Pregnancy Complications

Complication during pregnancy is more common than most people think. Even for those who are healthy and have had children before, early pregnancy complications could arise, at no fault to anyone. This article explains some of these complications and what to watch out for.

Early pregnancy complications
When you find you are pregnant, the first thing you must do is go see your obstetrician/gynecologist. They will perform an ultrasound to make sure that your pregnancy is advancing as it should. Regular visits to your OBGYN will prevent early pregnancy complications or at the very least, help identify them at an early stage. The two most common pregnancy complications are:

Ectopic pregnancies
Ectopic pregnancies are one of the most common early complications. Ectopic pregnancies refer to pregnancies in which the egg is fertilized outside the womb so the fetus begins to develop in the ovary or in the fallopian tube. This can be very dangerous not only for the fetus but also for the mother. If surgery is not performed, the tubes could burst and result in internal bleeding and in some cases, even death.
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Miscarriages
Complication during pregnancy can lead to miscarriages, another common early pregnancy complication. Sometimes the cervix can open causing heavy bleeding with intense cramping pains. Other times, the baby can die in early pregnancy. When this happens, the mother can either wait for a miscarriage to occur or have a D&C. There are many different complications during pregnancy that can cause this to happen: blood clotting, infection, structural problems, or lifestyle choices such as smoking, alcohol or high caffeine intake.

High risk pregnancy
A pregnancy that is categorized as high risk is one which has a higher chance of complications arising. You may be considered high risk if you are carrying multiple babies, have a long term illness such as diabetes, or are over the age of 35. If you are high risk, you may be asked to visit your obstetrician more regularly as the pregnancy will need to be more closely monitored than usual.
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Pregnancy over 35
It is not uncommon for a woman’s fertility to be affected over the age of 30 and once you are pregnant, you must be aware that it is more common for complications to arise. The chances of your child bearing birth defects are significantly higher than those women who are under 30 and miscarriages also become more common in the first trimester of older pregnant women. For those over 35, there will also be an increased risk of diabetes and high blood pressure. Don’t worry, as with today’s technology, almost all these complications can be treated as long as they are spotted early on.

Multiple pregnancies
A multiple pregnancy is one in which there are two or more fetuses. It’s considered to be high risk because with more than one fetus, it has a higher chance of developing complications. Almost half of twins that are born are premature with extremely low birth weights and underdeveloped organs. This makes them very vulnerable and it is not uncommon for only one twin to survive. Twins who share a placenta could result in high amounts of amniotic fluids.

It is important to keep this information regarding early pregnancy complications in mind during pregnancy and to regularly consult your doctor.

Morning Sickness

Morning sickness, also called nausea gravidarum, nausea, vomiting of pregnancy (emesis gravidarum or NVP), or pregnancy sickness is a condition that affects more than half of all pregnant women. Sometimes symptoms are present in the early hours of the morning and reduces as the day progresses.

Morning sickness typically occurs in the first few weeks of pregnancy and usually goes away by the second trimester. Snacking on salty foods, like potato chips, and drinking lemonade or ginger ale may help tame the stomach upset. However, some pregnant women have an extreme type of morning sickness, called hyperemesis gravidarum, which requires treatment.


Pregnancy hormones, circulating in the body, affect all your organs and prepare your body to sustain new life. One theory is that they are responsible for sickness, as a means of protecting the foetus from harmful substances. In fact, there's some research to suggest that women who experience bad sickness are less likely to miscarry, and there is some support for this in the fact the sickness generally stops when the baby's major organs have developed.

Home treatment measures for morning sickness include:

• Small, frequent snacks can help alleviate the symptoms. Avoid large meals, especially those high in fat.
• Taking ginger, vitamin B6, or vitamin B12,Fruit or savoury foods which may reduce nausea and/or vomiting during pregnancy.
• Avoiding foods and smells that make you feel sick.
• Keep dry crackers by your bed and eat one or two before getting up in the morning. 
• Trying acupressure, which seems to work for some women.

You should talk to your doctor if your sickness is affecting your overall health, if you find you can hardly keep food or drinks down, or if you become extremely tired.

Pregnancy sickness, even severe sickness that persists and needs hospital treatment, isn’t associated with any harm to your baby, and always ends when your baby is born.

Gestational Surrogate

Almost every surrogacy procedure is a gestational surrogacy procedure.

In traditional surrogacy the surrogate carrier’s own egg is used and combined with sperm from the male partner through intrauterine insemination (IUI) or in vitro fertilization (IVF). In this case, the surrogate is biologically related to the child.

In gestational surrogacy, the surrogate is not biologically related to the child. Gestational surrogacy is considered less risky since the child she is carrying is not biologically related. Gestational surrogates must be between 21 and 38 and have given birth to at least one healthy child. There are also medical, psychological, and health insurance requirements.

