Answers To Pregnant Women's Queries on Pregnancy Doctor

Pregnant woman need health care in general and prenatal care in particular. Therefore, one must be careful while approaching a pregnancy doctor who can closely follow progress on various stages of pregnancy. The pregnancy expert should be able to guide the pregnant woman, who naturally has a nesting instinct, during different phases of pregnancy and fetal development.

1. Whom To Choose As A Pregnancy Doctor?

One can go in for an Obstetrician or a midwife to take care of the would-be-mother during and after pregnancy.

An Obstetrician provides medical and surgical care to women during pregnancy, childbirth and immediately after delivery. One can choose a gynecologist as well, provided he or she is also an obstetrician.

A qualified and certified midwife is a registered and trained nurse having adequate experience of providing care to women before, during and after pregnancy. Research shows that 80% of the women opt for Obstetricians.

2. How To Choose A Pregnancy Doctor?

The first and foremost factor is professional qualification, area of specialization, expertise, experience and reputation of the pregnancy doctor.

It is equally important to note that one's own experience with the doctor also matters a lot. The pregnant woman as well as her husband must feel comfortable with the pregnancy specialist.

Is the doctor is patient enough to listen to problems of his patients and solve them satisfactorily?

Finally yet importantly are the location and time availability of the doctor.

3. What To Expect During Visits To The Pregnancy Doctor?

The pregnancy doctor should be able to diagnose the pregnant woman, identify and discuss health problems that she is facing or is likely to, during the rest of the pregnancy.

The doctor must:

Provide blood and urine tests for infections, in preliminary stages

Determine weight gain, and hormonal changes throughout

Keep track of blood pressure on a regular basis

Check the status of the fetus

Check the woman's hands, feet and face for swelling

Advice on vitamin or calcium supplements that the mother needs for her and her newborn's health

Address doubts on pregnancy and delivery

4. How Often To Visit The Pregnancy Doctor?

For a safe or rather low-risk and normal pregnancy, visits to a pregnancy doctor should be as follows:

4 weeks- 7 months - Once in a month

7-9 months - Twice in a month

9 months- until childbirth - Once every week

A woman with a "high risk" pregnancy may need to see her prenatal care provider more frequently.

5. Various Fertility Treatment Options Available With A Pregnancy Doctor:

Infertility can be either due to the male or the female or both. In any of these situations, the fertility/pregnancy doctor ought to diagnose the couple. The treatment very often is quite simple, such as changes in lifestyle, medication or surgery. The lifestyle changes include weight loss, stopping smoking or coping better with stress at the workplace.
In other cases, the fertility specialist may recommend and provide infertility treatment for different fertility problems. The options include:

In-vitro fertilization (IVF) - It involves union of the sperm and embryo in a laboratory.

Intrauterine insemination (IUI) - It is an artificial insemination process, to artificially place the sperm in a woman's uterus.

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) - It is a fertility method to treat low sperm count in males.

So, with your questions to the doctor being answered satisfactorily, get ready to welcome your baby in a relaxed frame of mind.