You can have a safe and healthy pregnancy since prenatal care in Garden City allows your obstetrics and gynecology physician to detect health issues early and treat them. Also, the physician can prevent problems that may affect you or your baby. Often, your health provider will give you a schedule of prenatal visits. If you have a high-risk pregnancy, mainly when you are under 17 or over 35 years and have certain health complications, your health specialist will want to see you regularly. Regular monitoring reduces the danger of complications.
So that your doctor can better understand your baby’s and your health condition, you will undergo different prenatal care tests. Consequently, below are some examinations or tests you can expect when pregnant.
- Carrier screening
This screening determines if you have a genetic disorder, which can also affect the baby you are carrying. If you are a carrier, although you do not have the condition, you have a genetic change or variant gene that you can transfer to your baby. And if you and your spouse are carriers of a similar genetic condition, the baby is at high risk of getting affected.
Testing for genetic conditions happens before or after you get pregnant. Your doctor examines your blood or saliva.
- Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) screening
The non-invasive prenatal care test examines your blood to determine if you risk carrying a fetus with a genetic disorder or defect, like spina bifida and Down syndrome. Down syndrome occurs when the fetus has an extra copy of its 21st chromosome.
Cell-free DNA is fetal DNA circulating willingly in the maternal serum or blood. The maternal serum supplies the developing fetus with nutrients and a mechanism for waste disposal.
- Chorionic villus sampling (CVS)
It involves extracting a placenta tissue sample that your doctor subjects to a test to determine if it has genetic defects and chromosomal aberration. Your doctor may want you to undergo the examination if your family has a history of genetic issues, you are above 35 years, and the early tests showed your baby has a higher risk of a birth disorder.
- Ultrasound
Diagnostic ultrasound is an imaging method that relies on sound waves to create and show images of your baby in the uterus. The pictures you observe on a computer can help your health provider know how many weeks you have been pregnant and provide vital information to diagnose, treat, or manage various conditions and illnesses.
- Glucose screening
Your doctor will perform a glucose screening when your pregnancy is about 26 weeks. But, the testing can happen earlier if the initial testing of your urine showed a higher glucose concentration or if you are at increased risk of diabetes.
- Group B strep screening
In the last months of your pregnancy, your doctor may also check for Group B streptococcal infection. The bacteria and the infection naturally come and go in your body. Although the bacteria is not always harmful to you, it can harm your newborn or you when you have chronic conditions like diabetes. Your doctor will check your cervix fluid.
Contact Women’s Healthcare of Garden City today to schedule a prenatal care appointment.
