By Asmau Ahmad
A Consultant Gyneacologist, Dr Augustine Emezulike, on Thursday advised pregnant women to monitor the movement of their unborn babies for early detection of signs of irregularities. Emezulike, who works at the National Hospital, Abuja, gave the advice in an interview with the news men in Abuja. He said that irregularities like bleeding in pregnancy could lead to death of the mother and the baby.
“At the early stage of pregnancy, if bleeding occurs, the pregnancy can be threatened and can terminate itself.
“Prolong bleeding during pregnancy can also cause the woman to be in shock, infected and anaemic.
“Bleeding can come in two stages. Once a woman is confirmed pregnant, the stage at which the bleeding occurs determines the survival of both the mother and the baby,” Emezulike said.
He explained that if bleeding occurs at the first trimester of pregnancy, the baby might not survive and could be evacuated. According to him, the baby has a better chance of survival, if bleeding should occur at the second trimester or third trimester, when the baby is formed. He, however, said that the quantity of blood lost during pregnancy matters a lot as both the mother and baby could be at risk of losing their lives. Emezulike said that some women could experience spotting of blood on their pants, or full flow of blood when pregnant.
He added that spotting could be managed until delivery while full flow of blood at the early stage could lead to a miscarriage. The gynaecologist said that at the early stage of pregnancy, the foetus was still microscopic and the surrounding environment was what supports it to grow. He said that the oxygen and the food supplied to the foetus come from the blood before the formation of placenta.
Emezulike said that loss of blood could affect the amount of oxygen supplied to the baby, which could threaten pregnancy and abortion becomes inevitable.
He said if an abortion occurs, a procedure called evacuation could be done to remove any tissue left in the womb thereby saving the life of the mother. Emezulike gave three reasons why bleeding could occur at the later stage of pregnancy.
“ Firstly, when a woman experiences placenta previa, meaning the placenta is at the door of the womb, bleeding is however inevitable.
“This can occur, without the woman feeling any pain and it is a silent killer.
“Secondly, if there was a separation of placenta between the mother and the unborn baby, this can also cause the mother to bleed.
“The placenta was not supposed to separate before the baby is born as the baby is likely to die, if no food and oxygen is supplied to the baby.
“The third one is accidental bleeding which can result from a fall or several other reasons.’’
According to him, the first two reasons are deadly if the mother and baby were not promptly and properly managed by a specialist.
