During pregnancy, it’s very good for mommies to have regular check-ups with doctors. The purpose of these check-ups is to evaluate both moms’ and babies’ health status, find out any risk or disease as soon as possible. Antenatal visits or check-ups are considered a kind of preventive healthcare for pregnancy so even if the bumps are busy, at least 6 following antenatal appointments need successfully making.
1. Right after finding out signs of pregnancy
The first antenatal appointment should take place right after women find out some pregnancy signs inner their bodies. Some typical early symptoms of pregnancy include missed period, breast changes or more clearly pregnancy test stick with two lines, etc.
This very first visit is compulsory to make sure that moms get pregnant then need to follow all pieces of advice for the pregnant. Without timely first check-up, some unfortunate cases such as early miscarriage, or stillbirth may happen.
Most importantly, this first prenatal check-up helps the mother detect whether the baby has been in the womb or not; if the fetus is outside the uterus, the mother will be given timely intervention to safely protect both mother and baby.
2. Between 11th week and 13th week
At this time, the mother will give an accurate determination of the gestational age of the baby as a basis for monitoring fetal development for later prenatal checkpoints (if the fetus is older the age determination pregnancy will reduce accuracy).
In addition, this pregnancy examination is very important as the doctor will scan the nuchal translucency to identify fetal chromosomal abnormalities which can cause dangerous syndromes such as down syndrome, deformities heart, diaphragmatic hernia, etc.
Remember that these risk factors could only be discovered at this time; after the 13th week, the prediction through these indicators won’t be accurate anymore. Therefore, the pregnant cannot forget this important pregnancy checkpoint.
3. Between 14th week and 17th week
This is the time when pregnant women need to see a doctor to perform the Triple test. The Triple test is regarded as a reliable screening technique for Down syndrome, meaning that the doctor will deploy this method to make predictions of Down syndrome or chromosomal deformities risk. If the doctor returns results with a probability of more than 1/250 then the baby is at high risk of Down. The doctor will advise the mother to amniocentesis to determine the exact health situation of the baby.
4. Between 21st week and 24th week
An examination and an ultrasound at this time can detect fetal morphological abnormalities such as cleft lip, cleft palate, deformities in organs and internal organs.
After this week, the fetus will be too large and the deformities will be difficult to detect. For especially serious deformities, doctors will also advise pregnancy termination. This termination is usually advised to be practiced before the 28th week of pregnancy.
5. During 32nd week
During this period, pregnant women will be advised to go for a color examination and ultrasound to monitor the umbilical artery Doppler, brain artery, uterus artery, check the amniotic fluid, umbilical cord … to prepare for the upcoming childbirth. This time predicts the weight of the baby at birth quite accurately. Some antenatal clinics may provide the non-stress test to check the baby’s health and find out if the baby receives enough oxygen with a fetal heart monitor and fetal movement within 30 minutes.
6. Since 37th week
At this time, the mother feels quite difficult to move and the baby is old enough to be born. Therefore, doctors will advise mothers to have regular antenatal checkups once a week even if there are no signs of abnormalities. Whenever having one of those symptoms namely abdominal pain, back pain during pregnancy, bleeding or not sensing your baby’s movements, the mother must immediately visit the doctor to ensure the good health of both mother and child.
MOMS, GOOD LUCK TO YOU!
WISH YOU A HEALTHY PREGNANCY, SAFE DELIVERY AND AN ADORABLE BABY!
