Any of these signs, during pregnancy or in the year after birth: get care now

CDC: seek medical care immediately if you have any of the signs below, during pregnancy or in the year after delivery. Call your OB-GYN or midwife right away, go to Labor and Delivery or the emergency room, or call 911 in an emergency. Say: “I am pregnant” or “I gave birth within the last year.”

Thoughts of harming yourself or your baby: call or text 988, or call or text the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline, 1-833-TLC-MAMA (1-833-852-6262), 24/7, English and Spanish.

Call 911 Call 988 Text 988 Call 1-833-TLC-MAMA Text 1-833-TLC-MAMA

Español: las señales de urgencia, el 911 y el 988 en español

Urgent maternal warning signs in pregnancy and the year after birth

The 15 signs CDC’s Hear Her campaign lists, the two ACOG blood pressure lines, and what CDC says about medicines in pregnancy. A reading page: nothing to fill in, nothing sent; only a Bigger text choice can be kept, on this device. Nothing here is checked by a clinician; your OB-GYN or midwife decides what fits you.

CDC Hear Her · developed by the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health

1. The 15 urgent maternal warning signs

Headings and bullets follow the CDC page. CDC: this list does not cover every symptom. If something just isn’t right, or you aren’t sure it’s serious, talk to your provider and tell them you are pregnant or were pregnant in the last year.

1. Headache that won’t go away or gets worse over time

Feels like the worst headache of your life.
Lasts even after treatment with medication and fluid intake.
Starts suddenly with severe pain, like a clap of thunder.
Throbs and is on one side of your head above your ear.
Comes with blurred vision or dizziness.

2. Dizziness or fainting

You faint or pass out.
You have dizziness and lightheadedness that’s ongoing, or comes and goes over many days.
You experience a gap in time of which you have no memory.

3. Changes in your vision

You see flashes of light or bright spots.
You have blind spots or you can’t see at all for a short time.
Your vision is blurry, you can’t focus, or you’re seeing double.

4. Fever of 100.4°F or higher

You have a temperature of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher.

5. Extreme swelling of your hands or face

Swelling in your hands makes it hard to bend your fingers or wear rings.
Swelling in your face makes it hard to open your eyes all the way.
Your lips and mouth feel swollen or you have a loss of feeling.
Not like the usual slight swelling many people have late in pregnancy.

6. Thoughts about harming yourself or your baby

You may think about hurting yourself because you feel very sad, hopeless, or not good enough, don’t feel in control of your life, or feel extremely worried all the time.
You may think about hurting your baby, or have scary thoughts that come when you don’t want them or are hard to get rid of.
Call or text 988, or call or text 1-833-TLC-MAMA (1-833-852-6262).

7. Trouble breathing

You feel short of breath suddenly or over time.
Your throat or chest feel tight.
You have trouble breathing when lying flat, such as needing to prop your head up with pillows to sleep.

8. Chest pain or fast-beating heart

Tightness or pressure in the center of your chest, or pain that travels to your back, neck, or arm.
A fast heartbeat or a pounding in your chest, or an irregular heart rate or skipped heartbeats.
You feel dizzy, faint, or disoriented, or talking and breathing are difficult.

9. Severe nausea and throwing up

Beyond the normal queasy feeling and throwing up that many people have in early pregnancy.
You are unable to drink for more than 8 hours or eat for more than 24 hours.
You throw up and can’t keep water or other fluids in your stomach.
You have a dry mouth, headaches, confusion, fever, or dizziness.

10. Severe belly pain that doesn’t go away

A sharp, stabbing, or cramp-like belly pain that doesn’t go away.
Belly pain that starts suddenly and is severe, or gets worse over time.
Severe chest, shoulder, or back pain.

11. Baby’s movement stopping or slowing during pregnancy

You feel that your baby has stopped moving or is moving less than before.
CDC: there is no specific number of movements that is considered normal. A change in your baby’s movement is what is important.

12. Vaginal bleeding or fluid leaking during pregnancy

Any bleeding from your vagina that is more than spotting, like a period.
Fluid leaking out of your vagina.
Vaginal discharge that smells bad.

13. Vaginal bleeding or discharge after pregnancy

Heavy bleeding: soaking through one or more pads in an hour.
You pass clots bigger than an egg or you pass tissue.
Vaginal discharge that smells bad.

14. Severe swelling, redness, or pain of your leg or armCDC lists this one for any time in pregnancy or up to 6 weeks after birth.

Swelling, pain, or tenderness in your leg, usually your calf or in one leg. It may hurt when you flex your foot to stand or walk, and can be red, swollen, and warm.
Pain, tenderness, or swelling in your arm, usually on just one side.

15. Overwhelming tiredness

You are suddenly very tired and weak, not like chronic fatigue.
You don’t have enough energy to go about your day, and sleep does not refresh you.
You feel so tired that you don’t get up to take care of your baby.
You feel sad after having your baby.

Put the signs you have on your visit sheet. Any of them means care now, not at the next visit.

ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 222 · ACOG patient FAQ

2. The two blood pressure lines

Reading	What ACOG calls it	What to do
Top number 160 or higher, or bottom number 110 or higher	Severe hypertension (a severe feature of preeclampsia)	Get care now. Call your OB-GYN or midwife right away or go to Labor and Delivery. Call 911 in an emergency.
Top number 140 or higher, or bottom number 90 or higher	High blood pressure in pregnancy	Call your OB-GYN or midwife right away. Do not wait for the next visit.
Below 140/90 with any warning sign above	The sign still counts	Get care now. A normal reading does not cancel a warning sign.

ACOG: preeclampsia can also develop in the weeks after childbirth, and blood pressure often goes up in the weeks after birth.

CDC · Medicine and Pregnancy

3. Medicines in pregnancy

CDC: about 9 in 10 women report taking some type of medicine during pregnancy, and about 7 in 10 report taking at least one prescription medicine.
CDC: fewer than 10% of medicines approved since 1980 have enough information to determine their safety during pregnancy.
Talk to your healthcare provider before starting or stopping any medicine. Do not stop a prescribed medicine on your own.
Questions about a specific medicine: CDC points to MotherToBaby, 1-866-626-6847, whose experts answer by phone, chat, or email in English or Spanish.

Where to go next

Bring this to your visitThe visit sheet: warning-sign check, your highest reading, your questions, and a practice call to Labor and Delivery. Checking blood pressure at home?Log it there, then carry the highest reading to the visit sheet. Need an OB-GYN or midwife?Search the public NPI registry. No account.

Baby already here? A baby under 3 months with a fever of 100.4°F or higher needs a doctor right away. Fever, safe sleep and first teeth.

Sources (checked 2026-10-26)

CDC Hear Her: Urgent Maternal Warning Signs and Symptoms (page updated May 15, 2024). Limit: the list is not every symptom.
ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 222, Gestational Hypertension and Preeclampsia, Obstet Gynecol 2020;135(6):e237–e260, PMID 32443079, doi:10.1097/AOG.0000000000003891. Limit: a clinician guideline; the “call right away” wording is this site’s, not ACOG’s.
ACOG FAQ: Preeclampsia and High Blood Pressure During Pregnancy
CDC: Medicine and Pregnancy, An Overview
HRSA: National Maternal Mental Health Hotline