Conversations you shouldn’t wait to have with your provider


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Forty weeks might feel like a very long time right now, but it’s going to fly by. Conversations with your healthcare provider that can set you up for a healthy pregnancy are important to have early on. Here are a few topics to bring up.

Lifestyle adjustments

Whether you’re expecting your first, second, or seventh baby, it’s important to bear in mind that every pregnancy can impact your body differently. Whether you’re concerned about getting enough folic acid from your vegan diet or gaining a healthy amount of weight each trimester, your healthcare provider can help you establish diet and exercise plans that help you stay healthy during this pregnancy. This is especially important for people with specific dietary needs (e.g. vegetarians) and people with high intensity or nonexistent exercise routines.

If your work conditions require a significant physical exertion or exposure to potentially harmful substances, your healthcare provider can help you come up with a plan to work around some of these concerns. This could include writing a letter to your employer on your behalf or identifying which types of motion are not harmful to you and your baby.

Birth plan thought starters

During one of your first visits, it’s a great idea to meet the providers, midwives, and doulas associated with the practice in order to get a good sense of who you want to have involved in your delivery process. Bringing a birth plan template can give you and your provider a concrete framework for talking about your birth preferences.

While many of the choices, like who you want present at your baby’s birth, are personal, a lot of them are medical. Talking through fetal monitoring, pain relief options, and delivery positions can be a great way to start thinking about your birth plan with a professional.

Genetic testing

Because noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) can be performed as early as week 10, it’s worth bringing up with your provider at an early visit. This quick blood test screens strands of a baby’s DNA that float around in a pregnant mother’s blood. It’s an easy way to determine if a baby is at risk of having a genetic disorder.

Evolving pregnancy screening options such as NIPT offer early genetic screening for chromosomal conditions using just one tube of blood. Noninvasive prenatal testing provides high detection rates, low false-positive results, and no risk to mother and baby.1-4

To learn more about NIPT, tap the link below.


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Noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) is a screening test; it is not diagnostic. Results should be confirmed by diagnostic testing prior to making any pregnancy management decisions.


Sources

1 Practice Bulletin No. 163: Screening for Fetal Aneuploidy. Obstet Gynecol. 2016;127(5):979-981.

2 Gregg AR, Skotko BG, Benkendorf JL, et al. Noninvasive prenatal screening for fetal aneuploidy, 2016 update: a position statement of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics. Genet Med. 2016;18(10):1056-1065.

3 Bianchi DW, Parker RL, Wentworth J, et al. DNA sequencing versus standard prenatal aneuploidy screening. N Engl J Med. 2014;370(9):799-808.

4 Norton ME, Jacobsson B, Swamy GK, et al. Cell-free DNA analysis for noninvasive examination of trisomy. N Engl J Med. 2015;372(17):1589-1597.

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