Once the medical and psychological screenings are accomplished, the matching process follows immediately. Arrangements are then made to meet with the intended parents. If all parties are in agreement, the process continues and ARR will facilitate the relationship


Surrogates must have private major medical coverage. Maternity coverage may be purchased at the intended parents’ expense.

The national average ranges between $20,000 and $27,000. However, compensation may vary due to circumstances such as a multiple pregnancy, bed rest, caesarian sections or other situations.

Myths About Infertility and Its Treatment

Myths abound about infertility and its treatment. These myths can make you feel anxiety that is not necessary. Getting the facts will allow you to make an informed decision on visiting the doctor. The Kansas City metropolitan area is home to over 2.2 million people. Many couples in this area experience infertility. Many couples do not realize that infertility is a common condition that millions of couples will face at some point in their life. Modern technology and this commonality have offered options that were not there even a decade ago. You need to explore your options fully and visit a fertility doctor to get all the options.


If you are experiencing fertility issues, it is important to learn the facts before you visit a fertility doctor.

Infertility treatments are too expensive. 
The reality is that most couples find that medication or a simple surgical procedure will correct the problems. Some couples will have their solution after a single visit to the doctor. Yes, this type of treatment costs money. However, for the most part, it is not as expensive as you might think it is.


Infertility is very rare.
The reality is that one in six couples experience infertility at some point in their lives. Some have no issues getting pregnant as young adults. However, later pregnancies may not happen. For others, the problems start right away. With so many treatment options available, however, it is important to work with a fertility doctor and get the problems solved.

Most infertility problems are on the female side of the equation.
About 40% of cases are solely caused by problems found on the female side of the equation. The other 60% are a combination of things. It may be solely on the male side of the equation. It may be a combination of both the man and the woman. In some cases, the fertility doctor cannot determine what is causing the problem.


Most of the time infertility problems are insurmountable.
The exact opposite is true. For most couples, there is some treatment option out there that will give them the baby they desire. It may be a matter of taking fertility drugs. It might involve a minor surgical procedure. It might involve a more advanced technique. However, for the majority of couples, there is hope.

Diagnosing the cause of infertility takes years.
Again, the exact opposite is true in most cases. With advanced techniques and a deeper understanding of what might go wrong, your fertility doctor can often make a diagnosis within the first or second visit. That means you may have a solution the day you seek treatment.

Preventing Stretch Marks

Preventing stretch marks is far easier than getting rid of them once you have them. However, it’s important to realize that there are no guarantees, especially if you are pregnant - and around 90% of all women will develop stretch marks at some stage during pregnancy.

They are also common throughout puberty, periods of weight gain and weight loss.

Though there are other causes of stretch marks, pregnancy is the most common. If you are pregnant, or planning on getting pregnant, then start preparing your body early with a number of home remedies.


1) Eat a balanced diet - eating a healthy, balanced diet is essential not only for keeping your skin healthy during pregnancy, but also for giving your baby everything it needs.

2) Drink plenty of water - again, it’s important to keep your skin healthy by staying hydrated. Your skin will be more elastic, reducing the chance that it will break throughout your pregnancy.

3) Gain weight steadily - this is perhaps harder to control. There’s no avoiding the fact that you will gain weight quickly throughout your pregnancy, so preventing stretch marks could be difficult.

However, you do have some control over the momentum. Remember how much you need to eat: contrary to common myths this is only around 500 more calories than you are used to. These calories should also come from a balanced diet.

Throughout your pregnancy, you should be gaining around 2-4lb across the first 12 weeks, 10-14oz a week between weeks 12 and 28, and 2-6lb a week from weeks 28-40. You should always seek professional medical advice if you are concerned about the rate at which you are (or aren’t) gaining weight through your pregnancy.

NOTE: You should try to avoid any sudden weight gain when you aren’t pregnant, as this is also a common cause of stretch marks.

There are a number of moisturizers and lotions developed specifically to help prevent stretch marks during pregnancy as well as outside of pregnancy.


Stretch marks occur when the dermis layer of your skin breaks, allowing the layers underneath it to show through. This is why it’s so important to keep this layer of skin in as best condition as possible. Stretch mark creams and lotions are designed with a number of nourishing ingredients in mind to do just that.

Dermology is an example of one such cream, available in a free trial to help you test the results. Vitamins, such as A, E and D3 help new skin to constantly regenerate, and natural ingredients can stop any scars forming. Combine this with daily skin massage and you will ensure maximum circulation and resilience to stretch marks.

It’s important to use creams like Dermology regularly and consistently. Doing so will help to ensure that your skin is in the best possible condition and, if stretch marks do develop, they will fade away as quickly as possible.




Preventing stretch marks is, unfortunately, not an exact science. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do to stop them altogether, but there will always be ways to reduce them once they occur.

