Complications During Pregnancy and Childbirth Can Be Life-Threatening, Requiring Medical Intervention

Complications from pregnancy are common and can cause a variety of problems, ranging from temporary discomfort to chronic illness—and even death. For example, bacteria that are typically active in the vagina before pregnancy can cause an infection in open wounds after a mother delivers her baby. This bacteria can affect the uterus and areas around the uterus. There is typically a low chance of developing these infections unless the woman is young and there is an unscheduled cesarean, or a long delivery with excessive bleeding. Nearly one-third of pregnant people worldwide are expected to deliver their babies via C-section by 2030. Chronic pain from the scar tissue resulting from that surgery is very common, affecting as many as 18 percent of pregnant people, according to one study. For example, a young mother lost nearly half her body's blood during her C-section. After a week in the hospital, she thought the worst was over, but she went on to develop chronic pain around the scar tissue where the incision was made. Common complications during childbirth include perineal tears (when the area between the vagina and the anus tears or is surgically cut), excessive bleeding, perinatal asphyxia (when the child does not get enough oxygen), and abnormal heart rate of the baby. Many of these conditions also go unmonitored after childbirth because parents are so focused on their child's health that they neglect their own. One study found that as many as 40 percent of new parents don't go to their own doctor's appointment check-up after giving birth. Kristen Terlizzi, who cofounded the National Accreta Foundation, had her uterus, appendix, and part of her bladder removed in 2014 because of a life-threatening placenta condition. “There’s this misconception that these complications are rare,” she told ProPublica. “And we [women] get brushed off — ‘The risk is not a big deal.’ But it is.” For instance in the U.S., a 2017 investigation from ProPublica found that serious complications during childbirth were "skyrocketing." More than 50,000 women suffer severe complications each year—a number that has doubled since the 1990s, according to the report. And the investigation found that women who survive severe complications often deal with long-term consequences such as severe pain, the inability to give birth again, and intense trauma. Emergency hysterectomies, for instance, have risen 60 percent. Not only is a hysterectomy an invasive surgery with a potentially long recovery time, but it renders the patient unable to get pregnant again. In 2014 alone, doctors in the U.S. had to carry out 4,000 emergency hysterectomies.