Keeping Track of Your Baby’s Health

Throughout your entire pregnancy, the health of both you and your baby is our concern. Thanks to recent breakthroughs in medical technology, we have new and innovative tools to carefully monitor your health and progress. Today, many fetal problems can be detected and treated while the baby is still in the womb. So, expectant mothers with complicating factors like advanced age can rest easier knowing that these tools are available. Listed below are the most common fetal testing or evaluating techniques.

 Sonography or Ultrasound

Sonography is frequently used to detect a problem or monitor a condition in the fetus or the mother’s womb. During the first few months of pregnancy, this test can tell us if the baby is developing properly. Should vaginal bleeding occur, it can help us learn why. A sonogram also can verify your due date and determine whether or not you are carrying twins. 

Unlike x-rays, sonography uses sound waves to produce an ultrasound video “picture” of the fetus moving inside your uterus. This picture is generated from an instrument that is placed either on your abdomen or in your vagina. You, too, can actually see the baby on a special screen while we’re performing the test. If you are six or more months pregnant and the baby is positioned correctly, we may be able to tell the baby’s sex. Later in pregnancy, the test can track the baby’s growth, locate the placenta, determine the volume of amniotic fluid, and detect some types of birth defects.

The procedure requires little of your time and is performed either in the office or in the hospital. A full bladder may be needed and is usually the only discomfort experienced. No harmful effects have been reported during more than two decades of use.

 Amniocentesis

The amniocentesis involves withdrawing and testing a small amount of the amniotic fluid surrounding the fetus. It provides very reliable information about:

Rh disease, or blood incompatibilities between mother and baby;

Genetic defects such as Down’s Syndrome (Mongolism) and others;

Certain defects related to abnormal brain and spinal cord development, or

neural tube defects; and

Fetal maturity near the end of pregnancy. 

Amniocentesis also will reveal the sex of your baby, But if you want us to keep it a secret, please inform us of your wish.

 The timing of this procedure will vary depending upon the initial reason for evaluation.  Genetic and neural tube defects, for example, usually are investigated at about 15 weeks, while fetal maturity and blood incompatibility are looked at much later in the pregnancy.

 Amniocentesis is generally performed in conjunction with sonography to prevent injury to the baby, the cord and the placenta. Only one or two tests can be run on a sample of amni­otic fluid, so it’s important that we know what problems we are looking for before the procedure is done.

 An amniocentesis is considered 99.5 percent safe and usually involves little risk. But still, this is not a routine test. It is performed only to detect a highly probable medical problem. You shouldn’t be concerned about the loss of amniotic fluid. Only a small amount is withdrawn, and your body rapidly replaces it with no harm to the baby. And don’t fret about the procedure. Most women report that an amniocentesis is relatively painless. 

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