ABUJA – Dr Mr Moses Fache, a consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician at NISA Premier Hospital, Jabi, Abuja, has advised women of child bearing age to embrace routine health checks to detect early pregnancy complications.
Fache gave the advice in an interview with newsmen in Abuja.
The expert said that some of the complications in pregnancy were as a result of late detection.
The gynaecologist stated that ectopic pregnancy amongst other pregnancy complications was more life threatening.
“Ectopic pregnancy is the pregnancy that develops outside the womb or the uterus and this is life threatening to the mother.
“When this is noticed on time, the woman can be advised to terminate the pregnancy, this is to save her life,” Fache said.
The expert explained that some women can experience bleeding during pregnancy as a complication and it could also occur in the case of ectopic pregnancy.
He, however, stressed that this bleeding have been mistaken over time as menstruation, adding that menstruation during pregnancy was medically not possible.
“We have conditions of abnormal bleeding during pregnancy which most women mistake for menstruation because they have not been to the hospital.
“Menses as we know is the process of shading of the lining of the womb and the hormones of pregnancy will not allow this lining to shade,” he said.
Fache also identified that there are unusual congenital conditions where some women have two-fold uteri but it was not a bottom line for the occurrence of menstruation.
He noted that the hormone responsible for reproduction influences the uteri, adding that one cannot witness menstruation and the other pregnancy.
“There are rare congenital issues where an individual can have double uterus, you can have pregnancy develop in one of them but the other without pregnancy will not bleed.
“The two uteri are under the control and influence of the hormones of pregnancy which is the progesterone,” Fache said.
He said that there were situations where pregnancy could be put under pressure and the woman shed some blood in the process.
The gynaecologist said that some women can bleed but the pregnancy would be still much intact and that could be referred to as “threatened miscarriage”.
Fache explained that threatened miscarriage comes without pain but when pain is associated, the mouth of the womb begins to open.
When the mouth of the womb opens, it means the uterus is beginning to contract to expel its content and this could result to the woman loosing the pregnancy.
“Unlike a threatened miscarriage, in the case of the mouth of the womb opening we conclude that the abortion is inevitable and the pregnancy is miscarried,” said the gynaecologist.
He stressed that pregnancy complications occur at the early phase, but that notwithstanding bleeding could still occur.
“When the pregnancy had passed 28 weeks and the woman is bleeding we no longer refer to it as abortion we refer to it as anti partum haemorrhage,” Fache said.
He said the 28 weeks was the period the foetus could survive and the pregnancy viable.
Fache recommended that every woman intending to get pregnant or of child bearing age should have a gynaecologist that checks on them regularly.
He said when they were not able to see their doctor to plan their pregnancy once they get pregnant they should locate their doctor to detect some of these early pregnancy complications.
