Maternal Health Awareness Day is observed today with the goal of helping to improve maternal health outcomes. Serious pregnancy problems can occur up to a year after delivery. Learn the warning signs and symptoms so that you know when to seek help for yourself and your baby.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urges you to seek medical care immediately if you experience any of the following signs or symptoms during or after pregnancy. They could indicate a life-threatening situation.

• Headache that won’t go away or gets worse over time. It may feel like the worst headache of your life, start suddenly with severe pain, throb on one side of your head above your ear or be accompanied by blurred vision or dizziness.

• Dizziness or fainting. Also seek help if you experience a gap in time of which you have no memory.

• Changes in your vision. Issues include not being able to see at all for a short time or experiencing flashes of light, bright spots, blind spots, blurry vision, double vision or an inability to focus.

• Fever of 100.4 F or higher.

• Extreme swelling of your hands or face. This swelling is more severe than the usual slight swelling that most moms have during pregnancy. If you are experiencing this warning sign, swelling in your hands may make it difficult to bend your fingers or wear rings. Swelling in your face may make your eyes puffy and difficult to open all the way. Your lips and mouth may feel swollen or numb.

• Trouble breathing. Your throat and/or chest may feel tight, you may feel as if you can’t get enough air into your lungs, or you have trouble breathing when lying flat.

• Chest pain or fast-beating heart. You could feel tightness or pressure in the center of your chest or pain that travels to your back, neck or arm. You may feel your heart pounding in your chest, or your heart feels like it’s skipping beats. This may be accompanied by shortness of breath or feeling dizzy, faint or disoriented.

• Severe nausea and throwing up. You may feel severely sick to your stomach, can’t keep water or other fluids down or are unable to drink for more than eight hours or eat for more than 24 hours.

• Severe belly pain that doesn’t go away. This could be a sharp, stabbing or cramp-like pain that doesn’t go away, starts suddenly and severely or gets worse over time. You may also have severe chest, shoulder or back pain.

• Baby’s movement stopping or slowing during pregnancy. There is no specific number of movements that is considered normal; a change in your baby’s movement is what’s important.

• Severe swelling, redness or pain of your leg or arm. This is a concern if it occurs any time during pregnancy or up to six weeks after delivering.

• Vaginal bleeding or fluid leaking during pregnancy. Warning signs include spotting, fluid or a foul odor.

• Heavy vaginal bleeding or discharge after pregnancy. Warning signs include a foul odor, bleeding enough to soak through one or more pads in an hour, passing clots bigger than an egg or passing tissue.

• Thoughts of harming yourself or your baby. You may feel extremely worried all the time, sad, hopeless, not good enough or that you have no control over your life. You may think about harming your baby or have other scary thoughts that you don’t want or are having trouble blocking.

• Overwhelming tiredness. You may feel suddenly very tired and weak, don’t have enough energy to go about your day, don’t feel refreshed no matter how much you sleep, feel so tired that you don’t get up to take care of your baby or feel sad after having your baby.

If you feel that something isn’t right, or you aren’t sure it’s serious, talk to your healthcare provider. Be sure to tell them if you are pregnant or were pregnant in the last year.

Visit the CDC’s Hear Her(TM) website for more information.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention