When Your Pregnancy Is High Risk

Diabetes, high blood pressure, multiples, being older… If you tick these boxes, your pregnancy is more complex than others.

- Cath Jenkin

If you’ve been told your pregnancy is high risk, try not to freak out just yet. What it means is that your pregnancy needs extra monitoring and care as a precaution – it’s not a sign that something will definitely go wrong. There are many reasons a pregnancy might be designated as high risk. While the list of possible health criteria for a high-risk pregnancy is a very long one, there are certain factors that automatically put you on the watch list for closer monitoring.

WHAT ARE THE RISK FACTORS?

If you suffer from a medical condition such as diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), thyroid disease or kidney disease, your pregnancy will automatically be categorised as high risk. If you’ve had several previous caesarean sections, or you’ve had previous abdominal surgery, this also places you in the high-risk category. Likewise, if your previous obstetric history includes repeated miscarriages, preterm labour or growth restriction of the foetus, this pregnancy will be considered high risk.

Needless to say, taking drugs constitutes a high risk to any pregnancy. It’s easy to assume that this only refers to recreational drug taking, but actually, medication taken to treat a chronic condition may pose a threat to the pregnancy too. “For example, pregnancy in an epileptic patient in itself is considered a high risk pregnancy. Some of the drugs used for therapy can also cause abnormalities in the development of the baby,” explains Dr Jana Rossouw, a specialist in gynaecology and obstetrics at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town.

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