Tremor trauma takes toll on pregnant women

Tremor trauma takes toll on pregnant women
SHEFALI NAUTIYAL

AHMEDABAD, FEB 16: Mrs Agarwal, eight months pregnant, had to race down the stairs when the earthquake rocked the city on January 26. She then saw the nearby Apollo Appartment crumbling and her own building rocking like a boat. And now even though the doctor assures her of a normal delivery next month, she lives in fear, waking up often in the night crying. Reason? She's scared she'll have a pre-mature delivery.

*Mrs Patel, also due for delivery next month, has undergone eight ultrasounds ever since the earthquake because she feels the tremors have hurt the foetus. Despite her condition, she insists on sleeping in a tent.

* Mrs Joshi feels she is in labour all the time and that her uterus has contracted. The reality is that she is perfectly normal and is expected to have a normal delivery in the coming months.

* Parulben Chirag Shah was not as lucky as these women. Living in a high rise, she ran down when the earthquake occurred thus hurting the foetus inside. Her baby was stillborn on January 27.

PREGNANCIES are almost always difficult but the earthquake and the subsequent anxiety about tremors have made things much worse. After January 26, there have been many cases of pregnant women delivering premature babies due to either mental depression and stress or physical injury while running. Others are paranoid of having abnormal, premature, or worse, stillborn babies in the coming months.

Gynaecologists in the city say the fear psychosis is worse in pregnant women. "Every woman is generally anxious when she is pregnant, especially if it is her first pregnancy. In such times, even a slight abnormality disturbs them a lot. Since the earthquake was such a huge shock, these women have suffered more psychological trauma than physical," says Dr Sanat Joshi, of Joshi's Maternity and Gynaec hospital in Paldi, where Mrs Agarwal, Mrs Joshi and Mrs Patel are being treated.

Dr Jayprakash M Bhatt of Chhaya Maternity Nursing Home admitted that stress and anxiety can lead to premature deliveries and other complications as well. "Due to depression and fear, the blood flow does not reach the foetus and hence the complications arise," he explained.

Dr Chaitanya Patel of Bhanujit Maternity Home said he received two cases of premature deliveries, one being Parulben Shah. "Women have come to us with profuse bleeding and we term it as threatened abortion, where if things go out of hand, the doctor has to abort the baby. I have spoken to many pregnant women and asked them if there was any foetus movement that they experienced but most of them were so nervous that they didn't think about it. Some women, however, told me that they experienced agressive movement of the foetus during the earthquake. It is probably instinct which even the foetus displayed due to unusual vibrations," said Patel.

Dr Anshu of the labour ward of Civil hospital says the women coming to the labour room these days are exceptionally tense. "They are very scared and don't want to come inside. Most of them request that they be treated outside. We have to tell them that it is not possible and that it would be safe inside," says Anshu.

Gynaecologists suggest that the sooner the patients overcome the fear the better. "We have seen a few cases where babies were born dead because of the panic and rushing. Pregnant women should relax as much as they can," advises Joshi. Good advice though slightly difficult to adhere to in these troubled times.