I am pregnant within nine months of giving birth. Can I cope with this pregnancy?

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I have read your description and totally understand your concern.

I understand that your first baby is still just around 9 months old and it is pretty early for you to have a next baby. I would like to bring it to your notice that having a next pregnancy in other words continuing this next pregnancy is solely the decision of you and your husband. You have to make a decision based on your mental preparation or readiness, your financial situation. As doctors, we can help you through the medical aspects of it but the ultimately decision is yours as you will have to be able to manage this newborn. As your previous delivery was a normal delivery, there is absolutely no contraindication or problem in continuing this pregnancy with respect to your obstetric history, provided you do not have any medical conditions like heart problems, hypertension or anemia. You can get the basic evaluation of your health by testing for these through blood tests, etc.

Coming to the COVID-19 situation, yes, post-COVID things have changed too. Many doctors themselves ask to avoid unnecessary consultation at the outpatient clinic to avoid the exposure or risk for coronavirus infections. But a few visits will be required as the pregnancy advances and for some routine scans, etc. which will be unavoidable. If you wish or plan to not continue with this pregnancy, it would be good to take a consultation and examination with your gynecologist, and get a scan to locate the pregnancy (whether in uterus itself or elsewhere) and then plan with medications under her supervision accordingly as early as possible. As with early pregnancy, the termination with medical methods is simple and safe, but as the pregnancy advances, the failure rates with medical methods are high and may need subsequent surgical interventions like surgical evacuation, D and C etc. I would say discuss with your husband, and then come to a joint conclusion and take action accordingly. From the medical point of view, you can continue with this pregnancy, there is no problem with that, provided you are medically fit.

Please feel free to revert back anytime for any further queries.

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

Congratulations, and I respect your decision.

Regarding breastfeeding, you can continue it until the time your baby is consuming breast milk. As the weaning has already been started, the usual frequency and requirements of the baby usually come down compared to the previous times. First three months of pregnancy are the times usually when women face nausea and vomitings of pregnancy. So it is better to take foods in a small proportion at frequent intervals to avoid acidity issues and bloating problems. There is no restriction to nonvegetarian diet as such but in general non-vegetarian foods take a longer time to clear from stomach which can make you prone to nausea and vomitings due to indigestion. Take good leafy vegetables, milk, etc. You can take Folic acid supplements that is sufficient. Calcium supplements you can start from the fourth month (after 12-13 weeks) once nausea subsides.

Ideally, it is advised to visit your gynecologist around five to six weeks time, but due to the COVID pandemic, you can take an online consultation for necessary investigations panel. If there is no pain or spotting or any previous history of miscarriages or ectopic pregnancy, the first scan can be safely avoided until 10-11 weeks. 11-13 weeks of gestation is the important time when dating scan along with nuchal translucency (NT) scan is performed to determine the risk of the baby to have any underlying chromosomal abnormalities, so that should not be missed. It is accompanied with another blood test too which is to test for the serum markers levels for the same. So please do not miss this.

I hope this helps.