1. Gestational Hypertension:
About 5% of women have hypertension before they become pregnant. This is called chronic hypertension. Another 5% or so develop hypertension during pregnancy. This is called gestational hypertension.
Extremely high blood pressure during pregnancy can cause many problems. One is a condition called placental abruption. This is a premature separation of the placenta from the uterine wall, a condition that would normally cause vaginal bleeding and uterine contractions. If the abruption jeopardizes your health or your baby’s health, you’ll need to have an immediate delivery.
The treatment for hypertension during pregnancy is limited. A doctor will generally recommend that a pregnant woman with early or mild hypertension cut back on her activities and avoid strenuous exercise, while more serious cases require hospitalization.
2. Gestational Diabetes:
There is no known specific cause but it is believed the hormones of pregnancy reduce a woman’s receptivity to insulin resulting in high blood sugar. Gestational diabetes affects an estimated two to three percent of pregnant women.
The problem with diabetes in pregnancy is that it often leads to the birth of large babies, because the excess glucose goes to the baby directly. In other words, if mommy has high sugar, the baby has high sugar. And it affects you as an individual the same way it affects the baby in uterus. The baby gets excessively large and urinates frequently, changing the composition of the fetal fluid, which may even put the baby at risk of death.
To test for diabetes, the physician will administer a challenge test. You’ll be asked to drink a glucose solution in a soda-style liquid. After an hour, your glucose level will be measured. If the reading is too high, which occurs about 20 percent of the time, your doctor will have you come back for a glucose tolerance test.
3. Premature Birth:
Just what causes, premature birth, no one knows for certain. Some research suggests that one of the main contributing factors to preterm labor is infection. Though such infections must be occurring quietly, without showing any symptoms, the bacteria in the cervix must be causing an inflammation, and the by-products of that inflammation are chemicals that can induce preterm labor.
Women in premature labor are often given steroids. They are given to women experiencing premature labor in order to literally pump the baby up. Like turning up the heat on the stove to boil the potatoes a little quicker, the steroids help mature the baby’s physiology more quickly so that he or she has a better chance of survival at birth.
