Pregnancy can be a nerve racking time for a lot of mamas. And one of the most important things to get educated about right away are red flags and signs to call your doctor when pregnant.
In reality, you should call your provider whenever something doesn’t feel right, but today I want to talk about the times when you shouldn’t wait!
From stretch marks, leaky breasts, to literally growing a beard (yes, you can grow hair on your face!) it’s clear pregnancy can cause your body to do some WEIRD stuff.
However, in this article, I am going to discuss some pregnancy complications you may have that you should ALWAYS, 100% of the time bring up to your doctor.
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Vaginal bleeding is always scary during pregnancy. When you’ve gone months without a period, a drop of blood in the toilet can be quite nerve wracking.
Some women do experience bleeding in the first trimester, as baby implants to the uterine wall. This is usually described as very light spotting, many times happening even before you find out you are pregnant.
You will also have some moderate bleeding (bloody show) while you are in labor as your cervix is changing. These are the only two instances in pregnancy when bleeding is somewhat “normal”.
*Regardless of the normality, it’s important to note that ALL instances of bleeding should be brought to your midwife or OBGYN’s attention.
Related Reading: What to Expect At Your Prenatal Visits
Related Reading: First Trimester Tips (from a nurse)
There is only one time you should have abdominal pain that is warranted during your pregnancy, and that is when you are in labor! Labor after 37 weeks to be exact. All other instances should be brought up to your provider, as abdominal pain can signal many different problems. Most of these I’ve brought up above in the bleeding section, but some common reasons include:
Amniotic fluid is the cushion that helps to protect baby during your pregnancy. It’s also important for baby’s lung maturity.
It’s common to have your water break spontaneously when you are in labor, however sometimes it happens before you are term. This is what your OBGYN is concerned about if you report any vaginal leaking before week 37.
Sometimes vaginal infections can cause increased discharge during pregnancy. Also, towards the end of your pregnancy, you may have an increase in this discharge as your body is preparing for labor.
Discharge is a different consistency than amniotic fluid, however. Amniotic fluid is usually in a much greater abundance and more watery than normal vaginal discharge.
If you think your water has broken at any time in your pregnancy, regardless of your gestational age, call your provider. There are a number of tests that can be done to determine if you have or not.
This actually happened TO ME! I thought my water broke but it turned out that wasn’t the case.
And hey, if you’re headed off to the hospital because you are term and you KNOW your water broke (aka you had a HUGE gush of water from down there and it’s dripping on the floor!) make sure you don’t forget these essential items in your hospital bag!
Related Reading: What is a Midwife? Could Midwifery Care Be Right For You?
Research shows that kick counting is a free and SUPER effective way for mamas to track the wellbeing of baby in the womb, spot potential problems, and prevent stillbirth!
If baby does not move ten times in two hours, call your doctor. This can be a sign that baby is in distress. Think about when you feel sick and under the weather, you don’t like to move around, and you tend to stay in bed. This is the same reasoning behind why babies move less when they are stressed.
It is important to note that babies do have sleep cycles in the womb, and when babies are sleeping they don’t move as much. Babies tend to like to sleep when you are up moving around. This is why it’s important to do fetal kick counts when you are lying down, because this is when babies like to wake up!
When you go to your scheduled appointments, your provider will always ask you if you have been having any headaches or blurry vision.
Headaches or blurry vision can be a sign of preeclampsia, a life-threatening pregnancy complication for you and baby.
Preeclampsia is more common towards the end of your pregnancy, but it may happen at any time after 20 weeks of gestation. It is characterized by:
Preeclampsia is dangerous for you because if your blood pressure is extremely high, it can cause you to have a seizure or a stroke. It is also very dangerous for baby because as your blood pressure elevates, less blood flow and oxygen get to your placenta, which ultimately means less blood flow and oxygen for baby.
I know I’ve said this a dozen times already, but PLEASE bring up any of these concerns to your doctor. Don’t rely on little ol’ me to diagnose your pregnancy complications.
I am a nurse, but I’m not YOUR NURSE! Please see my disclaimer for more information.
With that said, here’s to a safe and healthy pregnancy! And remember, you can call for ANY reason or concern – this is certainly not an exhaustive list.
Never worry about being annoying or overbearing, we’ve heard it all and WE WANT TO HELP YOU! We’d much rather you call for a false alarm than an emergency go unreported.