Are you pregnant and feel that your bladder capacity has reduced? Yes, it can be annoying, but the presence of the fetus in your body takes away space from other organs. We tell you why you should never hold back the urge to urinate while pregnant.
While this may be a socially acquired or geographically limited habit, it is not the best for your health or that of your baby.
When we are at school, they teach us that we should take advantage of breaks to go do our physiological needs; In college, some professors may get upset if they are interrupted or distracted by leaving the classroom; At work we may feel obligated to finish certain tasks before deciding to go to the bathroom and even in meetings we feel that it is wrong to empty our bladder very frequently; and sometimes you may even not have a bathroom, just when you need it.
Previously, we have written about how this recurring bad habit or bad luck could have more negative consequences for your health than you would think, even in the long term.
Added to this situation is the small detail that being pregnant you may want to empty your bladder more often, but for one reason or another you don’t do it. This behavior has consequences that don’t just affect you.
Kidney infection as a threat to the baby’s health during pregnancy
But, How does pregnancy affect your urination habits? Of many ways.
During the gestation period, the mother secretes the hormone progesterone so that there is a muscle relaxation effect. It relaxes the muscles of the tubes that connect the bladder and kidneys, ureters, dilating them and causing the flow of urine to slow down.
Which makes it take longer for urine to pass through the urinary tract. Consequently, increases the risk of bacteria reproducing and acting.
Likewise, this same hormone causes the muscles of the bladder to relax, making it more difficult to empty it completely and increasing the risk of urine reflux, which can cause it to rise again towards the kidneys.
And as if that were not enough The pH changes, it becomes less acidic and more likely to contain glucose, thus increasing the risk of bacterial proliferation.
In short, if it is already easy to get a urinary tract infection as a woman, you are even more vulnerable when pregnant.
This series of changes in the body that pregnancy produces can increase the risk of kidney infection or pyelonephritisa type of urinary tract infection that can start in the tube where urine leaves the body (urethra) or in the bladder, as well as spread to one or both kidneys.
This is one of the most common serious complications during pregnancy. Its risk is the possibility that the infection spreads to the blood, which would be extremely dangerous for both the mother and the fetus.
The most chilling thing is that many of the women who suffer from it do not have symptoms. This is known as asymptomatic bacteriuria. That is why prenatal checkups that track urine are so important.
Risks for the baby if I have a complicated urinary tract infection during pregnancy
So, if you endure the urge to go to the bathroom frequently during pregnancy, you add another risk factor for this disease that can result in:
–Having premature labor and premature contractions
–Slow intrauterine growth
–Increases the risk of uterine membranes rupturing
–Fetal death
–Increased risk of the baby being born with low weight and anemia
If you experience the urge to urinate that does not go away, a burning sensation when urinating, frequent urination, small amounts of urine, cloudy or discolored urine, and pelvic pain, It is necessary to go to the doctor to receive antibiotic treatment that is safe for the mother and the fetus.
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