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Blood pressure: This will be measured at each visit and is slightly lower during pregnancy, which is about 120/70. An elevation of over 140/90 may warn of pre-eclampsia or toxaemia, which is a serious complication. You may have to be treated or just rest in bed.
Blood Tests: A number of tests will be made from just a single sample. Your blood group will be typed and it will be determined if you have had a hepatitis infection or syphillis, or are HIV + and if you are immune to German measles. Your haemoglobin level will be assessed to see if you need extra iron and folic acid.
Backache: This is quite common especially in the later stages. Learn to walk straight and tall. Wear flat shoes or chappals and sleep on a good firm mattress A massage with hot water towels on the back (but never on the stomach) may bring relief.
Breathlessness: Late in pregnancy, you may find yourself huffing 'n' puffing because your womb presses harder on the lungs.
Sit on a high, straight-backed chair. Prop yourself with pillows while you sleep. If you cannot climb a flight of stairs without gasping, mention it to your doctor.
Constipation: It is a consequence of a sluggish bowel. It is aggravated if you're taking iron tablets and is usually relieved by mid pregnancy, but may return in the final months when your baby's head presses at the bowels. Eat plenty of high fibre food and drink lots of fluid. Two glasses of water before breakfast stimulate bowel action.
R H Factor: If you are RH -ve and your husband is not, chances are that you'll have an RH +ve baby, whose blood is not compatible with yours. Now although both your bloodstreams are separate, some foetal blood may cross the placental barrier into your body, which treats the foetus as an invader and produces antibodies to destroy it. This defensive process is particularly strong at the time of delivery and can threaten the baby and, should you conceive again, will once again cross into the foetal bloodstream, ravaging the baby's blood cells.
A Coombs test determines whether you have developed antibodies. If yes, you can be immunised with an injection which attacks and destroys RH +ve cells before they turn on your own production. The RH -ve immune globulin antibodies are then absorbed so that none are present in the next pregnancy.
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