Antenatal Checkup
There are three stages of caring for an expecting mother: prenatal, antenatal, postnatal care. This is essential to ensure smooth pregnancy and labour and to keep the mother healthy after giving birth. This care is a combined effort between the doctor and the expectant couple. Here are a few things to keep in mind if you are expecting an addition to your family.
Antenatal Care and Assessment has been a revelation ensuring that a woman enjoys a safe and healthy pregnancy sans any complications. There are regular health check-ups, diagnostic and screening tests and prenatal counseling for the pregnant women and their families. The initiatives have been truly noteworthy, bringing about a significant reduction in the incidences of miscarriages and other pregnancy-related complications.
What does Antenatal Care and Assessment include?
Each trimester brings about changes that need care and attention. The Antenatal Care involves assessing and guiding a pregnant woman and their loved ones as the pregnancy progresses through each trimester.
- The program aims at identifying the conditions that may pose a threat to the maternal and fetal health during pregnancy and work towards eliminating it.
- Medical conditions such as anemia, HIV infection, Sexually Transmitted infections, stress, and fatigue can spell doom, affecting the pregnancy beyond imagination. Thus, time and again, a pregnant woman is screened for the mentioned complications.
- The diet can play a crucial role during pregnancy. A pregnant woman should eat a nutritionally enriched diet as the fetus receives the nutrients directly from the mother. Antenatal care lays great emphasis on the diet of the pregnant woman.
- De-worming and immunization programs are carried out to immunize the mother and the baby against harmful infections, including, tetanus and malaria.
- Antenatal care is a complete package that includes prenatal as well as postnatal care and assessment so that the mother and the baby enjoy good health.
- Pregnancy brings about a new phase in the life of couples. While most couples accept the changes graciously, many find it difficult to cope with the situation.