It is necessary for a pregnant mother to undergo routine check-ups and scans as per her doctor’s advice. Here is why pregnant women must not miss any of the tests and scans during pregnancy as recommended by their doctor.Once you get the good news that a new life is growing inside you, you will be asked to do a series of tests, including urine tests, blood tests, and ultrasound scans, to keep your baby safer and check and assess the wellbeing of you and your baby. These
routine check-ups will include knowing your blood group, checking your blood pressure, taking blood tests, checking your urine, listening to baby’s heartbeat, feeling your tummy and asking for ultrasound scan as well.
Importance of Knowing Blood Group
The primary phase of blood test is done to know the blood group of pregnant mother. In case of haemorrhage (heavy bleeding) during pregnancy or labour, it is very important to know the blood group that a mother will need to be given. Blood test also tells if blood group is rhesus negative or rhesus positive. If a mother is a rhesus negative, she may need extra care to ward off the risk of rhesus disease.
Importance of Blood Tests
Blood tests help providing information about the pregnant mother and the baby that she is about to deliver. If blood test shows anaemia, mother may get tired and be unable to cope up with blood loss during delivery. If blood test detects more sugar, mother may be at high risk for gestational diabetes. If mother gets rubella in the blood reports, it can cause harm to her unborn baby. Sexually transmitted disease like syphilis if shown in blood test can lead to miscarriage and stillbirth. Hepatitis B can cause serious liver disease infecting the baby as well. HIV causing AIDS can be passed to the baby if not detected early through blood tests. All these risks can be reduced if detected earlier and taken treatment from your doctor.
Importance of Urine Tests
If sugar levels are high in
urine continuously during a couple of prenatal visits or extremely high at one visit, there can be a serious chance of mother having gestational diabetes. There can be a chance of urinary tract infection or kidney damage if protein levels are high in your urine. High protein levels along with high blood pressure detected in later pregnancy can indicate preeclampsia. If ketones are found along with high sugar levels, there is a high risk of diabetes. Blood cells, known as nitrates, found in the urine indicate that the mother is suffering from urinary tract infection. These conditions can be managed if diagnosed earlier.
Importance of Blood Pressure Tests
A rise in
blood pressure indicates pregnancy-induced hypertension. It is not unnatural to experience a low blood pressure during the middle of pregnancy, but it may make the expecting mother feel light headed if she gets up suddenly. If blood pressure levels are high and doctor finds albumin or protein in urine, then there is a chance of preeclampsia, which can affect the growth and health of the baby and can be life-threatening if left untreated.
Importance of Ultrasound Scans
Doctor rolls a hand-held scanning device over the stomach of a pregnant mother to get images from inside your womb to be shown on a screen. This is called
ultrasound scan, which allows checking for physical problems in the baby or placenta, determining whether the mother is expecting twins or more, checking the position of the baby and placenta, and determining the size and age of the baby. A pregnant woman must do ultrasound scans as per the advice of her doctor.
A normal pregnancy lasts for 38-42 weeks. A doctor will arrange for every check-up and scan that a pregnant mother has to get done before her first antenatal visit. The first appointment will be around 10-12 weeks of pregnancy. Then the second one may be around 19-20 weeks, followed by every 4 weeks or more often until the delivery date. A pregnant mother should ask her doctor if she is not sure about any of the tests or their results or both.
Why is it important to do blood tests during pregnancy? What is the importance of urine test during pregnancy? How many ultrasound scans are done during pregnancy? Discuss here. 
