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A minor discomfort

Abstract:

Problems associated with pregnancy have long been classified in two distinct categories - those considered to endanger the health of the woman and/or baby and those considered to be "bothersome" to the mother but seemingly not of significant interest to raise great concern in the carers. The former category has been arbitrarily labelled major disorders of pregnancy, the latter has been described by various euphemisms to portray non life threatening problems that women during their pregnancy may be forced to endure. Some examples of these are "Minor Disorders" (Beishcher Mackay, 1978:62; Sweet, 1988:170; Hickman, 1978:22), "Minor Discomforts" (Gaskin, 1977:231; Brickner, 1988:67), "Minor Complaints" (Green, 1975:141). Pregnancy affects all systems of the body, some more markedly than others and great variance may be found in individual women. The changes may produce problems that include morning sickness, fatigue, constipation, backache, dizziness, ptyalism, urinary frequency, breast tenderness, oedema, vulval and peripheral variscosities, leg cramps, haemorrhoids, epistaxis, bleeding gums, dyspnoea, heart burn, pruritis of skin and vulva leukorrhoea, palpitations, nasal stuffiness, round ligament pain, spider angiomas and skin changes. This discussion will examine the significance of these so called minor discomforts with reference to two discomforts so commonly encountered by women during the early weeks of their pregnancies - morning sickness and fatigue. In doing so, it challenges the very concept of 'minor'.

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first trimester, morning sickness, pregnancy discomfort, pregnancy fatigue