Eclampsia Is A Known Cause Of Significant Maternal And

Childbirth is one of the greatest privileges on the earth anyone could have and we, as women, should feel proud to be major contributors for it. Thus, a mother has to play a key role in aiding the healthcare workers to mitigate the health crisis associated with childbirth by performing her duties faithfully. One such associated health crisis is “Premature (preterm) birth” which occurs when the baby is born too early, before 37 weeks of gestational period (CDC, 2015). The rate of preterm birth ranges from 5% to 18% of babies born across 184 countries (WHO, 2015).

Medical and technological advances in maternal and neonatal care have significantly reduced maternal and infant mortality and medical interventions have become commonplace and arguably routine. Used appropriately, they can be lifesaving procedures. Routine use, without valid indication though, can transform childbirth from a natural physiologic process and family event into a medical or surgical procedure. Every intervention presents the possibility of unwanted effects and subsequent risks that can potentiate more interventions with their own inherent risks (McKinney, 2014).

North America’s childbirth conditions and practice have been revolutionized throughout time. Today, many aspects of childbirth are carefully inspected to create, in their opinion, the healthiest environment for the women and child. The vast majority of Americans birthing environment takes place at a “hospital, birthing-centers, and homes,” while “planned home births” are fewer then 1% of birth (347). When having a planned at home birth, a birthing center will bring all the required equipment to your

An electronic review of literature was conducted through PubMed, Clinicalkey, and MEDLINE OVID databases. Key words and phrases searched included ‘fast track’, ‘cardiac surgery’, ‘length of stay’, ‘intensive care unit’, and ‘protocols’. The evidence in the articles were evaluated and examined in the attached table. The evidence was also categorized for quality using the Grade model rating from A to D.

The stern figures of the global burden of pregnancy-related deaths are now so well known. Every year, approximately eight million women suffer pregnancy-related complications 289 000 women die due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth, and 6.6 mil¬lion children below 5 years of age die of complications in the newborn period and of common childhood diseases. Worldwide, the majority of maternal and newborns deaths occur around the time of birth, typically within the first 24 hours after childbirth. In developing countries, one woman in 16 may die due to pregnancy-related complications compared to one in 2800 in developed countries. Many of these maternal and neonatal deaths more than 80% of could be prevented or avoided through actions

In several occasions, pregnant women complain about dyspnea condition. Due to the unclear mechanism of pregnancy dyspnea, it is quite a challenge to distinguish between physiologic changes induced dyspnea (i.e. endocrine system changes) and underlying diseases induced dyspnea. There are some pregnancy-specific causes of respiratory failure including amniotic fluid embolism and pulmonary edema secondary to tocolytics, preeclampsia/eclampsia, or pregnancy-associated cardiomyopathy (peripartum cardiomyopathy).

It is very important that when trasporting the patient with HELLP syndrome, that care is taken not to traumatize the liver with palpations to the abdomen. Cesarean births are sometimes needed to avoid prolonged labor that is liable to cause maternal morbidity. Continued assessments of hypoxia and hemorrhage are extremely important. According to the American Pregnancy Association (2016), the most serious commplications and risks of HELLP syndrome are: “placental abruption, pulmonary edema ( fluid buildup in the lungs), diseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC—blood clotting problems that result in hemorrhage),adult respiratory distress syndrome (lung failure), ruptured liver hematoma, acute renal failure, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), infant respiratory distress syndrome (lung failure), and blood transfusion” (para 15). After the delivery of the baby, most women will recover within three days.

HELLP Syndrome, an acronym that stands for Hemolysis, Elevated Liver Enzymes, and Low Platelets. HELLP Syndrome is a serious pregnancy complication that is life threatening. It is related to a health condition called preeclampsia, which is caused by pregnancy induced hypertension. According to the Preeclampsia Foundation (2010) worldwide, preeclampsia and other hypertensive disorders such as HELLP Syndrome, or eclampsia are a leading cause of maternal and infant death and illness. It is estimated that these

As technology progresses, it has become more important in our daily lives. Obstetricians and hospital’s rely on technology more than ever to flag potential problems during pregnancy, labor, and delivery (1). Continuous recording of the fetal heart rate come into being in the 1970’s and is likely a big contributor to the increase in Caesarean sections(1). Continuous monitoring allows doctors to make a decision on what birthing method should be used: natural birth or caesarean. The benefits of natural birth outweigh the risks of a Caesarean section to mother and baby.

