Postterm Pregnancy

2024 Author: Rachel Wainwright | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 07:39

Every woman who carries a fetus under her heart is looking forward to the birth of her baby, counting the days until the completion of 40 weeks and the full readiness of the baby for birth. But sometimes it happens that 41, 42, and sometimes 43 weeks pass, and labor still does not come. Every day the excitement of the young mother increases, and there is every reason for this.

After a genetically determined 40 weeks, pregnancy enters a phase called a post-term pregnancy and is characterized by an extension of the due period of intrauterine stay of the fetus in the uterus. During this period, all negative prerequisites are formed in the placenta that can put the life of the fetus and mother at risk. The causes of post-term pregnancy are often neuroendocrine diseases of the mother, such as diabetes mellitus, obesity, etc.; a combination of adverse factors formed by the placenta, fetus and maternal organism; genetic compatibility of mother and fetus.

As a result of post-term pregnancy, a child is usually born with characteristic signs of postmaturity of varying degrees. Post-term pregnancy can be fraught with oxygen starvation, respiratory disorders, intrauterine aspiration of amniotic fluid, as well as birth trauma to the fetus due to its larger size and maturity of the central nervous system and other pathologies. In addition, such a pregnancy often becomes the cause of abnormalities with delayed labor, the need for surgical interventions, bleeding in the postpartum period, etc.

Since post-term pregnancy is classified as pathological, and often it causes various negative consequences for the child and the mother, all preventive measures should be taken to prevent the occurrence of negative conditions and the consequences of intrauterine stay of a mature fetus, if there is a likelihood of its over-term.

Expectant mothers suffering from neuroendocrine diseases, intoxication, chronic infections and infantilism need to determine the timing of pregnancy as accurately as possible and set the timing of childbirth. If by 39-40 weeks the mother's body is not ready for childbirth, she should be hospitalized in a hospital. It is necessary to resort to the same measure if, when assessing the state of the fetus, the reactivity of its cardiovascular system and the "maturity" of the placenta, pronounced signs of post-term pregnancy are established. Cardinal measures should be taken when hypoxemia is detected.

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