While pregnancy is a natural physiological process, certain mothers can experience additional risk factors which may make the pregnancy high-risk or complicated.
How do you test for a high-risk pregnancy?
There is no specific test for this. Most of the time, routine tests pick up abnormalities that may indicate further testing to diagnose the problem.
Routine tests performed by your healthcare provider include:
- A complete blood picture
- Urine analysis
- Thyroid function tests
- Oral glucose tolerance test or other tests for diabetes
- Routine ultrasound scans
If these test results aren’t within a standard range, your healthcare provider may ask you for additional testing.
Can you care for me with a high-risk pregnancy?
If you are currently carrying a high-risk pregnancy, the birth center might not be a good fit for the care you need since we are not set up to manage certain risks. Mothers with high-risk pregnancies are usually advised to deliver in a hospital setting that can provide urgent care for the mother and baby should the need arise.
However, once you have delivered your baby and you and your baby are doing well, we can help with after-birth care. We can provide postpartum care even for moms who had high-risk pregnancies.
Women can also return for annual exams and gynecological care as part of their routine well-woman care.
Are there ways to avoid pregnancy from becoming high-risk?
While most cases of high-risk pregnancies have no identifiable cause, so there are no definite precautions to avoid risks.
However, there are some things you can do to ensure that you have a healthy pregnancy:
- Avoid smoking completely
- Avoid alcohol
- Limit your caffeine intake
- Maintain a nutritious diet, avoid processed carbs
- Take your prenatal vitamins regularly
- Get regular prenatal checkups
If you have any questions about high-risk pregnancy or our care, give us a call at 480-565-5990 or send us a message!