Can I Loose My Pregnancy?
When a pregnant mother happens to spontaneously lose her baby during pregnancy, in lay terms it s called a miscarriage. On the other hand, when a pregnancy is terminated by medical personnel it is deemed to be an abortion. However in medical terms, when a pregnancy ends spontaneously or it is terminated by a doctor before foetus is sufficiently developed to survive if born both are termed as abortion.
Formerly, babies born 28 weeks of pregnancy were not considered viable. But with availability of higher levels of specialized cared for premature babies in USA and some other developed countries babies born there at 20 weeks of pregnancy are now considered to be viable.
An overwhelming majority of pregnancies develop normally bur occasionally things can go wrong, especially during the early weeks. The commonest cause of miscarriage during first 12 weeks is the death of grossly abnormal embryo. This is nature’s mechanism of avoiding the birth of seriously defective babies.
What Should I Do?
While there is no cause for you to worry unnecessarily you should take the following precautions:
1. If you notice even a slight spotting during our pregnancy, you should immediately take bed rest and seek advice from your doctor. In early pregnancy, bleeding may sometimes be due to a miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy (where the baby begins to grow in the egg tube and not in the uterus). But many women who bleed at this stage stop doing so after a while and subsequently complete their pregnancy and have a healthy baby. You should however, not take any chances, particularly, if the bleeding is accompanied by pain in the abdomen or backache.
2. You should take suitable medical treatment for any infectious illness, particularly during early pregnancy.
3. Avoid smoking and drinking because they are known to enhance the risk of miscarriage. The increase in risk is in direct proportion to the number of cigarettes smoked and the frequency and amount of alcohol consumed.
4. If you are diabetic you must keep it well under control, especially during the first month after conception.
5. The risks of miscarriages are higher in a woman who has had trouble in becoming pregnant, in pregnant woman who are over 35 years of age and in those who had two miscarriages earlier. You should be extra careful if you fall into any one of these categories. In such circumstances, it is advisable to avoid undue jerks during traveling and to limit sexual activity. Sometimes, miscarriages are caused by hormonal disturbance. Hormones and bed rest are then recommended. In few cases, a weak cervix is responsible for recurrent miscarriages at around 20 weeks and this may need some corrective surgical measures.
Sex during Pregnancy
You should not harbor any undue fears that sexual intercourse in pregnancy may harm your baby. It is safe and normal to continue to have sex during this period. However, towards the end of pregnancy when the abdomen is large, the common on top position may be rather inconvenient and some different mutually convenient positions may be adopted.
But if you have has a previous miscarriage, you should avoid intercourse in the early months. If nay bleeding is seen at any stage, you should abstain and seek medical advice. Similarly, in a case where the process of delivery starts in a mother prematurely and it is successfully controlled by the doctor couples should avoid having sex.
When a pregnant mother happens to spontaneously lose her baby during pregnancy, in lay terms it s called a miscarriage. On the other hand, when a pregnancy is terminated by medical personnel it is deemed to be an abortion. However in medical terms, when a pregnancy ends spontaneously or it is terminated by a doctor before foetus is sufficiently developed to survive if born both are termed as abortion.
Formerly, babies born 28 weeks of pregnancy were not considered viable. But with availability of higher levels of specialized cared for premature babies in USA and some other developed countries babies born there at 20 weeks of pregnancy are now considered to be viable.
An overwhelming majority of pregnancies develop normally bur occasionally things can go wrong, especially during the early weeks. The commonest cause of miscarriage during first 12 weeks is the death of grossly abnormal embryo. This is nature’s mechanism of avoiding the birth of seriously defective babies.
What Should I Do?
While there is no cause for you to worry unnecessarily you should take the following precautions:
1. If you notice even a slight spotting during our pregnancy, you should immediately take bed rest and seek advice from your doctor. In early pregnancy, bleeding may sometimes be due to a miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy (where the baby begins to grow in the egg tube and not in the uterus). But many women who bleed at this stage stop doing so after a while and subsequently complete their pregnancy and have a healthy baby. You should however, not take any chances, particularly, if the bleeding is accompanied by pain in the abdomen or backache.
2. You should take suitable medical treatment for any infectious illness, particularly during early pregnancy.
3. Avoid smoking and drinking because they are known to enhance the risk of miscarriage. The increase in risk is in direct proportion to the number of cigarettes smoked and the frequency and amount of alcohol consumed.
4. If you are diabetic you must keep it well under control, especially during the first month after conception.
5. The risks of miscarriages are higher in a woman who has had trouble in becoming pregnant, in pregnant woman who are over 35 years of age and in those who had two miscarriages earlier. You should be extra careful if you fall into any one of these categories. In such circumstances, it is advisable to avoid undue jerks during traveling and to limit sexual activity. Sometimes, miscarriages are caused by hormonal disturbance. Hormones and bed rest are then recommended. In few cases, a weak cervix is responsible for recurrent miscarriages at around 20 weeks and this may need some corrective surgical measures.
Sex during Pregnancy
You should not harbor any undue fears that sexual intercourse in pregnancy may harm your baby. It is safe and normal to continue to have sex during this period. However, towards the end of pregnancy when the abdomen is large, the common on top position may be rather inconvenient and some different mutually convenient positions may be adopted.
But if you have has a previous miscarriage, you should avoid intercourse in the early months. If nay bleeding is seen at any stage, you should abstain and seek medical advice. Similarly, in a case where the process of delivery starts in a mother prematurely and it is successfully controlled by the doctor couples should avoid having sex.
