Complications of pregnancy in the context of "Disseminated intravascular coagulation"

Maternal death or maternal mortality is defined in slightly different ways by several different health organizations. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines maternal death as the death of a pregnant mother due to complications related to pregnancy, underlying conditions worsened by the pregnancy or management of these conditions. This can occur either while she is pregnant or within six weeks of resolution of the pregnancy. The CDC definition of pregnancy-related deaths extends the period of consideration to include one year from the resolution of the pregnancy. Pregnancy associated death, as defined by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), are all deaths occurring within one year of a pregnancy resolution. Identification of pregnancy associated deaths is important for deciding whether or not the pregnancy was a direct or indirect contributing cause of the death.

There are two main measures used when talking about the rates of maternal mortality in a community or country. These are the maternal mortality ratio and maternal mortality rate, both abbreviated as "MMR". By 2017, the world maternal mortality rate had declined 44% since 1990; however, every day 808 women die from pregnancy or childbirth related causes. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) 2017 report, about every 2 minutes a woman dies because of complications due to child birth or pregnancy. For every woman who dies, there are about 20 to 30 women who experience injury, infection, or other birth or pregnancy related complication.

Surrogacy is an arrangement whereby a woman gets pregnant and gives birth on behalf of another person or couple who will become the child's legal parents after birth. People pursue surrogacy for a variety of reasons such as infertility, dangers or undesirable factors of pregnancy, or when pregnancy is a medical impossibility. Surrogacy is highly controversial and only legal in twelve countries.

A surrogacy relationship or legal agreement contains the person who carries the pregnancy and gives birth and the person or persons who take custody of the child after birth. The person giving birth is the gestational carrier, sometimes referred to as the birth mother, surrogate mother or surrogate. Those taking custody are called the commissioning or intended parents. The biological mother may be the surrogate or the intended parent or neither. Gestational carriers are usually introduced to intended parents through third-party agencies, or other matching channels. They are usually required to participate in processes of insemination (no matter traditional or IVF), pregnancy, and delivery.

Ectopic pregnancy is a complication of pregnancy in which the embryo attaches outside the uterus. This complication has also been referred to as an extrauterine pregnancy (a.k.a. EUP). Signs and symptoms classically include abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding, but fewer than 50 percent of affected women have both of these symptoms. The pain may be described as sharp, dull, or crampy. Pain may also spread to the shoulder if bleeding into the abdomen has occurred. Severe bleeding may result in a fast heart rate, fainting, or shock. With very rare exceptions, the fetus is unable to survive.

Overall, ectopic pregnancies annually affect less than 2% of pregnancies worldwide. Risk factors for ectopic pregnancy include pelvic inflammatory disease, often due to chlamydia infection; tobacco smoking; endometriosis; prior tubal surgery; a history of infertility; and the use of assisted reproductive technology. Those who have previously had an ectopic pregnancy are at much higher risk of having another one. Most ectopic pregnancies (90%) occur in the fallopian tube, which are known as tubal pregnancies, but implantation can also occur on the cervix, ovaries, caesarean scar, or within the abdomen. Detection of ectopic pregnancy is typically by blood tests for human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and ultrasound. This may require testing on more than one occasion. Other causes of similar symptoms include: miscarriage, ovarian torsion, and acute appendicitis.

Preconception counseling (also called preconceptual counseling) is an informative discussion with a healthcare professional (generally a physician or advanced practice provider) by an individual, with or without support people, who is interested in a future pregnancy. The goal of preconception care is to educate people on the importance of health optimization prior to pregnancy to reduce the risk for pregnancy complications and promote a healthy intrauterine environment for normal fetal growth and development. It generally includes a preconception risk assessment for any potential complications of pregnancy as well as modifications of risk factors, such as increasing folic acid intake to reduce the risk of neural tube defects and counseling on smoking cessation, alcohol reduction, and medications that may compromise fetal development. Physicians, midwives and baby experts recommend that an individual should visit them as soon as a person is contemplating having a child, and optimally at least 3 to 6 months before actual attempts are made to conceive. This time frame allows a woman to better prepare her body for successful conception (fertilization) and pregnancy, and allows her to reduce any health risks which are within her control. Agencies such as the March of Dimes have developed screening tools that healthcare providers can use with their patients. In addition, obstetricians or midwives (see Obstetrics, Midwifery, General Practitioner) have developed comprehensive check-lists and assessments for the woman who is planning to become pregnant.

In one sense, pre-conception counseling and assessment can be compared to a well-baby visit in which a baby is screened for normal health, normal development, with the benefit of identifying emerging problems that may have gone unnoticed in an infant. For a woman, the Pre-Conception Counseling Assessment and Screening is intended to assess normal health of a child-bearing woman, while at the same time identifying:

A pre-existing disease in pregnancy is a disease that is not directly caused by the pregnancy, in contrast to various complications of pregnancy, but which may become worse or be a potential risk to the pregnancy (such as causing pregnancy complications). A major component of this risk can result from the necessary use of drugs in pregnancy to manage the disease.

In such circumstances, women who wish to continue with a pregnancy require extra medical care, often from an interdisciplinary team. Such a team might include (besides an obstetrician) a specialist in the disorder and other practitioners (for example, maternal-fetal specialists or obstetric physicians, dieticians, etc.).
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