Pregnancy for a woman is a special condition, it is now important to understand that the expectant mother is responsible not only for her life, but also for the life of the little creature that is inside her. Only she can take care of the baby like no one else. This does not relieve the responsibility of the father, but nevertheless, it is the mother who remains with the future newborn baby 24 hours a day. In order to have a complete picture of how the baby is developing and whether everything is in order, it is necessary to register with the antenatal clinic. It is there that a pregnant woman will receive recommendations about lifestyle, habits, behavior and so on. Before that, the pregnant woman did not know that the percentile is an important indicator, which is determined after the first ultrasound.
Surveys - Important Activities
Nobody initially taught the expectant mother how she should behave, since pregnancy often occurs suddenly, even if this event was planned. Therefore, it is important to strictly follow the recommendations of the obstetrician-gynecologist and take all the tests on time, undergo examinations. All these measures were not designed so that the pregnant woman would not be bored. These important examinations help in time to identify pathologies that will save the pregnancy, and to monitor whether the baby is developing normally.
Ultrasound during pregnancy
One of the most important and mandatory examinations is ultrasound diagnostics. According to the requirements of the Ministry of Health, every pregnant woman must make 3 ultrasounds for the entire period of an interesting situation. The first is carried out in the early stages - 12-14 weeks, the second - 20-24 weeks, the third - 30-32 weeks.
If the gynecologist has some doubts, then additional ultrasound may be performed as necessary. It is worth noting that the harmfulness of ultrasound for a child is not a scientifically confirmed fact. These myths are spread by those who are simply not interested in excluding the development of pathological phenomena.
Important ultrasound information
During the ultrasound in the early stages and in the third trimester, various factors are determined that indicate how correctly the fetus develops. Percentile is an indicator with which you can confirm the absence of genetic pathologies or their presence. If we talk about the first ultrasound examination, it is worth noting that this is a screening examination , which determines the following points:
- at this time, an ultrasound is performed in order to confirm a normal pregnancy and exclude an ectopic;
- real fetal dimensions are determined;
- a more accurate gestational age is determined;
- the state of the internal organs of the child and the genital organs of the mother is studied and analyzed;
- collar space is measured, percentiles of the weight of children are checked.
What is the collar space?
The collar space is the distance between the spine of the child and the inner extreme layer of his skin. This space is filled with liquid, it must be measured in order to determine how well the baby is developing in relation to his physique, that is, are his height and weight normal. This can be determined using special tables. With ultrasound, the distance is measured, after which the percentile indicator is checked - this is a value that is determined by the distance from the spine to the extreme layer of the skin of the child. If this indicator is in the range of normal sizes, then everything is fine, but if the identified indicator is outside the normal range, then you need to visit genetics. A pregnant woman is given a referral to a specialist who will prescribe additional examination methods in order to determine the cause of this indicator.
Percentages are ...
The percentile during pregnancy is determined by special tables, no special knowledge in the field of obstetrics or mathematics is required. When studying the collar space, an assessment of the cervical fold of the fetus is performed. An increased size may indicate that there is a chromosomal disorder, some pathology, in particular, Down's syndrome may turn out to be. In order to exclude or identify pathological changes, a number of studies are being carried out, such as a blood test for alpha-fetoprotein, chorionic gonadotropin and other invasive research methods.
What does the percentile of baby’s weight and height mean? This question can only be answered after you have the results of an ultrasound scan on hand. So, you have a distance from the spine of the fetus to its skin, take a table, look for your indicator in millimeters in it. The percentile is determined in the table - this is the indicator that interests you. If it is less than 3% or more than 97%, then you can’t avoid visiting a doctor.
Percentiles of the height and weight of the baby are also determined after his birth. There is a table by which, according to the age of the child, you can determine how many percentiles correspond to his height or weight. These are the simplest methods for analyzing the normal development of a child.