Pregnancy Signs & Symptoms, Week by Week Pregnancy Guide

Pregnancy is a happiest moment with full of joy and lots of expectations for every woman.

However, having pregnancy with chronic medical conditions or with multiples can be more dangerous and leads to a high risk pregnancy.

A pregnancy is termed as ‘high-risk’ when the potential health complications could affect you, your baby or both.

These health complications can develop before or during pregnancy. For the baby, high-risk refers to being born too early with abnormalities or health problems.

On the other hand, for you, the high-risk refers to the chronic health problems that can become life threatening such as hypertension, heart problems.

It is found that, in the United States, yearly, one out of every four pregnant women is with high risk pregnancy. So, with high risk pregnancy, you and your baby need a special care to control the risks and maintain a healthy pregnancy.

There are several medical factors that lead to high risk pregnancy. Age is the most common factor for a high risk pregnancy. Becoming pregnant at an age below twenty years or over thirty-five years increases your risk of developing complications during pregnancy.

Having pregnancy with multiple babies (twins, triplets or quadruplets) also increases your chances of pregnancy complications, thus resulting in high risk pregnancy. It also results when you have had a premature baby [Health complications of Premature Baby].

The chronic health problems before pregnancy, such as diabetes, thyroid disease, kidney problems, high blood pressure, lupus, thyroid disease or heart disease can lead to severe health complications.

Infections such as urinary tract infection (UTI), bacterial vaginosis (BV), or sexual transmitted diseases or infections (STD) such as HIV, AIDs, gonorrhea [Symptoms of Gonorrhea], syphilis, or chlamydia [Symptoms of Chlamydia] cause harm to both mother and the baby during pregnancy.

Premature rupture of the membranes (PROM), a condition where the amniotic fluid expels out too early can also increase the risks of pregnancy. The risk also increases when fluid in the amniotic sac is too much (polyhydamnios).

Incompetent cervix, uterine abnormalities, fibroids also lead to high risk pregnancy. This pregnancy also occurs when cone-biopsy is performed on the cervix.

Placenta problems such as placenta previa (placenta covers the cervix), placenta abruption (placenta separates from uterus wall) can also result in high risk pregnancy.

Habits such as smoking, too much alcohol consumption and drug use also increase the possibility of having risks during pregnancy.

On the other hand, you can reduce the health complications of high risk pregnancy and achieve a healthy pregnancy with the help of your health care professional, especially an ob/gyn who can assess, diagnose and examine high-risk pregnancies.

It is found that ninety to ninety-five percent of high-risk pregnancies can result in normal and healthy babies with prenatal care and regular check-ups.

You can stay healthy and become free from high risk pregnancy by controlling the chronic health conditions before or during pregnancy, by taking prenatal care such as healthy diet, exercises, taking vitamin supplements, and sufficient rest.

Having regular visits with your doctor, before and during pregnant can detect the risk in advance. Remember, the earlier the risk is identified, the better the possibility of having healthy pregnancy.