Calling all medical experts or Mums who read a lot during their pregnancy...

I need a condition which would make for a difficult pregnancy and could even cause the mother to die during childbirth or shortly thereafter. It's got to be something that the baby can survive without adverse effects - preferably it wouldn't affect the baby at all. Also, the baby shouldn't be the cause of the condition - that's particularly important.

Thanks!

Yvonne

Two suggestions:

Placenta previa, leading to placental abruption. More info here and here. It can cause complications with the baby as well, but often is only a serious risk to the mother. Abruption can (rarely) lead to a fatal hemorrhage.

Preeclampsia/eclampsia is a disorder (its causes are not well understood) primarily characterized by rising blood pressure and high protein levels in the mother's urine. If it progresses to eclampsia, death of the mother has been known to occur. More info here.

Rivka, you beat me to the punch. All of your suggestions are the ones I would know of that could affect the mother without causing much harm to the baby when caught on time.

Hurry, Yvonne, we are all waiting patiently for you to finish Kidnapped!

Well, SQD, it helps to have had three kids... and be ridiculously paranoid... Seriously, I read every pregnancy book I could get my hands on with my first... and I've unfortuantely had a friend with placenta previa. And I had some of the warning signs of preeclampsia (not there a few days later, just a temporary blip) with my third.

Rivka, you're talking to the right person when you talk kids. I have 4! And my neice had preeclampsia. A friend of ours had placenta previa. I also have a sister-in-law who just delivered a 'miracle baby'. The sis-in-law has cerebral palsey and was told she'd never have a baby. Nine years later, Macenzie Sue joined the world. They were even on the local news!

Hi,

Preeclampsia, I had that.

I'm alive by a miracle. Thank God!

MAF

Sorry, what is "cerebral palsey"?

Not a mom, or future mom, but just curious.

malu

Hey Malu,

Cerebral palsy is a condition with motor disorders (delayed development or paralyses), it's often accompanied by mental retardation or seizures.

It can be caused by a wide variety of complications during delivery or in utero.

Yvonne, Rivka already supplied the complications that I would have suggested. If I think of any other ones I'll let you know. And if you need any other specifics or anything, you can e-mail me.

Jill

Toxemia tends to hurt the baby as much as the mum, so that is not good.. then there is the conditions that are not really related to the pregnancy at all, diabetics tend to have a very hard time carrying a child, their systems have a hard time keeping themselves going let alone supporting what is essentially a parasite... then there is the more sudden ones like anyerisms and heart attacks and maybe even strokes. Some woman(very few so its not normally considered a risk) get a sudden stoppage of the thyroid.. which leads to death. And then there is total renal failure.. not being able to clear out the excess toxins after a hard pregnancy...Jill could clarify any of these