Recounting the events of that time, the emotion is raw for Young Soeun and one of her surviving daughters, Vannak, who was 9 years old in 1975 and remembers the long march out of Phnom Penh and being separated in a Khmer Rouge youth camp. Vannak's eyes fill with tears but she does not allow herself to cry.
However, some women develop high blood pressure while they are pregnant (often called gestational hypertension). The effects of high blood pressure range from mild to severe. High blood pressure can harm the mother's kidneys and other organs, and it can cause low birth weight and early delivery. In the most serious cases, the mother develops preeclampsia-or toxemia of pregnancy--which can threaten the lives of both the mother and the fetus.
Being born early means a baby has less time in the mother's uterus to grow and gain weight. Much of a baby's weight is gained during the last weeks of pregnancy. Another cause of low birthweight is a condition called intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). This occurs when a baby does not grow well during pregnancy because of problems with the placenta, the mother's health, or the baby's health. A baby can have IUGR and be born at full term (37 to 41 weeks). Babies with IUGR born at term may be physically mature but may be weak. Premature babies that have IUGR are both very small and physically immature. There are other things that can also raise the risk of very low birthweight.