When it comes to building your family, the last words you may want to hear are “high risk.” In most cases, this designation is precautionary and means that you require a higher standard of care and observation.
At Women’s Clinic of the Rio Grande Valley, we offer high-risk obstetrics care under the expert direction of Dr. Fernando Otero and our team of women’s health experts. When it comes to high-risk pregnancies, our goal is certainly the same as yours — an uneventful pregnancy and a healthy baby.
While we can do our part through heightened monitoring, there are steps you can take on your end, too, and we review some of them here.
Before we get into some safety tips for a high-risk pregnancy, let’s quickly review what qualifies as high risk.
A high-risk pregnancy is marked by any issue that may pose a threat to either your health or the health of your unborn child, including:
Of course, there may be factors outside of the ones listed above that place you into the high-risk category, such as tobacco, drug, or alcohol use.
As you can see by the list above, some of the factors that place you into the high-risk designation are ones that are out of your control, such as age or multiple babies.
In these instances, we recommend that you do everything in your power to maintain both your physical and mental health during this time by:
If your high-risk pregnancy is due to a pre-existing medical condition, it’s imperative that you work with your primary care provider and our team here, so that we can ensure you’re getting the medical care you need to manage your health.
If your high-risk pregnancy is due to a condition like obesity, now is not the time to launch into a quick weight-loss program. While we applaud your efforts to gain control over your weight, work with us on a safe and healthy way to approach your weight during this sensitive time.
Conversely, if you’re a smoker, now IS the time to quit, and we can provide you with some great tools to free you from your nicotine habit.
If your high-risk pregnancy may affect your unborn child, we may want to see you more frequently and perform specialized tests to monitor the health of your fetus. Rest assured, we sit down with you and review what tests may be beneficial so that you can gain some valuable information, and peace of mind, that everything’s going smoothly.
Even though your pregnancy may be high risk, we still encourage you to come up with your ideal birth plan and share it with us. In fact, we can help you devise one within the limitations of your high-risk pregnancy. Our only caution here is that you should be flexible with your birth plan in case something arises.
If you have more questions about successfully navigating a high-risk pregnancy, please don't hesitate to contact us at one of our two offices in McAllen or Edinburg, Texas. Just call the nearest office or use our online booking form to set up an appointment.
