Toxemia

Pregnancy can be the most beautiful time in a woman's life and the scariest. New mothers to be want to take the best care of their unborn child, but sometimes problems still arise. Pregnancy induced hypertension is a condition that some pregnant woman suffer from. This condition can be referred to as Preeclampsia and Toxemia. A mild form of this condition is not life threatening for the mom to be or her unborn child. This can be monitored during the pregnancy, but if it gets worse it can have a serious effect on the health of the mom and baby.

The worst part of toxemia is that there is no cause for the condition. For this reason a woman will not know if she is at risk before she gets pregnant. Toxemia is more common with first pregnancies, although if a woman is with a new partner and this is her second or third pregnancy, she may still be at risk. Toxemia starts to develop as your placenta does. You would think that doctors could detect it early on, but this is not the case. It usually goes undetected until later on into the pregnancy.

Early signs of toxemia include high blood pressure, a rise of the protein levels in your urine, and bloating. If you have Toxemia your hands, feet, and face may swell. Your high blood pressure can cause serious health problems. High blood pressure can cause stroke, which not only harms mom, but the baby too. Toxemia can also cause problems with your eyes and you may go into convulsions if it is left untreated. The convulsions can actually cause a pregnant mother to go into a coma or die. Toxemia also harms the liver and kidneys, causing damage or complete failure of either organ.

As said before a mild version of Toxemia can be monitored and controlled with blood pressure medication. Not all women are lucky though. Some pregnant moms have to put on bed rest as a way to slow down the effects of Toxemia. Being put on bed rest will not completely stop Toxemia, but it is the best advice a doctor can give for the health of you and your unborn child. The rest is vital to helping you both live with the effects of Toxemia. In some cases a baby whose mother is going through Toxemia will be born prematurely through inducement or a C-section. The more that you rest the better cases that you have that you will have a full term pregnancy with a delivery of a healthy baby.