everyone’s safety and reduce the chances of complications before or during childbirth.
High-risk pregnancies can be the result of several factors, including your age (having children when you’re under the age of 17 or over 35), health conditions related to pregnancy, lifestyle choices (diet, smoking, alcohol, drug abuse), and pre-existing health problems.
Signs of a high-risk pregnancy include persistent abdominal pain, chest pain, fainting, dizziness, intense fatigue, heart palpitations, vomiting and nausea worse than is typical with morning sickness, severe headaches, thoughts of self-harm, and vaginal bleeding or discharge.
Many problems can arise with high-risk pregnancies, such as hypertension, gestational diabetes, preterm labor, unusual genetic factors, infections, problems caused by sexually transmitted infections during pregnancy, and preeclampsia.
Severe complications include stillbirth, miscarriage, low birth weight, birth defects, or excessive bleeding during delivery (known as postpartum hemorrhage).
Depending on the severity of your problems, a stay in the intensive care unit may be necessary, as well as neonatal intensive care for your baby. A cesarean delivery may also be necessary in cases with certain complications with a vaginal childbirth.
Managing high-risk pregnancies varies with the issues you’re dealing with. If we know you have a high-risk pregnancy, eliminating controllable factors like smoking, drinking alcohol, or taking illegal substances, and modifying your diet can help reduce some complications. Specific tests may be necessary to ensure your health and that of your baby, like:
To analyze unique problems in your pregnancy, ultrasound imaging like 3D and 4D tests may need to be done, along with biophysical profiles and tests to measure your cervix length.
There are different options for genetic testing, such as a blood test for cell-free DNA (cfDNA) screening, amniocentesis, and chorionic villus sampling (CVS).
More urine and blood testing may be necessary throughout your pregnancy to watch closely for possible infections or other problems with you or your baby.
If you’re planning on getting pregnant and we suspect yours may be a high-risk pregnancy, we can set up a plan of action to mitigate as many potential issues as possible beforehand. With the proper preparation and care before and during your pregnancy, we can better monitor everyone’s health, high-risk or not.
If you’d like more information or you’re experiencing a high-risk pregnancy, call our office at 210-761-5308, or book an appointment online today and let us help make sure things go as smoothly as possible before, during, and after your pregnancy.
