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
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