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Pregnancy miscarriage is the traumatic end of a pregnancy. It marks the natural or spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or the fetus is not capable of surviving. Most expectant mothers seem to get panicky about this mishap during the course of pregnancy. As per medical experts, miscarriages can take place in the first trimester or the first twelve weeks of pregnancy. The period starting from 12 weeks to 28 weeks of pregnancy are the most risk prone. Therefore, pregnant women must be familiar of the symptoms and the causes of miscarriage and be on the alert all the time.

Causes And Symptoms Of Pregnancy

Basically the baby’s failure to be developed in the uterus marks pregnancy miscarriage. Sometimes miscarriages can take place without the pregnant woman even coming to know that she was pregnant. Usually, the bleeding secreted from the vagina is one of the most common and prominent indicators of miscarriage. If you are pregnant and display this symptom, call your physician immediately. You must hurry and call your doctor to prevent losing your baby. Medical experts suggest if a pregnant woman shows vaginal bleeding, she must lie down to protect her pregnancy from coming to an end.

Medical professionals plan measures on the basis of the period of pregnancy in which the vaginal bleeding takes place. If the bleeding appears anytime after 28 weeks, then it will not necessarily be a signal of pregnancy miscarriage. Bleeding after 28 weeks may signal complications in the placenta. The placenta is considered to be the ‘lifeline’ of your baby growing inside, so if there are any risks related to placenta that is apparent through vaginal bleeding, you must contact your doctor at the earliest and get yourself admitted to the hospital. The doctors may carry out ultrasound to determine the position of placenta. You may be retained in the hospital for giving birth. Often the patients undergo blood transfusion to make up for loss of blood and the babies are delivered by either induction or the caesarean method.

How To Prevent Pregnancy Miscarriage?

Consult with your doctor to find ways to save your babies from succumbing to pregnancy miscarriage. Most of the doctors instruct patients to take adequate bed rest for a few days to stop bleeding. Call for another pregnancy test or ultrasound to confirm you are still at a safe distance from risk of miscarriage. You should always place yourself under keen observation so as to detect that the pregnancy is advancing normally and there is no abnormality in the baby’s development.

As long as the vaginal bleeding is experienced as mild and painless, there is little risk of pregnancy miscarriage involved. When you find the bleeding to be heavy and terribly hurting, then it marks pregnancy miscarriage. Painful vaginal bleeding indicates that the baby has stopped developing. Consult your doctor to clean out your womb in such a case. Such miscarriages can immensely affect the woman’s mental health and can push her towards depression. It is up to her spouse and family members to give her adequate attention and care to overcome the loss of baby.

Pregnancy Miscarriage – Symptoms Associated With Miscarriage

Pregnancy complications in women over thirty are several as age plays an important role in pregnancy. There has been a growing tendency to have children well over the age of thirty as nowadays in many families both partners are busy with their professional lives. This is also because many couples are unaware that the risks during pregnancy are higher in a women aged 30 and above. In fact these days it is not unusual for women above 40 and even 50 planning a pregnancy! It is a fact that many older women have successfully given birth to healthy babies and have had no complications, but there are a few risk factors associated with the advancing age of the expectant mother.

Factors That Affect Pregnancy In Older Women

The foremost pregnancy problem in women above 30 is getting pregnant itself! This is because fertility of women starts to decrease with age and in cases where women are over 30 they may even need fertility treatment which has the increased risk of inducing multiple pregnancies in some cases.

A few of the most common pregnancy complications in women over thirty are hypertension, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, placental abruption or placental pervia and bleeding or spotting. Women older than 35 years also have a greater risk of carrying pre-term babies, low birth weight babies and in many cases the babies may be in need of neonatal care. Older expectant women also have an increased chance of having multiple pregnancies. The incidence of fetal death during the last trimester is also high in women older than 35.

Other pregnancy complications in women over thirty include the risks of giving birth to a baby with Down’s syndrome and other chromosomal abnormalities. Medical tests such as amniocentesis are done to determine risks to the unborn child.

