High-risk pregnancies pose an increased chance of complications to mother or baby during the pregnancy or at birth. The highly-skilled team of caring professionals at Saint Francis wants to help ensure the healthiest possible outcomes for you and your baby.
Diagnosing a High-Risk Pregnancy
Various factors may contribute to having a high-risk pregnancy. You may suffer from a chronic illness or it's possible to begin a normal pregnancy and develop conditions that put you into the high-risk category.
Risk Factors
- Existing health conditions. Conditions include high blood pressure, polycystic ovary syndrome, diabetes, kidney disease, autoimmune disease, thyroid disease, infertility, obesity, and HIV/AIDS.
- Age. Teenagers more often develop high blood pressure and anemia. Teens are also less likely to get prenatal care. First-time mothers over the age of 35 often have delivery complications, prolonged labor and infants with genetic disorders.
- Medical history. Having had a prior stillbirth or miscarriage.
- Lifestyle factors. Alcohol, drugs and cigarette smoking can lead to miscarriages and birth defects.
- Fetal development. Birth defects, including a cleft lip or a heart defect, infections or medical issues such as Down syndrome.
- Abnormal placentas or conditions such as placenta previa or an abruption.
- Pregnancy complications. Preterm labor, too much or too little amniotic fluid, infection or vaginal bleeding.
- Conditions of Pregnancy. Conditions include multiple babies (twins, triplets, or more), gestational diabetes, and preeclampsia and eclampsia.
The potential for a high-risk pregnancy can be determined with good prenatal care. Your healthcare provider will ask many questions about your medical history and lifestyle. Please be open and honest with your answers to allow your medical team to provide the best possible care.
Maternal Fetal Medicine Provides Extra Care
Our maternal fetal medicine specialists have advanced training and expertise in high-risk pregnancies. Specialty care includes:
- Pre-pregnancy evaluations
- First trimester screening
- Comprehensive obstetric ultrasound
- Fetal Echocardiograms
- Chorionic villus sampling
- Amniocentesis
- Genetic testing
- Diagnosis and treatment planning for medical and pregnancy-related complications in the mother-to-be
- Diagnosis and treatment planning for medical complications in the unborn baby
- Fetal surgery or treatment
Meet Our Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialists
Prenatal Genetics
Prenatal genetic counseling can help you determine whether your baby may be at increased risk for having a genetic disorder or birth defect and assist you in making decisions regarding available testing options. You may want to talk with a maternal fetal medicine specialist or our genetic counselor at Saint Francis Genetics, if any of the following apply to you:
- You'll be 35 or older on your due date. (The odds of having a child with a chromosomal abnormality such as Downs Syndrome increase with age.)
- You've had a stillbirth, three or more miscarriages of unknown cause, or a baby who died in infancy.
- You, your partner, one or more of your children, or any other family member has a genetic disorder, birth defect or developmental delay.
- You had a positive result on your nuchal translucency screening or first trimester combined screening, or on your multiple marker screen.
- Your ultrasound indicated a possible problem.
- Your baby has been diagnosed with a genetic disorder through prenatal testing such as amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling.
- Your ethnic background puts your baby at a higher risk for a condition such as Tay-Sachs, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, thalassemia or spinal muscular atrophy.
- You've been exposed to substances that may cause birth defects.
- You're worried about your chances of having a child with a birth defect or genetic disorder and you want to know more about the available testing.
Prenatal Genetic Counseling
Before your appointment, please talk with as many relatives as possible to learn about birth defects or chronic illnesses (such as heart disease or diabetes) in your family and your spouse's family. We will ask you for these family health histories, so please learn as much information as you can about your parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and grandparents. The maternal fetal medicine specialist or genetic counselor can help you understand the risks, benefits and limitations of any prenatal tests you're considering and the results of tests you've already taken. After your appointment, a letter summarizing the session is sent to you and your practitioner, if appropriate. Referrals to community resources or coordination of further prenatal testing may be provided.
Learn More About Maternal and Fetal Medicine Services at Saint Francis
Prepare yourself for delivering your baby at a Saint Francis hospital. Search our physician directory for an OBGYN or primary healthcare provider or call Saint Francis HealthLink at 918-488-6688.