Risks to mother

I was surfing the net yesterday and came to the “Alas, a Blog” blog and it’s defense of partial birth abortion. One of their arguments was the elusive health and life of the mother argument. As I have had that discussion on this blog as well, I tried to do more research on what those risks are and came upon this from the March of Dimes.

How is the pregnant woman treated?
If there is no medical reason for immediate delivery, the couple can decide when they want to deliver the baby. In most cases, a woman will go into labor within two weeks after the death. There generally is little risk to a woman’s health if she chooses to wait for labor to begin. However, because of the emotional trauma of carrying a dead baby, most women choose to have labor induced. If the woman’s cervix has not begun to dilate in preparation for labor, she will be given vaginal suppositories to help prepare her cervix, followed by the hormone oxytocin (which is given through a vein) which stimulates uterine contractions. Generally, a cesarean is recommended only if a woman develops problems with labor and delivery. If labor has not begun after two weeks, doctors recommend inducing labor because there is a small risk that the woman can develop dangerous blood-clotting problems after this time.

That concurs with my own experience. When my son Raphael died, they discovered it on a Tuesday, but had no idea how long he had been gone, estimating that he was about 19 weeks in size. My providers thought I was 21 weeks, but I was actually 23 weeks pregnant by my records. However, because I wanted to wait and avoid induction they were more than read to accommodate me. One doctor did mention the clotting problem, but certainly didn’t stress that as an immediate concern. Interesting.

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