Can uterine contractions cause fetal hypoxia?

When a pregnant woman is about to give birth, there will be some signs. Uterine contraction, damage and spotting are the most obvious symptoms. In fact, when uterine contractions occur, they are often accompanied by abdominal pain. If a pregnant woman feels regular uterine contractions and abdominal pain, she should go to the hospital for hospitalization in time. The closer to delivery, the more frequent the contractions will be, and the pregnant woman's belly will become hard and feel tight.

Can uterine contractions cause fetal hypoxia?

Uterine contractions include false contractions and true contractions. False labor, also called prolonged labor, is an occasional uterine contraction. Its characteristics are that its occurrence is irregular, non-periodic, and its degree varies from time to time. True uterine contractions start out irregular and weak, then gradually become regular, increasingly stronger, longer lasting, and shorter intervals, such as an interval of 2-3 minutes, lasting 50-60 seconds. True uterine contractions are an important feature of labor.

By the due date, only painful uterine contractions are the precursor to labor. Some women feel the pain of the beginning of uterine contractions in the abdomen, while others feel it in the waist.

In the weeks before delivery, the uterine muscles are more sensitive and irregular uterine contractions will occur, lasting for a short time, being weak, or limited to the lower part of the uterus. It stops after several hours and cannot cause the cervix to open, so it is not labor and is called false labor. The contractions of the uterus during labor are regular. Initially, the interval is about 10 minutes, and pregnant women feel abdominal pain, and then the duration of the pain gradually increases to 40 seconds to 60 seconds. The severity increases and the interval shortens to about 3 to 5 minutes. When the uterus contracts and abdominal pain occurs, the lower abdomen may feel hard.

The impact of uterine contractions on the fetus depends on the degree of uterine contractions. Generally, pregnant women in the late pregnancy may feel irregular abdominal pain. Although this is a normal phenomenon, you should also pay attention to the frequency of uterine contractions, vaginal discharge or bleeding, and the number of fetal movements. If uterine contractions occur too frequently, it may cause fetal ischemia and hypoxia. Therefore, it is recommended to go to the hospital for a B-ultrasound examination to see what causes the uterine contractions and then take appropriate measures.

Causes of fetal hypoxia

1. Maternal factors. Insufficient oxygen in the mother's blood is an important reason. When there is mild hypoxia, the mother usually has no obvious symptoms, but it will affect the fetus.

(1) Insufficient blood supply to micro-arteries: such as hypertension, chronic nephritis and pregnancy-induced hypertension.

(2) Insufficient oxygen carrying capacity of red blood cells: such as severe anemia, heart failure and cor pulmonale.

(3) Acute blood loss: such as prenatal hemorrhagic diseases and trauma.

(4) Obstruction of uterine placental blood flow: premature labor or uncoordinated uterine contractions; improper use of oxytocin, causing excessive uterine contractions; prolonged labor, especially the second stage of labor; excessive uterine distension, such as polyhydramnios and multiple pregnancy; premature rupture of membranes, possible umbilical cord compression, etc.

2. Fetal factors. (1) Dysfunction of the fetal cardiovascular system, such as intracranial hemorrhage due to severe congenital cardiovascular disease. (2) Fetal malformation.

3. Umbilical cord and placenta factors. Obstruction of umbilical cord blood flow, such as the umbilical cord being too long or too short, the umbilical cord being entangled, knotted, torsion, or placental dysfunction.

Fetal intrauterine hypoxia mainly occurs during labor and can also occur in late pregnancy. If the fetus is in good condition, treatment measures such as resting in the left lateral position, regular oxygen inhalation, and improving placental blood supply can be adopted; if the fetal hypoxia is difficult to improve and it is close to full term, and the fetus is estimated to have a high chance of survival after delivery, cesarean section can be considered to terminate the pregnancy.