Pregnancy and babies should be a time to celebrate life — yet in some cases it can have a tragic outcome for the mother.

Each year in the United States, more than 700 women die from pregnancy-related complications up to one year after giving birth, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Michigan averages 25 pregnancy-related deaths each year, with about six in 10 considered preventable, the MDHHS stated in a news release.

While that might not seem like a high number, “The loss of one mother is one too many,” said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, MDHHS chief medical executive.

It also outpaces other countries, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics show. The U.S. rate for 2021 was 32.9 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, which is more than 10 times the estimated rates of some other high-income countries, including Australia, Austria, Israel, Japan and Spain, which all hovered between two and three deaths per 100,000 in 2020, according to a National Public Radio story broadcast March 16.

The MDHHS Maternal Mortality Surveillance program has launched a new website dedicated to preventing pregnancy-related deaths. Hear Her Michigan provides potentially life-saving messages about urgent maternal health warning signs, according to the MDHHS.

“MDHHS is committed to helping prevent maternal mortality and morbidity in our state through education, resources and awareness,” Bagdasarian said. “This campaign is also dedicated to encouraging everyone, including health care professionals, caregivers, friends and family, to listen and act when pregnant and postpartum persons say something that doesn’t feel right. We all have a role to play in preventing maternal deaths.”

A pregnancy-related death is defined as the death of a woman during pregnancy or within one year of the end of pregnancy from a pregnancy complication, a chain of events initiated by pregnancy or the aggravation of an unrelated condition by the physiologic effects of pregnancy.

MMMS data reveals that the most common causes of pregnancy-related death are due to hypertensive disorders and hemorrhage. These data also indicated that Black women were 2.8 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes.

Warning signs include:

— Headache that won’t go away or gets worse over time;

— Dizziness or fainting;

— Thoughts about hurting yourself or your baby;

— Changes in vision;

— Fever;

— Trouble breathing;

— Chest pain or fast-beating heart;

— Severe belly pain that doesn’t go away;

— Severe nausea and throwing up (not like morning sickness);

— Baby’s movements stopping or slowing;

— Vaginal bleeding or fluid leaking during or after pregnancy;

— Swelling, redness or pain in legs;

— Extreme swelling of hands or face;

— Overwhelming tiredness.

To learn about urgent maternal warning signs, go to Michigan.gov/HearHer.