One other risk during pregnancy in older women is the effect that disease conditions of the heart, kidney, or diabetes and hypertension have on the health of the pregnant women. The chances of still birth also increase with age as does the need for a C-section.

These are just a few of the pregnancy complications in women over thirty. It gives you a general idea of some of the risk factors associated with the advancing age of the expectant mother. Remember that women from all age brackets do have their set of pregnancy complications and that despite the high risk and complications involved, many of them have ensured that they have a safe and healthy pregnancy by following the advice of their consultants and by adopting proper pregnancy planning techniques.

Most pregnancy complications in women over thirty can be prevented and the chances of a health pregnancy and birth increased by following a regime of regular nutritious meals, recommended exercise, prescribed increased intake of folic acid and other supplements and by having a positive outlook and attitude.

Pregnancy Complications In Women Over Thirty

Are you thinking you may be pregnant, but just aren’t sure? Are you unsure of what to expect? There are many early signs of pregnancy that will let you know you are pregnant indeed. This article will help you recognize these early signs so you can know what to expect.

This is an obvious one of course, but keep in mind that a missed menstrual cycle doesn’t always mean you are pregnant. It could be caused by anything from stress to taking medicine that has thrown your cycle off balance. But, if you are as regular as clockwork, it could very well be an early sign of pregnancy.

If you begin to feel cramps that are pretty much like those you get during your period, it could be a good sign of pregnancy.

Because the fetus takes in your blood sugar as its food source, you may often times begin to feel faint or dizzy. It’s normal, but you should be sure you don’t skip meals or you could make it worse.

Although morning sickness doesn’t usually begin in women who are pregnant until week 5 or so, there are those cases in which women get these feelings as early as week two.

This is another early sign of pregnancy for many women. You may begin to see dark brown spotting around 10-14 days after conception.

Feeling Tired All The Time

Tiredness is quite common since a woman’s body is going through so many hormonal changes during early pregnancy. This may come and go during your entire pregnancy, although there are things you can do to get more energy during the day.

Breast tenderness is a classic early sign of pregnancy. Your nipples may darken and feel much more sensitive. This is due in part to hormones. Your body is beginning to prepare for breastfeeding after giving birth.

You have no doubt heard it said that pregnant women have moods that can swing on a moments notice. It’s all due to your hormones. It’s amazing at how you can laugh one minute and cry the next.

These are some of the major early signs of pregnancy that you may experience your first several weeks. If you are indeed pregnant, congratulations! You have a lot to look forward to.

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How To Recognize The Early Signs Of Pregnancy

It is tempting to laugh at the idea that male partners of pregnant females experience some of the symptoms of pregnancy.

Logically it is hard to understand how a woman’s body, which is undergoing a massive hormonal shift to make way for new life, can produce the same symptoms in a man, whose body is undergoing no such change.

But indeed, the symptoms have been well documented throughout cultures and time. And now, after a 10-week study by Waikato Univiersty researcher Irene Lightwark, we are told Kiwi men too suffer from Couvade Syndrome, colloquially known as “pregnant dad syndrome”.

“Couvade” comes from a Medieval French tradition where men would take to their beds and be tended to when their wives were labouring or giving birth. The modern equivalent sees men suffer a range of things including weight gain and food cravings. The upsets are often gastro-intestinal (as they are in actual pregnancy) and are worse in the first and third trimesters (again, like the real thing).

For those tempted to chalk it up to male attention seeking, or ambivalence about impending fatherhood, studies have shown that hormonal shifts can be found in men living with pregnant women – so long as the father is the biological father.

What I would like to know is what kind of man is more likely to suffer these symptoms. The ones that I know of who have felt rough through pregnancy have tended to be the ones that bury themselves in pregnancy manuals, researching the impending birth, and being on hand to offer helpful (and sometimes not so helpful) advice when the time is right. My brother in law was one such man, whose feet actually swelled when my sister lost her ankles sometime around the eight month of pregnancy. some I’ve known even have the famous hormonal dip a few days after the big event, where the high of labour and child birth can give way to waves of moodiness and sadness.

