What is prenatal care

To put it simply, prenatal care is the sum of a series of care contents such as health monitoring, risk intervention, and life guidance for pregnant mothers and fetuses during the entire gestational period from confirmation of pregnancy to official delivery. It is currently the most effective means to reduce fertility risks and improve pregnancy outcomes.

I have been working as a pregnancy and childbirth guide in the district maternal and child health hospital for almost 5 years. I have met many pregnant mothers who have no idea about prenatal care. Last month, there was a post-95 girl who was pregnant with her first child. She felt that she was young and in good health. Except for the HCG test when she was just pregnant, I didn’t have a single checkup after that. The first time I came to set up a file, it was already 1 At 7 weeks, the thyroid stimulating hormone level was more than doubled during a test. Fortunately, I found out not too late. I adjusted my diet and added a small dose of drug intervention. Every time I checked again, the indicators were stable within the qualified line. If I had to wait until there was discomfort or abnormal fetal movement, it would probably affect the baby's neurological development.

Nowadays, everyone’s views on prenatal care are indeed quite polarized. Many elders always say, “My generation didn’t do any examinations when they were pregnant, so we gave birth to you healthy.” They think that going to the hospital for examinations is a waste of money.； There are also many young pregnant mothers who are too anxious. They go to the emergency room every day if there is some brown discharge in the early stages of pregnancy. They can't wait to do a B-ultrasound once a week to check the baby's condition. Instead, they suffer from insomnia and anxiety, and their hormone levels are messed up.

In fact, both of these perceptions are a bit biased. Prenatal care has never been about "examinations for the sake of examinations", nor is it a "routine for hospitals to make big money." Take our daily outpatient clinic as an example. Every time a pregnant mother comes for a routine prenatal check-up, in addition to listening to the fetal heart rate, measuring the uterine height and abdominal circumference, and reading the test report, we will chat a few words about whether there are any pregnant mothers with swollen legs recently, whether they have trouble sleeping, and whether they have sugar control. She couldn't help but secretly eat cakes and milk tea, and even taught new parents how to count fetal movements and how to adjust their sleeping position to be more comfortable in the third trimester of pregnancy. These small inquiries and guidance are actually part of prenatal care, and they don't only count when they write a checkup list and do a B-ultrasound.

If giving birth is like driving a car on a winding mountain road, prenatal care is equivalent to full navigation plus regular vehicle maintenance. We will remind you in advance which sections of the road are prone to rockfalls and which sections have sharp bends. We will help you adjust the brakes if they are loose or the tires are a little low in air, instead of waiting for an accident to come to the rescue.

Nowadays, the coverage of prenatal care is getting wider and wider. It has long been more than just focusing on physiological indicators. The midwife clinics, pregnancy nutrition clinics, and psychological counseling clinics opened by many hospitals are actually within the scope of prenatal care. When we encounter pregnant mothers who are particularly depressed or prone to depression, we will also take the initiative to refer them. After all, the emotional state of the pregnant mother is also an important factor affecting the smoothness of delivery and the development of the baby.

Of course, many pregnant mothers will ask, are they sure to give birth to a 100% healthy baby if they take all the prenatal care projects? We will tell the truth every time that current medical methods cannot cover all unknown fertility risks. Prenatal care can help you eliminate more than 90% of known high-risk problems, which is equivalent to providing the fullest possible protection for the entire pregnancy. It can help you avoid most of the known pitfalls and try to make the entire pregnancy smoother and smoother.