Personal Birth Experience

I chose to discuss my own pregnancy because the birth of my daughter changed my life in a good way. The pregnancy was difficult because I was diagnosed with preeclampsia in the third trimester. Preeclampsia  is a complication in pregnancy marked by high blood pressure and protein in urine. "Preeclampsia occurs in about 4 percent of pregnancies worldwide" ( Mahande, Daltveit, Mmbaga, Masenga, Obure, Manongi, & Lie, 2013). I was put on bed rest, attended non-stress tests twice a week, and had weekly appointments at the gynecologist. Although times were tough, the best part of my pregnancy was seeing my healthy daughter for the first time. She looked at me like she knew who I was. My heart melted and I fell in love with her. She was born December 23 and came home on Christmas day.

            My daughter was induced at 37 weeks of gestation. She was healthy but only weighted 5 lbs 10 ounces. She dropped down to 5 pounds by the time that I left the hospital. The doctors were very concerned about her weight loss. Based on the pregnancy, the development of the child is affected by prenatal complications. For example, my daughter was very small when she was born due to high blood pressure. Her physical development is three weeks behind children born at 40 weeks of gestation.

            A study was conducted for treatment of preeclampsia in Northern Tanzania "Women with preeclampsia had significantly higher rates of chronic hypertension, perinatal death, induced labor, preterm birth and were more likely deliver babies with low birth weight" (Mahande, Daltveit, Mmbaga, Masenga, Obure,  Manongi, & Lie, (2013) ". Preeclampsic mothers in Tanzania had less chance of survival due to a lack of equipment and resources.  Results have shown that low income mothers in Africa are more likely to have preeclampsia. "Preeclampsia is a major contributor to death and disability among women of reproductive age in many low income countries (Mahande, Daltveit, Mmbaga, Masenga, Obure,  Manongi, & Lie, 2013)." 19,811 women delivered babies and 3,909 had preeclampsia. Research has shown that  25% of women who had preeclampsia in the first pregnancy also had preeclampsia in their future pregnancy. 

            Overall, the united states is a more developed country with advanced medicines, research, and treatments. Low income countries are still developing and may not have the resources to monitor the well-being of the mother and baby. A similarity is doctors perceive  preeclampsia has a serious problem that could lead to fetal and maternal mortality. Some differences are that low income countries can't afford the equipment needed to improve the chances of fetal and maternal survival.

References

Mahande, M. J., Daltveit, A. K., Mmbaga, B. T., Masenga, G., Obure, J., Manongi, R., & Lie, R. T. (2013). Recurrence of preeclampsia in northern tanzania: A registry-based cohort study. PLoS One, 8(11) doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0079116