Getting pregnant, carrying a baby to full term and then successfully delivering them is the joy of every mother. However, certain things, can put a woman at risk of suffering a miscarriage.
Contrary to common perception and the use of miscarriage and abortion in sentences, a consultant gynaecologist, James Odofin, explained that miscarriage and abortion are medical terms used interchangeably to explain the loss of a baby before 28 weeks.
“To the public, anywhere you hear the word ‘miscarriage’, it means that it occurred accidentally, while anywhere you hear the word ‘abortion’, it’s as if the person intentionally or voluntarily terminated the pregnancy. But, in medicine, they are used interchangeably.
“Miscarriage is when there is a loss or expulsion of the pregnancy before 28 weeks. This is the age, especially in Africa, where we can call a pregnancy “baby”.
“”Anything that leads to the loss of a pregnancy before 28 weeks can be called a miscarriage or abortion. Anything that leads to the loss of the pregnancy after 28 weeks, you cannot use the word ‘abortion’.”
Odofin stressed that the causes of miscarriages are usually unknown, clarifying that, in most cases, there’s nothing anyone can do.
“Sometimes, it is just nature taking care of itself,” he added.
Despite that, here are some factors that could put a woman at risk of miscarriage:
Advanced maternal age
After the age of 35 years, the quality and the quantity of eggs that are released to be fertilised begins to reduce.
“When the woman contributes her egg to the fertilisation process and it is defective in any way, the product of that fertilisation might not be too good,” Odofin said.
Congenital anomaly
This is the way the baby is being formed while in the womb.
Sometimes a woman may have an abnormal uterus, so when the uterus is abnormally formed it might affect its capacity to carry a baby to term, the gynaecologist said.
Physical trauma
Physical trauma in the form of blunt force, domestic violence, and fighting can put a woman at risk of also losing her baby.
High fever
Odofin warned that any form of disease that can cause high fever is detrimental to a baby’s formation in the womb.
“In our environment malaria is common. Imagine someone having a temperature of about 40 degrees Celsius. It can be tuberculosis; it can be malaria or any fibral illness. This can lead to miscarriage,” he said.
Hormonal imbalance
Not the hormonal imbalance that you know, Odofin explained.
“When I say ‘hormonal imbalance’, I don’t want people to confuse it with the one that the people attribute to periods, no.
“Usually, when pregnancy is formed there is what we call, corpus liteum. It is formed by the ovary and it supports the pregnancy until the placenta is formed.
“If that is not there, there will be some form of instability in the pregnancy which would lead to a miscarriage,” the expert noted.
Rhesus isoimmunisation
Rhesus isoimmunisation is a condition that happens when a pregnant woman’s blood protein is incompatible with the baby’s, causing her immune system to react and destroy the baby’s blood cells.
Odofin explained, “There are some women whose blood groups are whatever negative (O-, B- etc), provided that their blood has negative, we call it rhesus negative blood.
“Such women if they carry a pregnancy that is rhesus positive, maybe the baby takes after the father who is rhesus positive, and that baby is born, ideally, the woman must be given a certain injection as it is assumed there might have been an interaction between the mother’s blood and the baby’s blood.
“Failure to do that, due to the possibility of interaction between the blood of the baby that just left the womb and the mother, can cause issues with her next pregnancies.
“It is the next pregnancies that suffer it. That is why when you hear after giving birth to the baby, there has been no pregnancy. that might be because of the rhesus factor.”
Bleaching creams
Consultant dermatologist, Dr Nkechi Enechukwu noted that a woman can suffer miscarriage due to the use of bleaching creams.
“Some bleaching creams, remotely, if the woman uses them long enough, can affect the baby. If the person uses it long enough for it to be absorbed significantly into the system, it might affect the baby.”
Overconsumption of caffeine
A nutritionist, Mr James Oloyede, said caffeine also posed risks to an unborn baby while remarking that some sweets, chocolates, and carbonated drinks contain caffeine.
“In pregnancy, the maximum amount of caffeine allowed is not more than 200ml per day. A teaspoon of instant coffee gives close to 130ml of caffeine which is about the size of a cup of coffee.
“That means that when you take a cup of coffee, you are taking about 137ml of caffeine into your body.
“A pregnant woman mustn’t consume anything high in caffeine because when she does, it will affect the blood flow to the developing foetus.
Alcohol
No amount of alcohol intact is safe for a pregnant woman, according to experts.
“It is in her best interest not to take it. It can increase the risk of miscarriage by modifying certain hormones.
“It can affect the lining of the uterus and not allow the baby to implant very well and when implantation is defective then the result will be a miscarriage,” Oloyede added.