Prenatal

The word prenatal is anything occurring or existing before birth.  Prenatal care is the regular health care expecting mothers should receive during pregnancy from an obstetrician or midwife.  Prenatal development is the development and growth of a single-celled zygote formed by a sperm and an egg into a baby.

There are a variety of prenatal tests available to ensure the safest pregnancy possible.  Ultrasound tests bounce sound waves off of the fetus to form a visual image which can be used to check a variety of things including the dating of the pregnancy, development of the fetus, diagnosis of problems such as a tubal pregnancy or birth defects, diagnosis of multiple fetuses, determining the cause of bleeding during a pregnancy, and verification of the baby’s position before delivery.  Blood tests and glucose tests are also common prenatal tests.  Blood tests are generally done to test for abundant iron levels to ensure proper fetal development, but can also be used to test for exposure to diseases.  Glucose tests examine the level of glucose in the pregnant woman’s urine.  Unusually high levels of glucose could indicate the development of gestation intolerance or gestational diabetes.  Amniocentesis involves the analysis of the amniotic fluid to determine the presence of genetic abnormalities or rare inherited diseases, the condition and development of the fetus, as well as the sex of the fetus.  A long hollow needle inserted into the amniotic sac is used to withdraw the amniotic fluid.  Amniocentesis is a relatively safe prenatal test, but does carry the small risk of causing amniotic fluid to leak.  For this reason, amniocentesis is only preformed when needed. 

PreNatal Nutraceutical Products: Essential Seven