It makes a strange kind of folksy sense that a man that interested and connected in to his partner’s pregnancy might also be tuned in to his partner to the extent of sharing her hormonal dips. I have not had this experience myself.

My husband took one look at the 1970s-inspired, “let it all hang out” childbirth manuals handed to me by a work colleague and turned a lovely shade of puce. he was sympathetic to the various plights of normal pregnancy, without ever really wanting to hear the details of it. To me it was normal really – I couldn’t imagine my father talking about episiotomies with my mother either, or my grandfather discussing painful breasts.

My other brother in laws puts it even more succinctly. he understands and has sympathy with the pregnant woman, and can understand she has a lot of discomfort to withstand. but it’s not that he has actual pregnancy pains – he has no Couvade’s Syndrome; he finds pregancy painful because he reckons the pregnant woman won’t stop bellyaching!

By Dita De Boni

2. How strange! My husband didn’t have any symptoms when I was pregnant with our two children but then again I didn’t have too many myself! Swollen ankles was about it really (aside from the usual tiredness etc) and he didn’t share in that with me.
   Maybe there is a strong psychological element to all this – you can convince yourself of anything if you really want to. but who knows?

   I think that there would be a lot of mothers to be who wouldn’t appreciate the men trying to get in on the symptoms (and the right to complain about them) – since it is only the woman who actually experiences the physical aches and pains, and then the labour itself!

Pregnant dad syndrome

Speaking about health before pregnancy, we mean way of life, nutrition, physical activity, habits, and also possible chronic diseases, such as heightened blood pressure or diabetes. if you have such diseases, then you just have to visit a doctor beforehand. You know, this may complicate pregnancy, bring harm to an unborn baby. Tell your doctor which medicinal preparations and in which doses you take. Doctor will recommend you tests and observations you should pass, for example, X-ray photography. Try to discuss all questions you have for the moment.

It is much simpler to think over a strategy of treatment before pregnancy and then worrying about complications.

Diabetes
Diabetes – it is a disease, appearing as a result of lack of insulin in organism, this hormone is produced by pancreas. if you have diabetes, it will be more difficult for you to become pregnant. Moreover, diabetes can influence passing of pregnancy seriously. first of all, it can become a reason of miscarriage or giving birth to a dead baby. Secondly, women suffering from diabetes can give birth to babies with inborn defects.
You can reduce risk of such complications due to constant control of sugar content in blood during pregnancy. if you don’t care of your state, then diabetes while pregnancy may turn out to be dangerous both for you and your future baby. Majority of complications, connected with diabetes, are displayed during first trimester, i.e. during first 13 weeks of pregnancy.

Pregnancy may cause complications of state while diabetes, what will require increase of insulin doses. this can be easily determined with help of test on sugar content in blood. Majority of doctors recommend taking a special care of this disease development during at least 2-3 months before conception. this will help to reduce probability of risk of miscarriage or other problems. Probably, you will have to pass tests on sugar content in blood several times per day, to control disease completely and avoid possible complications. past experience shows that women, suffering from diabetes, had serious problems with conception and passing of pregnancy. but die to complete and constant control even women-diabetics can count on successful result of pregnancy and delivery.

If in your family there were cases of diabetes or you have slightest suspicions as for your own health, pass tests before pregnancy surely.

Asthma
About 1% of pregnant women suffer from asthma. It is impossible to predict influence of pregnancy on asthma. Half of women, suffering from this disease, notice no changes during pregnancy, about 25% feel even slight improvement, and the rest (25%) observe worsening of state.

Majority of anti-asthma remedies are safe for pregnant, but it is still better to consult a doctor as for preparation to take. almost all who suffer from asthma know what may become a reason of fit, so avoid contact with allergens before getting pregnant and during whole pregnancy. Try to control your state yet before pregnancy.

