Welcome to Living Healthy Chicago.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Alright, making sure your doctor is updated on how you're
feeling is important in all stages of life.
But that can be especially true for women who are expecting.
This next woman says speaking up to her doctors
helped her with a serious pregnancy disorder.
- I asked my momma if I could go out and play.
- [Host] Moments like these are
extra special for Shavon Davis.
- I'm more appreciative of those moments because it could
have been a possibility where we didn't have those moments.
[Host] That's because after she became
pregnant with her second son.
She knew there would likely be a long road ahead of her
when it came to her health.
- With my first child, I had him at 30 weeks.
So he was very tiny.
It took me a long time to even want to get pregnant again
because I knew my experience before and I knew that
I was gonna probably experience the same thing
with this pregnancy so I was worried.
- Pre-eclampsia is a hypertensive disorder pregnancy.
In fact, it's the commonest medical
complication that happens.
About five to seven percent of all women dealt with
pre-eclampsia worldwide and it is characterized by high
blood pressures, proteinuria, and actually involvement
of multiple different organs including, brain, liver.
People don't really know what causes pre-eclampsia.
So, first of all, if you're first time pregnant,
obesity, African American race, history of chronic
hypertension.
- When I had went to my doctors appointments,
they noticed the protein in my urine.
Because I already experienced pre-eclampsia,
I knew what to look out for and that was important.
- She came in knowing what she was dealing with.
She's very committed.
She came for all her appointments.
- I kept educating myself.
I monitored my blood pressure.
I just wanted to make sure I kept
on top of things so it didn't go south
or I didn't have a bad outcome.
- [Host] Shavon also made a point to
change her eating habits.
- I did try to manage my diet.
Eat a lot of fruits and vegetables,
foods that aren't processed.
- Try to modify all you other cardiovascular risks,
so that pre-eclampsia, kind of, is the only risk
because that can't be modified.
But you can work on other modifiable factors.
Eating heart healthy.
Taking care of you cholesterol.
- Just because I knew the seriousness of pre-eclampsia,
I just stayed on top of it.
- [Host] Dr. Rhonna says ultimately the best form of
treatment is delivering the baby.
- Delivery kind of halts the process of this kind of ongoing
Endothelial dysfunction.
So, if you have pre-eclampsia that happens at term,
so after 37 weeks, the treatment is immediate delivery.
If you have pre-eclampsia happening before 34 weeks,
for example, we do sometimes try to manage the patients
inpatient, checking the blood pressures, looking at the
baby's growth to try to the push the pregnancy to 34 weeks.
- [Host] Shavon worked closely with her doctor to monitor
her symptoms and ended up delivering her son at 36 weeks.
- After I had him, things seemed to go back to normal,
as normal as they can get.
The baby turnt out good.
I ended up being okay.
(upbeat music)
- [Host] And while Shavon and her son were able to go home,
she continues to work closely with her doctors
to monitor her health.
- Pre-eclampsia, the damage can continue
even years later in life.
So women with pre-eclampsia have a very high risk to
develop cardiovascular disease.
So such as M.I. or even stroke.
So we have to follow these patients all the way out.
- I'm doing pretty good.
I continue to monitor my blood pressure.
- [Host] But Shavon isn't letting that keep her from
focusing on family time.
- I'm very appreciative of the moments
that we have together.
To talk to him, sing him a song,
read books to keep him calm.
- [Host] Both Shavon and Dr. Rhonna agree that awareness
is key when it comes to pre-eclampsia.
- Be involved in your care and ask a lot of questions.
Ask about pre-eclampsia.
Am I at risk of pre-eclampsia
and what can you do reduce the risk?
- Stay dedicated to your health.
Stay educated.
Keep your doctors appointments
and just report anything that isn't right.
It's worth it in the end.
- Ah, she's so right.