Prenatal care can play an essential role in keeping both mother and baby healthy by early detection of health issues and providing guidance and information regarding health matters.
Your healthcare provider may suggest taking a prenatal vitamin with folic acid before becoming pregnant, and may provide guidance regarding genetic disorders that run in families.
What is prenatal care?
Prenatal care refers to medical exams and diagnostic services offered exclusively for pregnant women in order to reduce maternal and fetal complications during gestation and is considered an integral component of public health.
Studies have demonstrated the connection between high-quality prenatal care and lower risks of low birth weight, maternal death and fetal morbidity. Interventions including counseling sessions to address risk behaviors like smoking and alcohol abuse; providing healthy lifestyle advice such as adequate nutrition; and initiating breastfeeding are all part of providing high quality prenatal care.
This research employed purposive maximum variation sampling to collect accounts of their experiences with prenatal care from five urban centres. Three themes emerged from the data: structure of care, clinical processes and interpersonal care processes. It suggests that quality prenatal care depends both on its delivery as well as interactions between providers and patients.
Prenatal visits
Prenatal care can be one of the best ways to ensure a successful gestation. Your healthcare provider will examine how well your baby and uterus are developing during visits, in addition to measuring weight and blood pressure.
Your doctor will also discuss your birth plan and any concerns or questions you have, including any health conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes which could increase your risk of premature delivery. They’ll work closely with you to manage them to help ensure the best outcomes for both of you.
Prenatal testing
Prenatal testing involves performing a blood test to screen for any possible chromosomal issues in a fetus such as Down syndrome. There are two kinds of prenatal tests: screening and diagnostic; with screening tests only providing an indication of risk whereas diagnostic ones can accurately pinpoint specific issues within your baby’s fetus.
Doctors use serum screening, a blood test that checks for proteins present both within your body and placenta (which provides oxygen and nutrients to your baby), to identify any genetic diseases during pregnancies. This exam should take place no later than the second trimester.
Carrier screening tests provide both you and your partner with an opportunity to screen for genetic diseases that could impact the fetus, such as cystic fibrosis or sickle cell disease, during gestation. Usually these screenings take place during the second trimester.
Pregnancy complications
Some women are at greater risk for pregnancy complications depending on their health history and lifestyle choices, including pre-existing conditions that limit their physical ability to carry a baby until term (such as severe obesity or prior miscarriage), disorders caused by serious infections like syphilis, group B strep or chlamydia and diseases that can be transmitted directly from mother-to-fetus transmission such as HIV or Hepatitis C infections – even positive histories of sexually transmitted disease may place some women at higher risks.
One of the most frequent pregnancy complications involves issues with the placenta. Placental abruption, wherein an early detachment from the uterus results in bleeding and oxygen deprivation for the unborn fetus, is an especially dangerous complication; similarly it may also happen if there’s placenta previa, wherein its covering the cervix.
Birth
Birthing a baby can be both exciting and daunting for women. To ease stress during this exciting but sometimes taxing journey, it is vital that pregnant mothers surround themselves with people who care about both her and her unborn child – including family, friends, pregnancy counselors or community support groups.
Birth is the act or fact of being born; parturition: She was strong-willed from birth. Additionally, it refers to one’s origin or descent – for instance she hails from Swedish birth while Bostonian by birth. Additionally, birth can also refer to its beginning or commencement: modern art was first conceptualized through its birth.