The High Risk Pregnancy Support Center

Every woman is unique, but when you face a challenge like high risk pregnancy, you are never alone.  Countless women have faced the exact same diagnosis and have survived and thrived.  The following guide is designed to help you navigate your journey with the best information and resources that helped other survivors when they faced the same challenge. 

TSC has scoured the Internet and assembled links to the very best high risk pregnancy resources: articles, blogs, forums and tools that can help you make better decisions and take action to overcome the range of physical, emotional and other challenges that you face.

As you’ll see, we always welcome your ideas and suggestions to make this High Risk Pregnancy Guide even more helpful to survivors like you.   

JUST FOUND OUT 

Survivors Say: Best Resources for High Risk Pregnancy

• National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus - High Risk Pregnancy
  
• WebMD: Coping With A High-Risk Pregnancy
  
• National Institutes of Health: What Causes a High-Risk Pregnancy?
  

The Big Picture

Every pregnancy has some risks, but with a high risk pregnancy, the dangers to your health and to the health of your fetus are amplified. The causes for a high risk pregnancy include pre-existing conditions in the mother and conditions she develops during the pregnancy. Being pregnant with more than one baby, previous problem pregnancies, and being older than 35 years can also be contributing factors to a high risk pregnancy.

If you have a chronic condition, you should talk to your health-care provider about how to minimize your risks before you get pregnant. Once you are pregnant, you may need a health-care team to monitor your pregnancy.

To educate yourself further about predisposing factors, read:

NICHD: High-Risk Pregnancy

To better understand the most common signs and symptoms of high risk pregnancy, visit:

eMedicine Health - Pregnancy Signs and Symptoms

Your High Risk Pregnancy

To better understand your pregnancy, and what factors may predispose it to being high risk, review this checklist to help prevent and avoid risks commonly associated with high-risk pregnancy.

WebMD: Checklist - Is Your Pregnancy High Risk?

Your World

After learning that your pregnancy is high risk, it's understandable to experience a flood of emotions.  For advice on dealing with the tangled web of emotions you may be going through, and stories from other women who have gone through the same thing, visit:

Female Forum: Surviving and Coping With The Emotions of a High Risk Pregnancy

This site is designed to help both women with a high risk pregnancy and their families and friends cope and share their feelings and what they are going thorough:

Sidelines: National High Risk Pregnancy Support Network

High-Risk Pregnancy Myths

• Exercising during pregnancy is dangerous.
  
• Pregnant women should not color their hair.
  
• Sex during pregnancy could harm the baby.
  

 

 

Information and Recommended Links for Survivors

• MoonLily.com: Online Birth Center
  
• University of Virginia Health System: High-Risk Pregnancy
  
• OBFocus: High Risk Pregnancy Directory
  

Types of Treatment

Preeclampsia and gestational diabetes are two common causes of high risk pregnancies. Learn about these conditions and their associated treatments below. 

Early Delivery for Preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is a condition that occurs after the fifth month of pregnancy. Women who have this condition experience symptoms such as a dramatic increase in blood pressure, which can damage the kidney, liver, and brain. When untreated, it can be fatal for the mother and/or her child. Delivery is the treatment for preeclampsia, even if the baby will be premature.

National Institutes of Health: Preeclampsia and Eclampsia

The Treatment Plan for Gestational Diabetes

Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that only pregnant women get, and it develops during pregnancy. By using a treatment plan from their health-care provider, women can have a safe healthy pregnancy and deliver a healthy baby.

National Institutes of Health: Gestational Diabetes

Regular Prenatal Care

Because complications, including preterm labor, can develop at any time during a pregnancy, especially a high risk pregnancy, regular prenatal care is very important to prevent complications.

Medline Plus: Pre-Natal Care

New Therapies

Constant research is being done in developing new treatments and therapies for high risk pregnancy:

Clinical Trials: Open Studies - "Pregnancy, High-Risk" 

Holistic Treatments

Medical Resonance Therapy Music (MRT-Music)

Medical Resonance Therapy Music (MRT-Music) has recently been introduced as a treatment option for high risk pregnancy, based on the ancient practice of music for healing. For more information visit:

SpringerLink: Journal Article - Therapy Music in High-Risk Pregnancies

Bed Rest

Bed rest is often prescribed for high risk pregnancies as a way to take stress off a woman’s body and reduce normal daily activity.

Sidelines: Why Bed Rest?

Herbs and Vitamins

Pregnant women may also consider supporting their bodies with natural herbs and vitamins. This article describes the benefits and dangers of using herbs during pregnancy:

American Pregnancy Association: Using Natural Herbs during Pregnancy

Creating a Support Circle

• Set up your TSC Survivor Profile
• Join support groups of other survivors or set up your own
• Interact and provide updates on your profile or our forums

Insurance & Work Matters

Insurance Matters

To save you money and time, find out what you need to know about your personal insurance coverage by contacting your health insurance provider before your pregnancy comes to term.

