When is the best time for pregnant women to start prenatal check-ups?

Pregnant women should have regular prenatal checkups to ensure the safety of their babies and themselves. This can ensure the healthy development of the fetus and is a must for scientific pregnancy. So what preparations should be made for prenatal checkups? What items are included in prenatal checkups? How much does a prenatal checkup cost? When should a prenatal checkup be done? What is the significance of a prenatal checkup? The following editor will give you a detailed introduction.

Prenatal care preparation

1. Time of antenatal check-up

You need to have a antenatal checkup once a month before the 28th week of pregnancy, once every two weeks from 28 to 36 weeks, and once a week after 36 weeks, but the regulations may vary from region to region and hospital to hospital. You may need 10 to 15 antenatal checks throughout your pregnancy.

2. Prenatal examination items

During each prenatal checkup, the doctor will ask about you and the fetus, record your weight, blood pressure, whether you have edema, measure uterine height, abdominal circumference, check the baby's fetal position, listen to the fetal heart rate, arrange for you to have blood and urine tests, and other related examinations and testing procedures; if necessary, you will also be closely monitored and treated for existing or possible complications, and perform auxiliary diagnosis such as B-ultrasound. In the third trimester of pregnancy, the doctor will measure your pelvis and work with you to make a delivery plan at 37 weeks of pregnancy.

Prenatal check-up items and costs

1. The purpose of a routine blood test: Check hemoglobin to determine whether the expectant mother is anemic. Mild anemia has little effect on the pregnant woman and delivery, while severe anemia can cause premature birth, low birth weight and other adverse consequences. Therefore, anemia should be treated promptly. Check blood type to prepare for blood transfusion during delivery. It is important for expectant mothers to know their blood type. If the husband has type A, B or AB blood and the pregnant woman has type O blood, the baby born may have ABO blood type incompatibility and needs to be checked accordingly. Normal hemoglobin value: 110g/L-150g/L Reference price: 20 yuan

2. Purpose of urine routine examination: Check whether there is protein, sugar and ketone bodies in urine, and examine red blood cells and white blood cells under a microscope. Especially the detection of protein can indicate whether there is pregnancy-induced hypertension and other diseases. Reference price: 8 yuan

3. Liver function and kidney function test purpose: to check whether the expectant mother has hepatitis, nephritis and other diseases. During pregnancy, the burden on the liver and kidneys is increased. If the liver and kidney functions are abnormal, pregnancy will make the original diseases "worse". Normal liver function values: Alanine aminotransferase 0-40U/L; O-421U/L; Total bilirubin 0.6-1.2Mg/dl. Normal kidney function values: Urea nitrogen 8-21Mg/dl; Creatinine 0.9mg/dl. Reference price: 82 yuan

4. HIV antibody test Purpose: Check whether the mother is infected with AIDS. Mother-to-child transmission is one of the main transmission routes of AIDS. Normal: Negative Reference price: 42 yuan

5. Test alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) to screen for neurological diseases, such as anencephaly and spina bifida. Normal value: <20 Reference price: 52 yuan

6. Check the six items of hepatitis B: Check whether the pregnant woman is infected with hepatitis B virus. If she is already infected, she should be transferred to a specialist hospital for infectious diseases to give birth. Normal: Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAa), negative, hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs), negative; hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg), negative; hepatitis B e antibody (anti-HBe), negative; hepatitis B core antibody lgG (anti-HBcLgG), negative; hepatitis B core antibody lgM (anti-HBclgM), negative. Reference price: 57 yuan

7. Check for Hepatitis C (HCV) virus Purpose: Check whether the expectant mother is infected with the hepatitis C virus. The hepatitis C virus can also be transmitted to the fetus through the placenta. If already infected, transfer to a specialist hospital for infectious diseases to give birth. Normal: Negative Reference price: 92 yuan

