What is Antenatal care?
The care provided by skilled health-care professionals to pregnant women and adolescent girls , and the purpose of this is to ensure the best health conditions for both mother and baby during pregnancy. ANC helps to identify risks in pregnancy and to manage pregnancy related diseases as well as educate prospective mothers on proper health practices during pregnancy.
So, when should you start antenatal care?
Antenatal care should start ONCE your pregnancy has been confirmed; and not later than 3 months after a positive pregnancy test.
What does it entail?
Antenatal care will have at least 8-10 visits. It could be more depending on the woman’s health needs
When newly registered for antenatal, you are expected to do some investigations. These investigations are baseline tests and they are routine (they would be referred to during the course of pregnancy in cases where the woman develops a health issue). The investigations/tests include (i) PCV (ii) VDRL for syphilis (iii) HIV (iv) Hepatitis B and C (v) Blood group (vi) Genotype
You will be seen at your next appointment after your first visit to review your test results.
Also, an early scan must be done. The purpose of this is to check if pregnancy is viable, it’s location & number of babies. Other scans will be done as needed.
Most pregnant women are seen once in 4 weeks till about 6 to 7 months, then once in two weeks up to 8 months & weekly till delivery.
Because malaria is endemic in this part of the world, pregnant women are supposed to get intermittent prevent treatment (IPT) for malaria and this is done from the second semester; at least 3 doses given at monthly intervals.
A patient also receives at least 2 dose of tetanus vaccination during pregnancy, usually at the first booking visit and then 4 weeks after.
Routine medications are also prescribed and provided during antenatal. They include Folic acid, Iron supplements, vitamin C. Besides these medications, pregnant women are encouraged to report promptly at the hospital when they notice something unusual, rather than self medicate.
Photo by Mustafa Omar on Unsplash
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