Postpartum haemorrhage is a serious and traumatic experience for the woman, the family, and also the health professionals involved. A primary postpartum haemorrhage is considered to be bleeding from the genital tract that exceeds 500ml at any time 24 hours post birth (Marshall, 2014). A loss of 1000ml or greater is considered to be a severe haemorrhage and most likely can have detrimental and life long effects on the woman (Marshall, 2014). During one of my post natal experiences, I came across a woman, Jessa, whom was considered to be a low risk pregnancy, and had just given birth to her third baby. She was at 34 weeks gestation with no significant problems throughout the pregnancy. One morning she had woken up to strong pains believed to

Preeclampsia, HELLP syndrome and eclampsia are part of a spectrum of hypertensive disorders specific to pregnancy, which are a leading cause of maternal and fetal morbidity worldwide (Lowdermilk, Perry, Cashion, & Alden, 2015). The root cause of preeclampsia is the placenta: in a healthy pregnancy, the muscular components of the uterine spiral arteries are replaced by cytotrophoblastic tissue from the fetus which then erodes the myometrium, causing the arteries to widen and lose their vasoconstrictive properties (Gilbert, 2010). This increases the diameters of the uterine spiral arteries to 4 to 6 times their nonpregnant size, allowing increased blood volume to flow to the placenta. In preeclampsia cytotrophoblastic tissue fails to widen the maternal spiral arteries, and the pressure in the maternal vascular system increases and defective placentation (defined as decreased tissue perfusion in the placenta) occurs. Ischemia in the placenta triggers the release of antiendothelial factors that are toxic to endothelial cells, leading to endothelial cell dysfunction. Because endothelial cells line all the blood vessels, this leads to multiorgan system involvement. Destruction of endothelial cells in the blood vessels causes decreased production of vasodilators such as prostacyclin and nitric oxide. Preeclampsia affects 2 to 7 percent of first time mothers, and is most common in mothers younger than 19 or older than 40 (Lowdermilk, Perry, Cashion, & Alden, 2015).

Preeclampsia the disease of the first pregnancies. Preeclampsia has several potential adverse outcomes for a pregnant woman and the neonate. Preeclampsia can occur anywhere after the 20th week of pregnancy. Cunningham (2010) described preeclampsia as a continuum of worsening disease. Each case of preeclampsia varies in symptoms and severity depending on the health of the pregnant woman, and usually resolves after delivery within 2-3 weeks. “Healthcare indicators are shown to be useful to assess, monitor, and improve quality of care” (Wollersheim et al., 2007). Recognizing characteristics of preeclampsia can save maternal and fetal lives.

Mrs. Livingston needs to maintain a systolic blood pressure less than 150 mmHg, and a diastolic pressure less than 100 mmHg to prevent the risk of preeclampsia during pregnancy (Carson & Chen, 2014, p.129). For this reason, labetalol and methyldopa are the first-line drugs for pregnant women with hypertension (Carson & Chem, 2014, p. 130). For Mrs. Livingston, labetalol will replace lisinopril to control her blood pressure. Furthermore, she will tolerate labetalol better than methyldopa because of the latter’s side effects of fatigue and drug-induced lupus

Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is a significantly life-threatening complication that can occur after both vaginal and caesarean births (Ricci & Kyle, 2009). Simpson and Creehan (2008) define PPH as the amount of blood loss after vaginal birth, usually more than 500mL, or after a caesarean birth, normally more than 1000mL. However, the definition is arbitrary, attributed to the fact that loss of blood during birth is intuitive and widely inaccurate (Ricci & Kyle, 2009). In line with this, studies have suggested that health care providers consistently underestimate actual blood loss, thus, an objective definition of PPH would be any amount of bleeding that exposes a mother in hemodynamic jeopardy (Ricci &

Obstetrical emergency is a life – threatening situation for both the mother and the fetus during pregnancy, during labour and after birth. Obstetric emergencies can occur suddenly and unexpectedly they are associated with adverse effect to maternal and perinatal outcome. Early identification of high risk pregnancies can reduce the obstetric emergencies .It occurred more frequently during antenatal period (52%) than intranatal (32%) or postnatal period (16%). Early diagnosis for any kind of possible complication during pregnancy, labour and after birth may lead to good prognosis for both mother and baby. In obstetrical emergency situations, optimal management requires the immediate coordinated actions of a multi-disciplinary and multi-professional team. In order to manage obstetric emergencies there should be multiple skilled attendants covering 24 hours a day, seven days a week, assisted by trained support staff and for managing surgical related complication there should be functional operating theatre, with more support staff and they must be able to administer safe blood transfusions and anaesthesia.