Pregnant women in Oregon and their family members should be able to focus on the joy and excitement of the new life that is on its way into the world. However, the reality remains that pregnancy and childbirth are medical conditions and events and during these things, problems can arise. Unfortunately, it seems that the number of these problems happening across the United States that put mothers at risk of dying is growing.
According to NPR, the number of women who have died during or after giving birth to their babies in the U.S. has increased in the last 18 years. Furthermore, among all developing nations, no country has a rate of maternal deaths higher than America. These facts are and should be horrifying to expectant parents.
One article published in the New England Journal of Medicine asserts that a lack of standardized care and procedures around common complications may be at least partially responsible for the problems experienced today. Three of the most common things that medical professionals should be on the lookout for and ready to respond to include maternal high blood pressure. Instead of assuming a woman’s blood pressure has risen simply due to the effort involved in pushing the baby out, more should be done to monitor her.
Another thing that can be problematic is a blood clot that may occur before or after delivery. For many women, once they have delivered their babies, they begin to bleed excessively. When not properly attended to, this hemorrhaging can be life threatening or even fatal.