Pre-pregnancy consultation, how to plan wellness in pregnancy
Being a mother is one of the things most beautiful that happen in life. Bringing a new human being to this planet and educating him to be an exemplary person is something beautiful as well as difficult. The pregnancy It is a very important process and one that requires a lot of responsibility, a task that extends beyond the delivery.
This responsibility also appears before the occurrence of pregnancy. When it comes to bringing a new life to this world, you have to take many things into account and the pre-pregnancy consultation can help to solve them. Having contact with the gynecologist from the beginning will help make this process more peaceful.
What is pre-pregnancy consultation?
The pre-pregnancy consultation "is an interview with the gynecologist to evaluate the healthy conditions of departure. In most cases it helps us to ensure that everything is going well and that there are no problems, but many times we find some with easy solution before pregnancy that the patient did not know she had. Or there may be some slight health complication or a history that the future mother did not know could have an impact on the course of her pregnancy. It is convenient to have everything under control before starting, "explains the doctor Carlos Piñel, gynecologist at Hospital Quirónsalud San José.
This specialist affirms that thanks to these pre-pregnancy consultations it is possible to evaluate the "reproductive risk"and analyze the woman's condition to analyze possible health problems Thanks to this review, possible difficulties may be found that end up causing a risk in pregnancy, both for the mother and for the embryo.
The purpose of this pre-gestational consultation is to give general health advice and "assess if there are circumstances that can interfere with or complicate the course of pregnancy. "In this way, it can be detected if some common medications, environmental exposures, harmful habits, etc. can affect pregnancy and put an end to these dangerous conditions.
The pre-pregnancy consultation: well-being in pregnancy
The first step of the preconceptional consultation will be a medical interview where family history, current or past illnesses, old infections, previous surgeries, allergies, unhealthy habits and the level of exercise that the woman habitually practices are addressed. "It is also essential to investigate previous pregnancies, because, on many occasions, the future of a pregnancy is very important and can give clues about possible complications in the following," adds Dr. Piñel.
At this step, a physical examination and complementary tests where to evaluate a correct structure of the external and internal genitalia through a revision and an ultrasound. "For example, sometimes there are small malformations, polyps, myomas inside the uterus that can make embryo implantation difficult, in this way they are detected and, if necessary, they are corrected to improve the possibilities of conception", concludes Dr. Piñel.
To these tests we must also add others such as a hemogram to rule out anemia or problems with platelets, blood group, blood glucose concentration, liver and kidney function, thyroid hormones, serologies of infectious diseases (which report the infections that the patient has gone through, which is not and for which it is immune), urine, etc.
On the other hand, there will also be evaluate size and weight of the mother because obesity and overweight reduce the chances of conceiving and have a higher incidence of complications throughout pregnancy, such as diabetes or hypertension. "Achieving an adequate body mass index before pregnancy avoids many problems later", concludes Dr. Piñel.
Damián Montero
