Examinations during pregnancy
blood tests
A blood test remains the first pregnancy examination .
It allows you to check the following points:
Determination of HCG hormone
The dosage of the HCG hormone to confirm the status of pregnancy.
Knowing the blood
Rh-negative means that the mother can develop antibodies against her baby if it is Rh-positive . Immunization is most often performed at the time of delivery.
There is no risk during the first pregnancy. The risk occurs during a subsequent pregnancy, miscarriage or Abortion .
The determination of blood occurs during the first prenatal visit . A second blood group determination is made in the eighth or ninth month of pregnancy. The search for irregular antibodies occurs in the sixth and eighth months (or 9th) month of pregnancy, if the mother is Rh negative type, or if it has been previously transfused .
Preventive treatment in the form of an injection of an anti - Rhesus vaccine within 72 hours after delivery is carried out after each pregnancy.
toxoplasmosis
Absence of antibodies against toxoplasmosis means that the mother is not immunized against toxoplasmosis : a blood test must be performed each month to ensure that the mother has not contacted the disease.
Establish hygiene : wash hands regularly , wash fruits and vegetables ...
Check the protection against syphilis , a sexually transmitted disease that can infect the baby
HIV (AIDS)
This non- mandatory testing is strongly recommended and accepted by more than 90 % of pregnant women .
A woman who does not know she is infected with HIV has a 4 chance of passing the virus to her child. If the diagnosis is made , treatment can avoid the risk of transmission and drops the risk is less than one in 100 .
hepatitis B
This test is recommended during the 6th month: This infection spreads easily to baby
Test mean that the mother is a carrier of hepatitis B, without causing events if the disease is not declared , can vaccinate the baby immediately after birth in the delivery room and vaccinate the other members of family .
NFS and sedimentation rate .
The blood test for blood count and erythrocyte sedimentation rate is performed during the sixth month of pregnancy, but it can be earlier if, for example , a risk of infection or anemia is suspected.
rubella
The presence of antibodies means that the mother is immune . Rubella can cause fetal malformations .
Advise mothers to perform a blood test when deciding to have a baby and vaccinated at that time if there is no antibody . Absence of antibodies indicates that the test is negative. A negative test during pregnancy , reflecting the absence of antibodies , makes it necessary to provide a vaccination after delivery. If a blood test reveals that the mother contracted rubella during pregnancy , close monitoring is established.
Consult a doctor if they develop a rash during pregnancy in a woman who is not vaccinated.
gestational Diabetes
The optional test for gestational diabetes is offered to women with risk factors (overweight , family history of diabetes, women older than 40 years , women from Asia , North Africa , West Indies , history of birth defects or fetal death ... ) . It can detect gestational diabetes at 28 weeks of pregnancy , approximately in the 6th month , performing a blood glucose
Women developing diabetes have a higher risk of giving birth to a large baby and have a more difficult birth. For info:
Pregnancy and diabetes: gestational
Screening for trisomy 21
This test is used to assess the risk that the child will be a carrier of trisomy 21. In case of positivity of this test , amniocentesis may be offered .
Urinalysis
The urine tests can detect the presence of sugar, which may point to diabetes and must be confirmed by a blood test , the presence of albumin, which may be a sign of toxemia , including pathology involving hypertension , edema and may cause severe complications and finally the presence of germs showing a urinary tract infection, which should be treated.
Ultrasound
Ultrasound examination remains essential to monitor a pregnancy, detect defects, perform measurements of the baby, check the position of the placenta and for many parents to determine the sex of the child .
Ultrasound is an important time of pregnancy because it is during this examination that the prospective parents find that their baby is now in the womb of his mother, his heart beats ... But the ultrasound also is also a lot of anxiety for parents who fear that defects are discovered during the examination.
The ultrasound is performed using an ultrasound probe placed on the belly of the mother by applying a gel on the surface of the abdomen to facilitate the transmission of ultrasound. The ultrasound emitted are reflected differently depending on the density of the tissues . They are then transformed into signals through a computer system and broadcast on a video screen in the form of images.
The mother should be informed that the ultrasound does not detect any abnormalities . Normal obstetric ultrasound does not mean 100% of cases the child at birth not possess any abnormality because the review does not systematically diagnose all morphological abnormalities .
It is advisable not to put moisturizer in the days preceding the ultrasound. Moreover, it is best to keep a full bladder because it provides a better picture quality .
first ultrasound
The first ultrasound is recommended at 12 weeks gestation . This ultrasound can :
Monitor fetal development by comparing the data obtained with a standard curve ( reviewed by members and the proportion of the head, measure from the top of the skull to the tailbone ... )
The exact date of pregnancy
Identify the existence of multiple fetuses
Detect certain defects
Detect the risk of chromosomal abnormalities
Locate the placenta
Reassurance about the normality of the child ...
In some cases, a Doppler examination may be prescribed : This test measures the flow in the blood vessels of the uterus and the umbilical cord , the size of the umbilical cord , uterine artery or fetal cerebral artery .
second ultrasound
The second ultrasound , called ultrasound morphology is provided between about 20 and 22 weeks
It analyzes in detail the anatomy of the fetus
It allows you to search for possible defects.
It can often discover the baby's sex : 70% of couples want to know the sex of their child before birth.
It specifies the location of the placenta and fetal growth .
Last ultrasound
The last ultrasound is between 32 and about 34 weeks. The third ultrasound can
Detect anomalies and unidentified in previous ultrasound abnormalities.
Detect growth retardation of the fetus.
Specify the position of the baby in the womb.
It is possible to perform an ultrasound at any time of pregnancy in cases of suspected abnormalities.
Ultrasound diagnosis
When an abnormality is suspected during an ultrasound screening or when there is a significant risk of fetal abnormality , it is necessary to perform another ultrasound, called " ultrasound diagnosis ." These scans are performed by diagnostic centers Multidisciplinary Prenatal Diagnosis .
Ultrasounds performed in a strictly medical context and the delivery of ultrasound does not affect the fetus .
Ultrasound scans of comfort
Be wary of private companies that perform scans souvenirs, using ultrasound equipment identical to those of doctors. These scans are not recommended by the French Agency for the Safety of Health Products ( Afsspas ) to avoid unnecessarily exposing the fetus to ultrasound.
Quality of ultrasound fetal
degree necessary
Obstetric ultrasound can be performed by radiologists, general practitioners, obstetricians , midwives and other doctors . There are still no mandatory qualification required for the practice of ultrasound.
The quality of ultrasound can sometimes be uneven. And a doctor, not experienced enough , doing very little fetal ultrasound may not detect a defect that was diagnosed by a physician practicing enough fetal ultrasounds.
The experience of the practitioner and the quality of its equipment are indispensable for achieving scans reliability .