Problems in Pregnancy

By Sarah Cruickshank

Being pregnant can be a really exciting time for women, feeling a new life growing inside you and making plans for the birth and life as a family.  You will be told you’re “blooming” and you may feel really healthy (when I was pregnant with my son I had absolutely no migraines for 9 months having suffered with them fairly regularly for 14 years… they returned soon after Jonathan was born!).
No one wants to have problems during their pregnancy, but there are some common discomforts that occur, here are seven of them and some suggestions to combat them.

Morning sickness – A misnomer if ever there was one!  This can occur at any time of the day or night and can range from nausea to actual vomiting.  For most women it passes after a few weeks, but others suffer right through their pregnancy. Treatment: eating smaller and more regular meals can help, as can eating ginger biscuits or drinking ginger tea to help settle your stomach.

Backache – When you’re pregnant everything in your body relaxes and becomes softer and more sluggish.  Also, a growing baby can put pressure on your back. Treatment: Maintain good posture, make sure your bed and any chairs you use support you and talk to your employer about your work and the kind of equipment and furniture you use.  Consider treating yourself to a massage.

Constipation – Another product of muscles relaxing! Treatment: Drink plenty of water and eat plenty of fruit, vegetables and fibre-rich food.  This will not only keep you regular, but should also mean that when you need to go your stools will be soft and easy to pass.

Piles (haemorrhoids) – If you do get constipation, piles can be an uncomfortable and embarrassing consequence. Treatment: Visit your G.P.

Urinary Problems: Needing to urinate more often – Your pelvic floor muscles will be relaxing and your growing baby will be putting pressure on your bladder. Treatment: Ask your midwife about pelvic floor exercises and do them! Never be too far from a toilet!

Urinary Infections –Can occur, but drinking cranberry juice can help to ward them off. Treatment: If urinating is painful, or your urine is a strange colour or smelly, visit your G.P.

Heartburn – The valve at the bottom of your oesophagus will relax and can cause acid to escape from your stomach. Treatment: More regular, smaller, less spicy meals could help.
If it gets really bad – particularly in the later stages – visit your local pharmacy and get some advice.

Stretch Marks – A growing baby and breasts getting ready for milk will stretch your skin.  Stretch marks start as red lines and can be really itchy.  Once you’ve given birth and your body gets back to normal, the lines go a silvery colour. Treatment: Keeping your skin moisturised can help with the itching and there are lots of creams and potions on the market that claim to fade stretch marks, but there is little evidence that they actually work.

Being pregnant can also bring a range of other discomforts, but as long as you eat healthily, take plenty of rest and look forward to the adventure of getting to know your new baby, they are mostly little more than a temporary inconvenience.