Hypertension
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, can cause complication both of mother’s and unborn baby’s health. For women it is connected with risk of refusal of kidneys work, probability of hypertensic crisis or headache. Increase of a future mother’s blood pressure may become a reason for decrease of blood inflow to placenta, what will lead to delays of fetus development, i.e. a baby will weigh less, than normal while birth.

If you had high blood pressure before pregnancy, then you just have to take care of it during all 9 months. Probably, gynaecologist will send you to therapeutist’s or family doctor’s observation with this purpose.
Before making a decision to become pregnant, women, suffering from hypertension, should consult a doctor. some remedies against high blood pressure are safe for pregnant, some are not. on no account quit taking pills and reduce dose without a doctor’s prescription! this can be dangerous. if you plan giving birth to a baby, ask you doctor about remedies you are taking against high blood pressure, and about safety of taking these medicines during pregnancy.

Heart diseases
During pregnancy load on heart increases about 50%. if you have sick heart, it is necessary for your doctor to know about it before you become pregnant.

Some heart diseases, such as mitral valve prolapse, can seriously complicate passing of pregnancy. Probably, you will even have to take antibiotics before delivery. other heart diseases, such as inborn heart disease, may seriously influence state of health. in this case pregnancy and delivery are sometimes contra-indicated.

Consult your doctor as for heart diseases before you become pregnant.

Kidneys and urinary bladder diseases
Infections of urinary system, in particular urinary bladder, often appear during pregnancy. if you don’t cure disease in time, infection may pass to kidneys, causing pyelonephritis.

Infections of urinary bladder and pyelonephritis may lead to premature birth. if you ever suffered from pyelonephritis or repeating infections of urinary system, this should be determined before pregnancy.

Stones in kidneys also may complicate passing pf pregnancy. this disease is accompanied by severe pains in lower part of belly, so it is quite difficult to diagnose it during pregnancy. Moreover, stones in kidneys may become a reason of appearance of infections of urinary system and pyelonephritis.

If you ever had some only infection of urinary bladder, you should not worry a lot. but you still should inform your doctor about it. He will decide whether you need to pass more careful observation before pregnancy.

Thyroid gland diseases
Thyroid gland diseases may appear both because of excess or lack of thyroid hormone. Excess of hormone is called thyrotoxicosis. in this case metabolism in human organism is speeded up. this may be caused by Graves’ disease. Thyrotoxicosis is usually cured with help of operation of medicinal remedies, reducing content of thyroid hormone in organism. if you don’t cure this disease, there’s rather high level of risk premature birth and giving birth to a baby with low weight.

You can carry our treatment during pregnancy too: there’re quite safe preparations, which pregnant women may take.

Lack of thyroid hormone – hypothyroidism – is usually caused by disease of autoimmune origin. in this case thyroid gland is damaged by anti-bodies, which are produced by your organism. while hypothyroidism taking of thyroid hormones is prescribed. not cured hypothyroidism threatens with sterility or habitual noncarrying of pregnancy.

If you have thyrotoxicosis or hypothyroidism, you need to pass through observation before pregnancy, to determine doses of medicinal remedies, necessary for treatment. in the process of pregnancy your necessity in preparations may change, and then you will have to pass another observation.

Anemia
Anemia means that there’s lack of haemoglobin in your organism. There’re several reasons and in connection with this several kinds of anemia. Symptoms of anemia are weakness, giddiness, lack of air and pale skin.
During pregnancy necessity of organism in iron and iron-containing substances increases. if in the beginning of pregnancy you suffer from lack of iron in blood, anemia increases this lack. So you need to take vitamins and preparations, containing full choice of microelements, necessary for organism.

One of specific types of anemia – sicle-cell disease, which is passed genetically: it is mainly spread among black population. if you suffer from sicle-cell disease, your organism is deprived of oxygen. Passing of this kind of anemia can be very painful, and it also may serve as a reason for other diseases and complications during pregnancy. Sicle-cell disease cannot be cured and may be passed to your baby. Women, suffering from sicle-cell disease, have very high percent of miscarriages and infections of urinary system. they also may suffer from high blood pressure and painful hypertension strokes.

