Pregnancy happens to be one of the most special phases of any woman’s life. It is the time when you plan on your growing family, dream about the future of the new member and begins a new chapter of your life. So it is about watching the stars and feeling the sunshine like never before.
But in this exciting phase, one thing that is of pivotal importance is taking care of one’s body in the best way possible. After all, it is now the safe haven where your bundle of joy is slowly taking shape and growing up.
During your pregnancy, your heart is working overtime as it supports both the mother and the baby to have a healthy circulation. So it takes a few precautions for protecting your heart health. Your heart and circulatory system are stressed in a great way during pregnancy. But there are many who suffer from heart disease but are capable of delivering healthy babies.
So here are some of the risks associated with your heart that can affect you during your pregnancy. By knowing them you can stay informed and do the needful to the best of your abilities to prevent them.
Risks That Can Develop
The risks depend on the severity of the condition of the heart. They can be written as below.
- Issues of Heart Valve– There can be some complications in pregnancy if there is malformation or scarring of your heart or if you have an artificial heart. It may be difficult to tolerate the excessive blood flow which is common during pregnancy if the valves are not functioning in the right way. There can be a risk of infection of the lining of the heart and the valves of the heart that is potentially life-threatening if the valves are abnormal or artificial. Artificial valves also pose threats during pregnancy for needing to adjust to the use of the blood thinners that may lead to thrombosis or life-threatening clotting of the blood in the valves. The developing baby can also face danger from this.
- Issues of Heart Rhythm– Negligible or minor abnormalities of the heart are quite common during pregnancy. You should not be worried about them. They are not major causes of concern. Arrhythmia can be treated with medication.
- Congenital Heart Defect– Your baby has the risk of growing up with a heart problem if you were born with the heart problem, too. There are also chances of heart problems during pregnancy and also that of premature birth because of this.
- Congestive Heart Failure – This can worsen as the volume of the blood increases.
How to Prevent Complications?
You can take the best care of your baby by taking good care of yourself. So here are few steps that will help you to prevent the heart-related complications. Just read on.
- Take the medication as prescribed
- Keep and attend your parental appointments
- Manage your anxiety
- Avoid smoking, drinking and other illegal drugs
- Keep a close eye on your weight gain
- Get plenty of rest
The above mentioned are some of the things that you should start following right after your pregnancy is detected with a proficient pregnancy test kit and confirmed by your physician. These steps will help you to ensure good health and fitness for both you and your baby.