Your role in preventing miscarriage, abortion, stillbirth and preterm explained (3)

This is the concluding part of last week’s article. Another method of family planning is the use of condoms by both men and women. It’s safe and helps to prevent sexually transmitted infections. Condom is available in most pharmacies and shops without the need for prescriptions. Hormones, such as the daily pill can also be used too. Two or three monthly injections are other choices. Devices, such as intra-uterine devices, are another effective method of contraception. In a stable couple that had completed their children, vasectomy by the man or Fallopian tube ligation by the woman are effective permanent contraceptive methods. The choice of contraception method will depend on the age of the user, the urgency, reason for the contraception as well as any need to address any other illness in the man or woman. The reader will recall that in Part 1 of this series; we discussed the differences between miscarriage and deliberate termination of unwanted pregnancy or abortion either as therapeutic abortion or termination for non-medical reason. In this article, we will look at Miscarriage, what causes it and how to deal with it as well as how to prevent miscarriage. Unlike abortion that is intentional, miscarriage is a desirable pregnancy that could not continue to viability. The experience causes extreme distress to the woman and the male partner.  It’s even more painful if the pregnancy is one that has been sought for some time otherwise called “precious pregnancy”. What causes miscarriage? Age: Maternal age and number of previous miscarriages are two risk factors for a further miscarriage. As the mother ages, her eggs (oocytes are also aging). Therefore, aging oocytes (eggs) are candidates for a pregnancy at the risk of being miscarried. As we shall see below, the advancing age is not to say that miscarriage does not occur in younger women. It does. The risk of miscarriage is highest among couples where the woman’s age is greater than 35 and the man is over 40. Also, one miscarriage begets another miscarriage. The risk of a further miscarriage increases after each successive pregnancy loss. Combined with advancing age, the outlook for the woman worsens if there had been previous miscarriages.  Maternal cigarette smoking and caffeine consumption have been associated with an. Source: The Nation