High-Risk Maternity Care

While many pregnancies are problem-free, sometimes challenges arise that affect your health or the health of your unborn baby. Factors that can make a pregnancy high risk include a pregnant person’s age or the presence of chronic health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure or obesity. Your pregnancy history can also play a role, for example those who have given birth prematurely in a previous pregnancy may also be considered high risk.

If your pregnancy is considered high risk, we help give you peace of mind by developing a care plan that is based on the latest clinical evidence and personalized to meet your specific needs. At MultiCare, a variety of experts may collaborate with your obstetrician to provide care throughout your pregnancy.

Those professionals may include:

• Maternal-fetal medicine specialists
• Diabetes experts
• Nutritionists
• Pediatric specialists, such as cardiologists, surgeons or neonatologists

Managing diabetes during pregnancy

Diabetes — a common concern during pregnancy — is a condition where the body cannot make or properly use insulin, a hormone that helps turn the food we eat into energy. Some people have diabetes before becoming pregnant, while others develop the condition (known as gestational diabetes) during pregnancy.

If not properly monitored and controlled, diabetes in any form can cause health complications for both mothers and their babies. MultiCare’s diabetes program offers a variety of services to support healthy pregnancies and deliveries.

Our offerings include:

• A diabetes care coordinator who will work with you throughout the duration of your pregnancy
• A convenient, home-based glucose monitoring solution that allows you to upload glucose readings from wherever you are to MyChart for your care team to monitor
• A personalized diabetes guidebook with resources, tips and tools curated specifically for your care
• MultiCare’s 24/7 HealthConnect web portal, which provides answers to frequently asked questions, a moms-and-babies Facebook group and other e-tools and resources
• My Pregnancy, a personalized, computer-based dashboard that will allow you to track your progress, view an online calendar of upcoming appointments and interact with your providers
• The ability to make all your diabetes-related appointments in advance to best fit your schedule

Access to neonatal intensive care

When babies are born prematurely or are experiencing serious health problems, they may need to receive specialized care in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) after delivery. Staffed by highly trained professionals, a NICU offers the latest technology and provides 24-hour care for medically fragile infants.

Not all babies born following a high-risk pregnancy will require care in a NICU, but it can be comforting to know that this level of advanced care is available for your newborn, should they need it. Learn more about MultiCare’s NICUs.