8. Screening for Down's syndrome Every expectant mother should undergo screening for Down's syndrome at 14-17 weeks of pregnancy. This is a chromosome test. If there is a suspicious or positive result, amniocentesis should be performed to confirm whether the fetal chromosomes are normal. For expectant mothers over 35 years old, the risk is increased due to their age, so this test is even more necessary. Reference price: 100 yuan

9. Check for rubella virus (RV), toxoplasma gondii (TOX), cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes simplex virus (HSV) Purpose: If the expectant mother is infected with the above viruses before 4 months of pregnancy, it may cause serious congenital malformations in the fetus or even miscarriage. A better way is to do this test before pregnancy. If the test is positive, get pregnant after treatment. Normal: All negative Reference price: 297 yuan

10. Ultrasound examination can be done for the first time at 18-24 weeks. It can show the complete images of the fetal body, fetal heartbeat, fetal head and placenta, and can also hear the fetal heart sound, fetal movement sound, umbilical cord blood flow sound and placental blood flow sound. It can detect whether the fetus is alive and whether the pregnancy is normal, whether it is multiple births, etc. Reference price: general B-ultrasound 30 yuan color B-ultrasound 120 yuan

11. Purpose of electrocardiogram: To exclude heart disease and to confirm whether the expectant mother can bear the delivery. If the electrocardiogram is abnormal, further ultrasound examination can be performed and if necessary, see a cardiologist. Reference price: 20 yuan

Prenatal check-up schedule

1. The first prenatal checkup (around 12 weeks of pregnancy): The prenatal checkup during this period is mainly to verify the pregnancy status and to get a preliminary understanding of the embryo. The necessary prenatal checkup items include: height, weight, gynecological examination, blood routine, urine routine, leucorrhea, syphilis screening, and B-ultrasound examination. Those who have not done premarital checkups or pregnancy checkups before should also add thalassemia screening, and those who have pets at home should add parasite inspections. Experts remind: The first prenatal checkup has relatively more examination items, which is also to comprehensively check the health of the expectant mother.

2. Second prenatal checkup (16 weeks of pregnancy): The second prenatal checkup includes: physical examination, temperature, pulse, respiration, blood pressure, weight, uterine height, physical examination (edema, etc.); laboratory tests, blood routine, urine routine and Down syndrome screening; auxiliary examination, Doppler fetal heart rate. Experts remind: The most important item in the second prenatal checkup is Down syndrome screening, which requires blood tests after an absolute fast for more than 12 hours.

3. The third prenatal checkup (20 weeks of pregnancy): The third prenatal checkup includes: physical examination, temperature, pulse, respiration, blood pressure, weight, uterine height, physical examination (edema, etc.); laboratory tests, blood routine, urine routine; auxiliary examinations, Doppler fetal heart rate, obstetric color Doppler, screening for major malformations. Experts remind: The most important item in the third prenatal checkup is B-ultrasound screening for major malformations. Before the fetal malformation screening, you should move more, which is conducive to the baby's fetal position reaching the best position. You can eat a few pieces of chocolate appropriately, which will make the baby excited and hyperactive, and it is also conducive to the fetal malformation screening.

4. The fourth prenatal checkup (24 weeks of pregnancy): The fourth prenatal checkup includes: physical examination, temperature, pulse, respiration, blood pressure, weight, uterine height, physical examination (edema, etc.); laboratory tests, blood routine, urine routine and oral glucose tolerance test; auxiliary examination, Doppler fetal heart rate. Experts remind: This is a routine examination, and screening for major malformations can also be done.

5. The fifth prenatal checkup (28 weeks of pregnancy) and the sixth prenatal checkup (30 weeks of pregnancy): The fifth and sixth prenatal checkups include: physical examination, temperature, pulse, respiration, blood pressure, weight, uterine height, physical examination (edema, etc.); laboratory tests, blood routine, urine routine; auxiliary examinations, obstetric color Doppler ultrasound, Doppler fetal heart rate. Experts remind: starting from the 28th week of pregnancy, prenatal checkups will be conducted every two weeks. The fifth and sixth prenatal checkups are routine examinations and there is no need to be too nervous.

