Pregnancy ... A wonderful time when you can save and pamper yourself, but your doctor makes you get up early and take some tests? Do not be angry with your gynecologist, because he knows what tests pregnant women give, so that they can monitor the health of the future mother and baby.
For all pregnant women, the tests are divided into mandatory and voluntary. Mandatory tests during pregnancy are: various blood tests, a general urine test and a swab from the vagina.
Blood tests for pregnant women
Blood is given for general analysis, for biochemical, for glucose, for various infections (hepatitis, syphilis AIDS), group and Rh factor.
A general blood test will help:
- To determine inflammatory processes in the body, even if there are no clinical manifestations. Early diagnosis allows you to stop the disease before it affects the fetus;
- to reveal a blood disease (anemia). Anemia often accompanies pregnancy. It can cause oxygen starvation of the fetus;
- will show an allergic reaction, possible and when infected with worms;
- characterizes the coagulability of the blood. This plays an important role in preventing blood loss during childbirth.
For this analysis, the blood is taken in the morning on an empty stomach from the finger. On the eve should not eat fatty foods. This will affect the number of leukocytes in the blood.
Biochemical analysis of blood in pregnant women allows you to evaluate the work of various internal organs: liver, kidneys, pancreas. It allows to identify failures in the functioning of internal organs, even if the external symptoms of the disease have not yet appeared.
A blood test for sugar will indicate a leaky diabetes mellitus. It is taken from a finger on an empty stomach in the morning or from a vein while taking other tests.
If the wife and husband have different Rh factors, they will be offered to give blood every two weeks for antibodies.
Urinalysis in pregnant women
The general analysis of urine is very important for the future mother, because her kidneys during pregnancy work for two. To submit urine analysis during pregnancy, you must carefully prepare, excluding the presence of foreign impurities. It is necessary to wash thoroughly, but do not wipe yourself, because the towel can be bacteria.
The function of the kidneys is the allocation of unnecessary metabolic products and the retention of nutrients. Therefore, if proteins appear in the urine, salts, leukocytes and erythrocytes - this indicates a problem in the body of the future mother.
What other tests should I give to pregnant women?
A smear from the vagina to the flora is given at the first visit to the doctor, at 30 and 36 weeks of pregnancy, for medical reasons - more often. It assesses the condition of the mucosa and microflora, reveals the threat of infection of the fetus, helps to determine the possibility of post-partum purulent-septic diseases.
Compulsory during pregnancy is the analysis on TORCH infection - rubella, toxoplasmosis, herpes and cytomegalovirus. Diagnosis of these diseases is important in order to avoid the development of fetal malformations and complications in pregnant women. From optional tests the doctor can offer to pass a "triple test" at 14-18 weeks of pregnancy. This is an analysis for the level of estriol, alpha-fetoprotein and chorionic gonadotropin. This test helps to identify such developmental abnormalities in the child as: hydrocephalus, Down syndrome and other chromosomal abnormalities. This analysis is optional, and therefore chargeable. It is taken for the following indications: the age of over 35 years, the presence in the family of relatives or children with chromosomal abnormalities. But this test can give and erroneous results, so a woman needs to decide in advance what she intends to do with a positive result. If the abortion, then the analysis must be done necessarily, and if - no, the pregnant woman can refuse it. Such an analysis can offer to take more than once.
If the reassessment analysis proves to be positive, then another additional analysis will be prescribed - amniocentesis. In this analysis, amniotic fluid is examined for the presence of chromosomal abnormalities in the baby. The doctor enters through the abdominal wall a large hollow needle into the uterus and drains a small amount of water with the syringe of the fetus with a syringe.
During pregnancy, four examinations of ultrasound. If necessary, the doctor may appoint additional studies.
Depending on the state of health and the presence in the future mummy of various diseases, a gynecologist may be assigned other tests such as: Dopplerography - vascular study, cardiotocography - determines the tone of the uterus.