One of the patients I interacted with during my time in the emergency department was a pregnant twenty-one-year-old with her second child at thirty-one weeks and two days gestational age. She came into the emergency department complaining of leaking fluid in her vaginal area. I chose this patient because of a possible diagnosis of preterm labor. The charge nurse on that day called Labor and Delivery and told them of a patient who may possibly be a premature rupture of membranes. The patient was then transported via wheelchair to Labor and Delivery for observation.
Preterm labor occurs when the cervix changes and contractions are “occurring between 20 and 37 weeks of pregnancy” (Lowdermilk. 2012. Maternity & Women’s Health Care, p. 877). A pregnant patient’s risk for preterm labor, “genital tract infection, multiple gestation, second trimester bleeding, low prepregnancy weight, and a …show more content…
The patient’s baby was diagnosed when she went in for an ultrasound. Fetal anencephaly “is the absence of both cerebral hemispheres and of the overlying skull” (Lowdermilk. 2012. Maternity & Women’s Health Care, p. 877). In addition, she has a past medical history of sexually transmitted disease, chlamydia. She was diagnosed with chlamydia back in May 2016 and treated with antibiotics. Gonorrhea and chlamydia are two sexually transmitted infections that put a patient’s risk for stillbirth and preterm birth. (Garcia, "Chlamydia, Gonorrhea Linked to Stillbirth or Preterm Birth", 2013 Retrieved October