Care
Care during pregnancy are many and varied and include doctor visits, prenatal testing, nutrition, exercise, screening for infections and some genetic diseases (if applicable) and control of any maternal illness or any other factor. To receive proper care during pregnancy, one must first choose a health care provider.
Nowadays, in developed countries, most women can decide whether this is an obstetrician, a family physician or midwife who will care for them throughout their pregnancy, during delivery and few weeks after the birth of their baby. When choosing a health care provider, you must consider many factors. Is your pregnancy with low or high risk? What role do you play in decisions about your pregnancy? What do you think of deliveries "natural" and painkillers?
Balanced nutrition and healthy eating habits can contribute to a healthy pregnancy. Pregnant women should maintain a diet consisting of foods from the four food groups: milk and dairy products, meat and meat substitutes, fruits and vegetables and grain products. They should also take folic acid because this vitamin protects the baby against birth defects such as neural tube defects.
Regular exercise is very useful during pregnancy. Women who do not exercise are at higher risk of becoming overweight and suffer from gestational diabetes, gestational hypertension, varicose veins and pain in lower back.
If your partner or yourself have a family history of certain diseases, perform testing both, so that it is determined if you are carrying these diseases. Carrier screening is performed for couples with a family history of cystic fibrosis or congenital hearing loss and for those at high risk of genetically determined diseases such as sickle cell anemia or thalassemia.
Some infections pose a risk to the unborn baby. All pregnant women should perform the test for HIV, because if the disease is detected early, its transmission to the baby can be reduced. Women at high risk should perform the tests for syphilis and hepatitis B and be aware that the vaccine against hepatitis B can be administered during pregnancy. You can also use the screening to see if you have ever had the 5th child's illness (parvovirus), in which case you would be immune. Also, if you have never had rubella or chickenpox, stay away from people infected with these diseases because of contamination could seriously harm your baby. While there are vaccines against rubella and chickenpox, can only be administered before or after pregnancy, not during.
Try not to expose yourself or expose yourself as little as possible to potentially harmful substances called teratogens. These substances can hinder the development of your unborn baby, usually in the early months of pregnancy. Among the potential teratogenic include certain medications, hazardous substances at work, pesticides, solvents, tobacco, alcohol, cocaine, marijuana and heroin.
Moreover, if the mother suffers from some chronic diseases, it can complicate pregnancy and pose a threat to herself and her unborn baby. It is important that you master these problems, preferably before becoming pregnant or as soon as you know. It is possible that your treatment is modified because some medications are harmful to the fetus.
Considerations for women over 35 years
Many women expect to have over 35 years to have a child, which incur a higher risk to the mother and baby. If you are over 35 years, it would be advisable to consult a geneticist to notify you of all potential risks you expose yourself. At this point, the risks are minimal, but they tend to increase with age. Here are a few.
Infertility: the risk of infertility increases with age and reaches nearly 20% among couples who have over 35 years.
Maternal conditions: hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular disease occur more often in women over 35 years.
Complications during pregnancy: the risk of miscarriage, premature delivery and postpartum hemorrhage were slightly higher in older women.
Down syndrome and other chromosomal abnormalities: the risk of giving birth to a baby with Down syndrome is about one in 10 000 women for 20 years, three in 1000 for women aged 35 and one in 100 women of 40 years. Prenatal testing can assess the risk of these anomalies for a given pregnancy. If the risk is significant, we may use ultrasound, amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling.