8 warning signs you should never ignore when pregnant
Now this post isn’t intended to alarm anyone, but if you’re pregnant you may be wondering what symptoms require you to pick up the phone and call your doctor immediately, and which can wait until your next prenatal check up.
While lots of the niggles and discomfort you may be experiencing right now are just par for the course of growing a new life, here are eight things you need to seek medical attention for if they happen to you.
1. Bleeding at any stage
Spotting is common in early pregnancy but any type of bleeding always warrants a call to your pregnancy care team. While bleeding can mean different things throughout your pregnancy, if it is heavy and combined with severe abdominal pain and menstrual-like cramps or you feel like you are going to faint in your first trimester, it could be a sign of an ectopic pregnancy. Heavy bleeding with cramping could also be a sign of miscarriage in your first or early second trimester.
By contrast, bleeding with abdominal pain in the third trimester may indicate placental abruption, which occurs when the placenta separates from the uterine lining. The message is, any bleeding during pregnancy shouldn’t be ignored.
