The Risk of an High Risk Pregnancy

Between ten and twenty percent of pregnant women suffer from depression. Every pregnancy has some risks, but there are more dangers to your health and the health of your fetus with a high risk pregnancy. The causes may be secondary to preexisting conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or conditions you develop during the pregnancy. Being a high risk pregnancy patient can be very depressing.

First, a high risk pregnancy also includes being pregnant with more than one baby, previous high risk pregnancies, or being over age thirty five. If you have a chronic condition, you should talk to your health care provider about how to minimize your risk before you get pregnant. Once you are pregnant, you may need a health care team to monitor your pregnancy.

Secondly, many women experience mood swings during pregnancy, mostly due to fluctuating levels of hormones. But some women experience persistent or frequent lows during their pregnancies that cannot be written off as mere mood swings but instead are considered to be depression. Pregnancy depression is most likely to rear its head either during the first trimester or as you get close to deliver. Women who have a personal or family history of depression, have a lack of support during the pregnancy from the baby's father, require hospitalization or bed rest because of pregnancy complications, or who have a lot of stress are at greater risk of suffering from depression during pregnancy. Symptoms of depression include feelings of sadness or apathy, irritability, sleep disturbances, changes in appetite, difficulty concentrating, anxiety, panic and/or guilt, obsessive thoughts or actions, and sometimes even thoughts of suicide.

Untreated depression can keep you from taking optimum care of yourself and your baby. And it may not end when your pregnancy does. Being depressed when you're pregnant puts you at an increased risk of postpartum depression. Getting the right treatment during pregnancy and right after childbirth can help prevent postpartum depression. (Murkoff 2002)

Preeclampsia is a syndrome that includes high blood pressure, urinary protein, and changes in blood levels of liver enzymes during pregnancy. It can affect the mother's kidneys, liver, and brain. With treatment, many women will have healthy babies. If left untreated, the condition can be fatal for the mother and/or the baby and can lead to long-term health problems. Eclampsia is a more severe form of preeclampsia that can cause seizures and coma in the mother.

Gestational Diabetes Mellitus is a type of diabetes that only pregnant women get. If a woman gets diabetes when she is pregnant, but never had it before, then she has gestational diabetes. Many women with gestational diabetes have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies because they follow a treatment plan from their health care provider. The baby is not fully grown at this time; it may not be able to survive outside the