Try to find a method that works for you, and combine all the advice given in this article for maximum effect.

Partial Molar Pregnancy

A placental abruption is a serious potentially life threatening condition. In a normal pregnancy the placenta is attached to the uterine wall however for some women, roughly 1 out of 200 pregnancies the placenta partially or completely detaches from the uterine wall. This condition is most common during the last stage of pregnancy, the third trimester.

The main sign of placental abruption is vaginal bleeding during your pregnancy. However, an estimated 20% of cases will not show blood. The other symptoms of this condition include uterine tenderness, rapid contractions, pain in the abdomen, as well as fetal heart rate problems. If you suspect that you have this problem, there are several things that doctors can do to double-check. You can schedule an ultrasound, but this will only show half of your uterus. Often, an obstetrician must observe your contractions and the fetal response to them (including changes in heart rate) in order to gauge whether or not you have this issue.


Most miscarriages cannot be prevented because this is the body's way of stopping an unhealthy or abnormal pregnancy. Molar pregnancy is the presence and growth of an abnormal tissue instead of an embryo; on the other hand, an ectopic pregnancy is a pregnancy wherein implantation occurs in the fallopian tube instead of the uterus. Ectopic Pregnancy is a serious condition and requires immediate attention.

Heavy bleeding during pregnancy can be caused by several placental complications the most common are Placental Abruption and Placenta Previa. Placental Abruption is a condition where the placenta abruptly disengages itself from the uterine wall. It is generally brought on by an extreme trauma, such as a car accident or a fall, and should be tended to by your physician immediately.

Premature detachment of a normally situated placenta is placental abruption where the exact cause for this condition is unknown. The detachment may be partial or complete. Placental previa is the condition where the placenta is located in lower segment of the uterus, partially or completely covering the opening of the cervix. It leads to severe bleeding during second and third trimesters of pregnancy. The exact cause of placental previa is not known.


If the placenta is lying low, it may cover all or some of the cervix and this affects approximately one in two hundred pregnancies. A lot of women experience placenta previa during early pregnancy, it moves before labour occurs in most cases. A cesarean section is scheduled if a women still has placenta previa even in the last weeks of pregnancy. If before labour occurs, placenta previa is present and not diagnosed then there is a serious risk for both the mother and the baby putting both at a risk of death in this situation.

Most women are informed about their low lying placenta in their first trimester. This is placenta previa. If the placenta does not shifts up during the period of pregnancy, A cesarean is usually planned for such cases. In placental abruption the placenta separates itself from the lining of the womb which results in the severe pain, and the chances are that fetus will be starved from oxygen in this case.

Indigestion During pregnancy

Indigestion during pregnancy can't totally be avoided. As painful and as uncomfortable as it is to deal with, there are so many causes of indigestion for pregnant mothers. In addition, it is natural for a mother to feel this kind of discomfort during the conception period, more especially during the late trimesters of pregnancy.

A common condition among mothers, indigestion is often undiagnosed and mistreated. Due to the lack of awareness among the community of how to properly deal with this condition, mothers who are undergoing first-time pregnancy often have no one to turn to. They instead try to endure the discomfort until it passes, which it usually does after a time.


However, when indigestion during pregnancy is left untreated, it can become worse over time. At first, one or two of the following symptoms may be present. In the later stages and if recurrence is frequent, all of the symptoms can be seen in the pregnant mom. Among the symptoms are heartburn, pain in the upper and lower chest, pain in the upper abdomen, bloating, sense of fullness, burping, flatulence, diarrhea and nausea. Although diarrhea is less common, it's a strong indicator that something is not working right in the digestive system.

The primary cause of indigestion during pregnancy is purely hormonal. During pregnancy, the body releases extra hormones to soften the muscles in the stomach. This is necessary for the mother's belly to be flexible and accommodate a child. Indigestion among mothers is caused by this hormonal change.

The extra hormones make pregnancy less painful for the mother. Ironically, these hormones also make the acids in the stomach to rise up the esophagus, causing heartburn and indigestion. This is more common among mothers in their second and third trimesters. Another possible cause is the size of the growing fetus inside the mother. The size pushes the contents of the stomachs farther upward, making it less convenient for the metabolic system. Eating too fast and overeating can lead to indigestion. Take note that all other causes of indigestion apply to pregnant mothers, as well. For instance, changes in eating habits can cause this problem.

The most server cases are often accompanied by digestive problems such as constipation, diarrhea and IBS. Irritable bowel syndrome, especially the part where the mother becomes constipated, can lead to serious complications when left untreated. For instance, diarrhea can lead to dehydration and constipation can lead to fecal impaction. Dehydration during pregnancy is very risky for both the mother and the child. Surgical removal of the impacted mass after extended periods of constipation is unquestionably dangerous for the baby.