Your Pregnancy, Your Way by Allison Hill & Sheila Curry Oakes

Author:Allison Hill & Sheila Curry Oakes [HILL MD, ALLISON & OAKES, SHEILA CURRY]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hachette Books
Published: 2017-04-11T00:00:00+00:00

Initially, most women with preeclampsia have no symptoms. Receiving the diagnosis may seem inconceivable to some patients because they feel completely normal. Those hoping for a noninterventional birth are suddenly faced with a different path, often involving labor induction, continuous fetal monitoring, and bed rest.

Consistent prenatal care is critical to the early detection of preeclampsia. At each prenatal visit, your provider will check your blood pressure, examine your urine for protein, and inquire about swelling. Because the incidence of preeclampsia and other complications increases as you get closer to term, your prenatal visits will be more frequent: monthly during the second trimester, biweekly during the early third trimester, and weekly during the last month. If your blood pressure is persistently greater than 140/90 and you have protein in the urine, the diagnosis is confirmed.

Identifying women who are at risk for developing preeclampsia is an area of active research. Certain markers in the blood, such as placental growth factor (PGF), can be measured to predict this disorder. Almost half of women with low PGF levels will develop preeclampsia in the following two weeks. While these markers are helpful in identifying the risk of preeclampsia, there is little that can be done to prevent it.

The blood pressure pattern during pregnancy can also predict this disease. Normally, blood pressure decreases by ten points during the second trimester, with the lowest readings between sixteen to twenty weeks. Women who do not have this natural drop are more likely to develop preeclampsia.

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