Work Matters

Learn about what you can expect in terms of your rights at your job and your position as a high-risk pregnancy survivor.

Love to Know: Getting Fired Because of High Risk Pregnancy

Health-care Providers Who Can Help

High-risk obstetricians or perinatologists are the physicians that generally treat high risk pregnancy.  To find a medical professional who can help you, contact your health care provider or insurance company.

Resources to Find Doctors

• Sidelines: Physician Referral Request
• Society For Maternal-Fetal Medicine: Physician Locator Form
• The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists: Physician Directory

The Emotional Roller-coaster

Having a high-risk pregnancy can take an emotional toll. To help maintain a positive outlook, it is important to live as normally as possible, even with the limited activity your body may be allowed. Reach out to friends, families and online communities that can offer support and help you get through the emotional time. Further, educate yourself about what to expect, and how you can best care for yourself during this time.

Books Survivors Recommend

• 100 Questions & Answers About Your High-Risk Pregnancy
• The High-Risk Pregnancy Sourcebook 
• Protocols for High-Risk Pregnancies
• Your High-Risk Pregnancy: A Practical and Supportive Guide

What Survivors Wish They’d Known

Communicating with Your Health-care providers

Bring a friend or family member with you to your appointments not only to provide support but to lend an extra ear to understand everything your health-care provider has to say and to think up any more questions you may not realize are important at the time.

Don't be afraid to ask any questions you feel you need the answer to, even if you may be scared of the answer. Ignorance won't help you fight this situation - emotionally or physically.

Write down any questions you may have ahead of time and the answers to those questions as your health-care provider walks you through them.  Don't be afraid to ask for clarification on anything.

Dealing with High-Risk Pregnancy: Information and Recommended Links for Co-Survivors        

How you can help

• Assist your friend or family member with their day-to-day duties or chores, but be sure to find a good balance so as not to throw off their pattern of living, which may increase their stress as they may feel they are becoming a burden.
• Preserve your friend or family member's daily activities. It's normal to feel protective, but excluding survivors from activities or decisions you don't see them as fit enough to do or make contributes to feelings of helplessness.
• Involve your friend or family member with others. Don't focus exclusively on their high risk pregnancy and treatment plan when interacting with them. Talk to them about yourself or make plans to visit friends and loved ones. A survivor involved with others has a better chance of avoiding feelings of abandonment.

What to say    

• "I will support your decision in whichever treatment option you choose and which doctors and hospitals you go to."
• "I'm here to listen to your concerns if you want to talk about them."
• "Many people get through this successfully and you can too."

What not to say

• "You knew the risks of getting pregnant."
• "Your life may be in real danger."
• "Was this an accident?"

Things you can do for a survivor every day

Offering day-to-day support is a great gift to give a friend/neighbor or family member with high risk pregnancy. If the survivor isn't a family member, help the patient's family when they are away at hospitals or hotels by picking up the mail or newspaper, making meals, going grocery shopping, etc. If the survivor is a family member, help with chores or other duties they may have fallen behind on.

How to build a support network

• Set up your TSC Co-Survivor Profile
• Create a support group for your friend or family member.
• Interact and provide updates

How to help a survivor deal with day-to-day challenges

Technology is making dealing with high risk pregnancies easier. Find out everything you can about resources available to high risk expectant mothers:

High Risk Pregnancies Meet High Tech Solutions

After recovery, assess and share with others how you feel emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Recovering from the problems and complications that can arise can be emotionally debilitating. By telling your story, you can not only put into perspective your thoughts and feelings but you can provide hope to others who are going through a similar journey themselves or a completely different disease.

Recovery

To best care for yourself and to best prevent a high risk birth, read about the keys to better health:

Midwifery Today: Six Keys to Preventing Complications and Giving Birth to a Healthy Baby

For an incredible story of a high-risk pregnancy survivor and the feelings she experienced during treatment and after recovery, take a look at

Baby Center: Birth Story - High Risk Pregnancy

Give Back

What helped you while you were dealing with the diagnosis, undergoing treatment and realized you had recovered? Take a look back at your journey and share with others what helped you and what you wished you would have known/done during your high risk pregnancy experience. You can create a profile, reach out to other survivors, join support circles or share your story by following the links at TheSurvivorsClub.org.

Sidelines is  nonprofit organization committed to helping women with high risk pregnancies. This organization is always looking for donations.

Sidelines.org

In the worst case, high risk pregnancies can result in miscarriage or the mother's death.

For advice on overcoming challenges related to death from both a survivor and a co-survivor perspective, whether they be emotional, physical, spiritual or legal, read through:

Online Birth Center: Problems and Complications in Pregnancy & Birth