Question

7) Your pregnant patient calls you to the Labor and Delivery room stating that she feels dizzy, nauseous, and short of breath. You find her completely flat on her back.

What is the most likely explanation for her symptoms? What can you do as the RN to prevent this from happening again? What is a priority assessment for baby?

Answer 1

Ans) As a normal part of pregnancy, your breathing may be affected by the increase in the hormone progesterone, which causes you to breathe in more deeply. Breathing may also become more difficult as your enlarging uterus takes up more space, resulting in pressure against your diaphragm.

- If the oxygen deprivation occurred throughout the delivery process, the baby may be blue at birth, have no breath sounds, no cry, poor muscle tone or a low heart rate. The baby's APGAR score may be low and arterial blood gas testing may show a low pH (ie: <7.1) or an elevated Base Excess.

- Dizziness is one of the most common pregnancy symptoms. It is not usually a cause for concern, but for some women, it can be severe.

Dizziness affects many women during pregnancy, and it is often more of an annoyance than a sign of a severe problem.

- Dizziness has many causes, including hormonal shifts, hunger, and problems with the heart or blood vessels.

- The approach to treating dizziness during pregnancy varies depending on the cause. Serious heart health problems, for example, will require treatment and monitoring in a hospital.

- In most other cases, a doctor will monitor symptoms and recommend at-home treatments. Some options include:

•vitamin B-6 and doxylamine (Unisom) for •morning sickness
•antinausea drugs
•lifestyle and dietary changes to manage low blood sugar
•insulin or other medications for gestational diabetes
•antibiotics, if dizziness results from a bacterial infection.