A pregnancy can be complicated by 3 general categories of problems.
- Pregnant woman may have health problems like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney disease or other chronic illnesses.
- The pregnancy can become complicated if the woman develops gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia, toxemia, pre-term labor and other problems that can threaten the mother and baby’s well being.
- There are still other conditions that can complicate a pregnancy that affect the fetus such as poor growth, a poorly functioning placenta, an abnormal cord or other fetal abnormalities. Pregnancies with multiples such as twins or triplets certainly create a higher risk pregnancy.
Fortunately only 6 – 8 % of all pregnancies are complicated. If you have current health problems
that may complicate your pregnancies or develop problems that complicate your pregnancy we will
manage your care in our office. We collaborate with other specialist such as maternal fetal
medicine doctors to provide the special care women with high risk pregnancies need.
For more information regarding high risk pregnancy talk with your doctor or visit the
following web sites.
http://www.ucsfhealth.org/adult/medical_services/preg/highrisk/index.html
http://www.marchofdimes.com/
http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/bedrest.html
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pregnancy/PR00107
http://www.permanente.net/homepage/kaiser/pdf/6282.pdf
http://www.babycenter.com/0_nonstress-test_1272943.bc?page=2