6.7 Prenatal checkup (32 weeks of pregnancy): The seventh prenatal checkup includes: physical examination, temperature, pulse, respiration, blood pressure, weight, uterine height, physical examination (edema, etc.); laboratory tests, blood routine, urine routine; auxiliary examinations, pelvic measurement, pelvic internal examination, Doppler fetal heart rate. Experts remind: This is a routine examination plus pelvic measurement and pelvic internal examination. Pelvic measurement is mainly to detect whether the shape of the pelvis is abnormal and whether the diameters are large enough, so as to determine whether the fetus can be delivered smoothly through vaginal delivery.

7. The 8th prenatal checkup (34 weeks of pregnancy): The 8th prenatal checkup includes: physical examination, temperature, pulse, respiration, blood pressure, weight, uterine height, physical examination (edema, etc.); laboratory tests, blood routine, urine routine, B-type hemolytic streptococcus culture; auxiliary examinations, obstetric color Doppler ultrasound, pelvic measurement, pelvic internal examination, Doppler fetal heart rate. Experts remind: In addition to routine examinations, pelvic monitoring and pelvic internal examinations can also be performed this time. The special examination is the B-type hemolytic streptococcus culture. B-streptococcus has no effect on adults, but it may infect the fetus, especially the fetus delivered by normal delivery, with B-streptococcus pneumonia and sepsis when passing through the birth canal.

8. The 9th prenatal checkup (36 weeks of pregnancy): The 9th prenatal checkup includes: physical examination, temperature, pulse, respiration, blood pressure, weight, uterine height, physical examination (edema, etc.); laboratory tests, blood routine, urine routine, liver function, kidney function, HIV; auxiliary examinations, fetal heart monitoring, Doppler listening to the fetal heart. Experts remind: In addition to routine examinations, there will also be liver function, kidney function, HIV tests.

9. The 10th prenatal checkup (37 weeks of pregnancy): The 10th prenatal checkup includes: physical examination, body temperature, pulse, respiration, blood pressure, weight, uterine height, physical examination (edema, etc.); laboratory tests, blood routine, auxiliary examinations, obstetric color Doppler ultrasound, fetal heart monitoring, Doppler fetal heart rate, prenatal identification (pelvic measurement). Experts remind: In addition to routine examinations, the most important one is prenatal identification (pelvic measurement). The size and shape of the pelvis play a decisive role in whether the delivery is smooth or not. If the size and shape of the pelvis are abnormal and not suitable for the fetus, the fetus will be blocked from descending, which may lead to dystocia. For this reason, the pelvis must be measured during the prenatal checkup.

10. 11th to 13th prenatal check-ups (38-40 weeks of pregnancy): The last three prenatal check-ups include: physical examination, temperature, pulse, respiration, blood pressure, weight, uterine height, physical examination (edema, etc.); laboratory tests, blood routine, auxiliary examinations, fetal heart monitoring, Doppler fetal heart listening. Experts remind: In addition to some routine examinations, the most important thing in the last three prenatal check-ups is fetal heart monitoring to ensure the safety of the baby and the mother.

The significance of prenatal examination

Prenatal examinations can detect certain diseases in the pregnant woman's body. If these diseases are not suitable for pregnancy, artificial abortion can be performed in time.

Through regular check-ups, we can understand the development of the fetus and the physiological changes of the mother. If any abnormality is found, early treatment can be provided.

Through prenatal examinations, you can obtain knowledge from your doctor about physiological hygiene, life and nutrition during pregnancy, understand the issues that should be paid attention to before and after delivery, and the common sense of normal delivery.

Through systematic examination, it is possible to predict whether there will be difficulties during delivery and decide the method and place of delivery, thereby reducing the risks during or after delivery and ensuring childbirth safety.