Early Post Partum Haemorrhage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Early Post Partum Haemorrhage - Essay Example She was having one of the most serious complications of pregnancy known as post-partum hemorrhage(PPH). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2006), hemorrhage, blood clot, high blood pressure, infection, stroke, amniotic fluid in the bloodstream and heart muscle disease are the leading causes of pregnancy-related deaths which sums up to 2-3 pregnancy-related deaths each day. Although deaths due to pregnancy complications have dramatically declined during the period of 1900-1982, the number of cases has ceased to show any decrease since then, which raises so much concern for the women of child bearing age. Furthermore, there seem to be a link between a woman’s race, ethnicity, country of birth, and age and her risk of dying of pregnancy complications. For example, African American women are four times as prone to pregnancy-related deaths as white women, and that, women aged 35-39 are three times at greater risk than women aged 20-24 years old. The risk goes up to five times for a woman aged 40 and above. Post-partum hemorrhage accounts for a high 17% of m ortality in women, and a case such as this would require a nurse/midwife with the proper knowledge and skills to address the situation and save the mother from an otherwise life-threatening situation. This paper is aimed at exploring the guidelines in the management of early post-partum hemorrhage and the treatments available for such condition. A woman in labor undergoes three different stages. The first stage is dilatation. It begins with the period of true labor contractions and ends with when the cervix is fully dilated. The first stage is further divided into three phases: the latent, the active and the transition phases. A regularly perceived uterine contraction marks the beginning of the latent phase. It ends when the rapid dilation of the cervix begins. In the active phase of labor, the cervix dilates