Sickle Cell Pregnancy: Reproductive health and sickle cell Part 5

Women look for happiness in having children and the process of getting children is through pregnancy. Even men are always happy to be fathers, being a husband alone is not enough to satisfy one’s soul.

For women with sickle cell getting pregnant is not a walk in the park. The Uganda 2002 National Anaemia Policy advises all women to seek information from hospitals about the complications of pregnancies. But how many in Uganda do it? Policies and their implementation will be a topic for another day.

To many parents who have adults daughters with sickle cell they discourage them from getting pregnant for fear of dying while holding that pregnancy. Many women with sickle cell become pregnant without first getting the information on the complications of pregnancy. This is because their parents and friends always discourage them, Who would not like to have the joy of having a baby? I think no one.

The reproductive freedom of adult women with SCD might be restricted because of their illness. A number of women with sickle cell have been forced to terminate their pregnancies not because it was too risky but only because they have sickle cell disease.

The closure of opportunities for people with sickle cell has forced them to get pregnant with little forethought or opportunity for well-informed reproductive health decisions.

Pregnant women with SCD are at risk for pregnancy-related complications such as bleeding, infection, hypertension, and preterm labor, and more sickle cell manifestations during pregnancy, such as worsening anemia and more frequent pain episodes.

Because women with SCD are at risk for pregnancy-related complications as well as the potential teratogenic effects of HU, contraception counseling is paramount to decreasing unplanned pregnancies

It is highly advisable that before any woman with SCD get pregnant she needs to first consult specialist and weigh in the problems vs benefits of becoming pregnant.

During the period of pregnancy you should visit both your antenatal and sickle cell clinic for proper management.

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