Why Prenatal Care is important?

From an interview with Dr. Wayne Mineer

Dr. Wayne Mineer is an obstetrician who's been in practice for more than 35 years and has delivered more than 3,500 babies. Options magazine talks to Dr. Mineer about the importance of prenatal care.

"It's important to ensure the health of the baby and ensure the health of the mother - that's the bottom line," Dr. Mineer says.

According to Dr. Mineer, choosing not to have prenatal care, or even procrastinating, can have serious consequences. He says intrauterine growth retardation and congenital defects can go undetected without prenatal care, or you may not know that your baby is in a breech position. According to Dr. Mineer, breech births have many more complications than normal births, but if you are aware of them ahead of time, steps can be taken to correct the baby's breech position. "You can, at about 37 weeks, rotate the baby," he says.

Also, without prenatal care, some dangers to the mother may include poor nutrition, excessive weight gain and gestational diabetes. Dr. Mineer says that women who are unaware of gestational diabetes and keep eating lots of sugar have excessively big babies, and a much higher risk of a stillbirth.

Dr. Mineer also talks about the physical symptoms of pregnancy, caring for yourself while you're pregnant and what you can expect at your first prenatal exam. "The first symptoms of pregnancy are nausea, fatigue and a feeling of tenderness in the breasts - these are the main symptoms," he says.

If you suspect you're pregnant and want to make sure, Dr. Mineer says home urine tests are accurate and can detect pregnancy within five or six days past your menstrual period. He adds, "You can get a serum or blood pregnancy test that will pick it up even sooner."  Dr. Mineer says that most women seem to know when they're pregnant, so it's reasonably safe to trust your judgment if your test was negative and you feel it should have been positive. In this case it might be a good idea to test yourself again or be tested by a doctor.

After finding out that you are pregnant, Dr. Mineer says you should care for yourself by eating only a healthy balance of foods from the basic four food groups -- and you should avoid junk foods that don't fit into these categories.

He also says that you can continue to exercise and play sports, as long as they are activities that you were already pursuing before you became pregnant and can be done comfortably. They should be performed with caution and moderation; be wary of hard falls. Aerobics are safe as long as they're low-impact. Dr. Mineer sees many pregnant women who are very active and free of problems related to exercise.

Drugs, smoking and alcohol should be avoided. Alcohol can have a harmful effect on the baby, known as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. And smoking causes low birth-weight babies. Some over-the-counter drugs are fine to take during pregnancy, but you should always check with your doctor before taking any medication.

During your first prenatal visit, Dr. Mineer says, you can expect a complete physical exam. The doctor will listen to your heart and lungs and perform a breast exam to make sure there are no lumps or tumors. An internal pelvic exam might be performed as well. He says they are usually not painful, but if you haven't had one before you might want to be prepared. Subsequent visits are shorter, and breast and pelvic exams are not done each time.

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