When you stand up quickly in pregnancy, you might have the panicky sensation that you're about to pass out. Many pregnant women feel "head rushes," sudden bouts of fuzzy vision and lightheadedness.

Several factors combine to cause dizziness in pregnancy. They include low blood pressure, low blood sugar and increased blood volume.

When your blood vessels dilate, it can cause your blood pressure to drop. To combat the low blood pressure, instead of hopping up out of a chair, take your time and hold onto something to steady yourself. Drinking enough water, milk and juice can help keep you hydrated and also alleviate dizziness.

To keep your blood sugar levels steady, eat several small meals during the day.

Because your blood volume is increasing during pregnancy, your heart must pump faster and harder. Your resting heart rate is much higher now than it was a few short weeks ago. This causes you to become dizzy, which can put you at risk for a fall.

Here's what our Mommy M.D.s — doctors who are also mothers — do to prevent dizziness during pregnancy.

"The first clue I was pregnant was dizziness," says Elissa Charbonneau, D.O., a mom of a son and a daughter and the medical director of the New England Rehabilitation Hospital in Portland, Maine. "One day at work, I was examining one of the nurses I worked with. All of a sudden, I got really dizzy. The nurse looked at me quizzically.

"'Are you pregnant?'" she asked.

"I thought: 'Hmmm. I guess I could be!' And it turns out I was."

"I was in my residency training during my second and third pregnancies," says Rallie McAllister, M.D., M.P.H., mom of three, co-author of "The Mommy MD Guide to Your Baby's First Year," nationally recognized health expert and family physician in Lexington, Kentucky. "I was plagued with dizziness, especially whenever I had to stand for long periods of time or when I smelled strong odors. Working in the hospital, I was on my feet most of the day, and strong odors were impossible to avoid."

"Whenever I felt myself getting dizzy, I just had to stop and drop," McAllister adds. "I'd sit on a chair if I could find one, or I'd plop down on the floor if I couldn't. If I didn't sit down and put my head on my knees, I was sure to faint."

"Dizziness is common in pregnancy," says Gina Dado, M.D., a mom of two daughters and an OB-GYN in the Paradise Valley branch of Arizona OBGYN Affiliates in Scottsdale, Arizona.

"Women who faint easily when they're not pregnant are even more likely to faint when they are pregnant. When you're pregnant, higher levels of progesterone cause the veins in your lower body to dilate. If you're dehydrated, feeling very hot or standing in one spot for a long time, you might feel dizzy and/or pass out."

"I didn't have a problem with dizziness or fainting during pregnancy, and part of the reason might have been that I drank a lot to keep hydrated," Dado adds.

"I've always tended to get head rushes caused by low blood pressure," says Katja Rowell, M.D., a mom of one daughter, a family physician and a childhood feeding specialist in Washington state with a website called The Feeding Doctor. "This was much more pronounced during pregnancy. I'd get up out of bed and almost black out."

"I told my obstetrician about it, and he did a thorough exam and ruled out any worrisome causes with lab work," Rowell adds. "Once I knew the dizziness wasn't dangerous and was normal for me, the most important thing was to anticipate it. I knew that if I stood up too quickly and stepped right away, I'd feel lightheaded. Instead, when I got out of bed, I'd sit up first and pause at the edge of my bed for 30 seconds, and then I'd stand up. After I stood from a sitting position, I steadied myself for a minute or two before walking or moving."

Jennifer Bright is a mom of four sons, co-founder and CEO of family- and veteran- owned custom publisher Momosa Publishing, co-founder of the Mommy MD Guides team of 150+ mommy M.D.s, and co-author of "The Mommy MD Guide to the Toddler Years." She lives in Hellertown, Pennsylvania. To find out more about Jennifer Bright and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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