Another kind of anemia – thalassanemia is also passed genetically. if some of your relatives suffers from thalassanemia or you suppose you can have it, check it before pregnancy.

Lupus
Lupus is a vascular disease of autoimmune origin. this means your organism produces anti-bodies that may destroy your organs or influence functions of these organs negatively. Lupus can affect different organs, including joints, kidneys, lungs and heart.

This disease is hard to diagnose. one woman of 700 in the age from 15 to 64 years suffers from lupus. Among black women it is met more often, in one case of 254. As a rule, lupus more often strikes women, than men, especially women of genital age, i.e. from 20 to 40 years.

Lupus treatment is highly individual and usually means taking if steroids. It is better not to become pregnant during fit of this disease, as miscarriages are extremely often among women suffering from lupus. Risk of giving birth to a dead baby also increases.

Babies, born from mothers, suffering from lupus, can have rash. they also can have different heart diseases. Premature birth and delay of pre-natal development of fetus are also quite possible.
If you suffer from lupus, consult your doctor before pregnancy definitely.

Epilepsy and epileptic seizures
Epilepsy – is a chronic disease, characterized by different kinds of seizures (fits). Most often epilepsy is displayed by big and small epileptic seizures. Chance of giving birth to a baby with epileptic disease can be 1 of 30 for women, suffering from epilepsy. such babies have risk of in-born diseases, probably, connected with medicines, which a future mother took during pregnancy.

If you take medicines against epilepsy, it is very important to consult your doctor before pregnancy. Discuss doses and type of medicines, which you take, as many preparations, relieving seizures of epilepsy, cause in-born diseases in babies. However, there are safe remedies for fetus, for example, Phenobarbital.

Seizures can be dangerous both for mother and fetus. So it is especially important to take remedies precisely according to a doctor’s prescription during pregnancy. on no account reduce dose or quit taking medicine yourself, without a doctor!

Migraine
About 15-20% of all pregnant women suffer from migraine. many women notice improvement of health during pregnancy. if you are going to take pills against headache during pregnancy, check with your doctor how much they are safe for you and future baby.

Cancerous growths
A question of probability of cancer’s influence on pregnancy depends on the fact which organ it stroke and how wide is growth. Breast cancer is most often form of cancer, met among women. if you had breast cancer, this will not influence pregnancy anyway, and pregnancy, in its turn, will not cause breast cancer.
Many doctors advice to wait 2-3 years with childbirth after breast cancer treatment. It is very important to discuss case history and method of treatment with your doctor yet before pregnancy. Situation may become quite complicated, if you are pregnant and pass treatment at the same time. many medicines and remedies against cancer are not safe for future mother and baby.

Other diseases
We examined only some chronic diseases. However, any disease can be dangerous for future baby. So if you suffer from some chronic disease or have to take medicines constantly, discuss it with your doctor.
General rule is following: it is better not to take medicines or pass any medical treatment at the moment of conception and on early stages of pregnancy. Laying of all organs and tissues of a baby takes place during 1st trimester of pregnancy, and during this period you need to protect a future baby from harmful influences of medicines or observations. You will feel better and calmer, if you solve all these problems before pregnancy.

Yana Mikheeva is the creator of Baby Health Directory – Pregnancy, Birth, Parenting and Baby Care resources. are you going to get pregnant? Visit our friendly resource and read information on pregnancy and parenting, painless childbirth, growth and development of a baby, baby health, safety, signs of pregnancy.
She also has All about women site where you can find articles on various subjects, such as: diets, receipts, health, cellulite, figure, aromatherapy, wholesome food, psychology of relationships, pregnancy, parenting, fashion and many others.

Tags: Chronic, Diseases, pregnancy

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at 12:16 PM and is filed under Medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Chronic diseases and pregnancy