It is very important for women who are pregnant to have regular check-ups either with a doctor or a midwife. There are certain types of tests and scans which are needed to be done during pregnancy. All these help in keeping track of your baby whether it is developing in a healthy way or not. Moreover, you also get to know about your health.
For some women, pregnancy turns out to be well with no complications. But that doesn’t mean that you can skip those check-ups and tests. These procedures are not to be missed during pregnancy.
These are some of the prenatal tests and check-ups :
- Routine Check-ups: During pregnancy, you have to visit your doctor many times for routine check-ups where certain types of urine and blood tests will be done. Your blood pressure will be checked and it will be determined through the blood and urine tests if you are suffering from gestational diabetes. All these tests are done to see if there are any problems which may create complications during pregnancy or during labour and to check the health of the baby, as well.
- Ultrasound: Every pregnant woman needs to do an ultrasound between 18 weeks and 21 weeks of pregnancy. This scan is known as Anomaly Scan which lets the doctor know if there is any structural deformity in the foetus. Ultrasound also helps in detecting :
- If you are carrying a single baby or twins or more
- The size of the baby
- The health status of the baby
- Position of the baby
- Neural tube defects
- Amniocentesis: It is a specialised procedure in which a small amount of amniotic fluid is taken from the mother’s womb. Normally, it is done between the 15th and 20th week of pregnancy and is performed on those women who have the risk of genetic disorders. It helps in assessing whether your baby has any chances of developing any birth defects or has already developed some.
- Down’s Syndrome Screening: This test helps in assessing whether your baby has the risk of suffering from Down’s Syndrome.
- CVS or Chorionic Villus Sampling: This is done for those pregnancies where the risk of the baby suffering from serious inherited disorders is higher. It is an alternative test to Amniocentesis and is done by taking a sample of cells from the placenta.
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