I am 9 weeks pregnant and have been bleeding on and off since the beginning of my pregnancy. My doctor told me that I have a Òthreatened miscarriageÓ and that there is nothing that could be done. Is this dangerous to the health of my baby?

It is well known that women who have recurrent vaginal bleeding during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy have an increased risk to suffer from a miscarriage. However, if the pregnancy continues past 12 weeks, then the risks of prematurity, growth failure and other adverse pregnancy outcomes are increasingly likely to happen. The risk for growth restriction and premature delivery is 2-3 times higher in such patients. If this happens then the baby may suffer the consequences of restricted growth failure and prematurity for the rest of his/her adult life. It is now recognized by most researchers that intrauterine growth restriction is the main cause of adult diseases such as diabetes, hypertension , cardiovascular diseases, stroke, premature lung failure and premature failure of many other organs. At KOFINAS PERINATAL we search for the cause of such bleeding as early as possible and treat such patients aggressively according to the specific problem. The result is a healthy pregnancy with a well developed neonate.