Pregnan

Ethel Aminateh

Essay on Women Issues

Complications of Pregnancy, Causes, Effects and Treatment

Pregnancy complications are varied and affect women in different forms. Sometimes, even the healthiest women before pregnancy can be highly affected with pregnancy complications such as high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, preterm labor, spontaneous abortion or miscarriage, stillbirth, preterm labor, ectopic pregnancy, eclampsia, diabetes and chromosomal anomalies. These complications have different aftermath effects on pregnancy and that may place the pregnancy at higher risk than expected. This essay will focus on the rationales behind pregnancy complications such as high blood pressure, gestational diabetes and ectopic pregnancy. These complications are selected based on the ramifications on pregnancy and the ways to overcome and prevent them during pregnancy.

High blood pressure occurs when arteries carrying blood from the heart to the body organs becomes narrower. This usually increases in the arteries and this can make it hard for blood to reach the placenta. When this happens, it slows down the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the fetus and this can cause a decrease to in amount of blood flow to the fetus leading to preeclampsia or preterm labor. Most often, gestational hypertension usually occurs during the second half of pregnancy and goes away after delivery of the baby if only it happens during pregnancy. One major strategy of managing gestational hypertension is by constantly checking and monitoring blood pressure level.

One other major pregnancy complication that is examined is the preeclampsia and eclampsia. These are pregnancy complications that occur as a result of pregnancy induced hypertension. Usually, hypertension that happens before pregnancy and less than 20 weeks gestation is known as gestational hypertension and occurs in about 5% of pregnancies. Preclampsia is pregnancy with protenuria while eclampsia is pregnancy with hypertension and proteinuria. With preeclampsia, when blood pressure is greater than 140 for systolic and 90 for diastolic, edema, placental insufficiency, coagulation problems and the woman with such condition is at risk of having seizure. The risk for the unborn baby is still birth, placental abruption and placental insufficiency. The risk factors for preeclampsia and eclampsia include previous pre-eclampsia, genetic factors or family history, inadequate body calcium, history of miscarriages, increase body weight, smoking and nulliparous. As far as prevention is concern, the primary methods are low dose aspirin, and calcium supplements. Another major way for prevention is the use of magnesium sulphate and anti-convulsion medications.It is important to mention that whenever magnesium sulphate is being used, the there should be calcium gluconate available for use to counter the effects of magnesium sulphate. All of these provide the rationale for examining preeclampsia and eclampsia as one of the pregnancies completion so that women would be aware of the effect and strategies to manage it during pregnancy. Knowledge is necessary because it can help save a life.

Another pregnancy complication is ectopic pregnancy which is an extra uterine pregnancy in the fallopian tubes, ovary or abdominal cavity. The clinical manifestation of ectopic pregnancy is pelvic pain, vaginal bleeding occurring between the 5 to 8 weeks pregnancy, shock, and hemorrhage. The risk factors for ectopic pregnancy include tubal surgery, pelvic inflammatory disease, induced abortion, smoking, maternal age greater than 40, the use of intra uterine device (IUD), sterilization and prior ectopic pregnancy. There are several ways of diagnosing ectopic pregnancy and these include; trans vaginal ultrasound, serial hCG testing with lower levels of progesterone in ectopic pregnancy. One of the major treatments for ectopic pregnancy is salpingostomy, methrotrexate, and laparotomy.

Gestational trophoblastic disease is another common major complication of pregnancy. It occurs in two major forms either as hydatidiform mole and choriocarcinoma. Hydatidiform mole usually occurs in the placenta forming grape like cysts without any fetus while choriocarcinoma is a malignant cancer of the placenta. The major risk factors for gestational trophoblastic diseases are maternal age greater than 35 and previous pregnancy consisting of hydatidiform mole. The treatment method for hydatidiform mole is dilation and curettage and chemotherapy.

Finally, gestational diabetes is a significant pregnancy complication that should be examine in this study of pregnancy complications. Often times, gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy due to hormonal changes from pregnancy. This prevent the usage of insulin regularly thereby preventing the breakdown of sugar into and leading to high blood sugar levels and subsequently gestational diabetes is likely to be outcome. The complications that can result from gestational diabetes include macrosomia, shoulder dystocia, birth defects, respiratory distress and metabolic abnormalities. The best method of handling gestational diabetes during pregnancy is to adhere to the physician’s recommended treatment. The over raw goal is to prevent complications such as preeclampsia.

In summary, one could say that the causes, manifestations, consequences and treatment strategies can help limit the ramifications of pregnancy related pregnancy. Also, women for long have been ignored and these complications affect almost every pregnancy that has a pre existing condition. Therefore educating women on these pregnancy complications will go a long way to start a comprehensive approach in addressing them.