When does prenatal care refer to

The time range of prenatal care generally recognized in clinical practice is from the confirmation of normal intrauterine pregnancy to the entire period before the mother officially goes into labor, which is covered by prenatal care. However, the medical system in some areas will set the starting point of prenatal care after the formal establishment of the 12th week of pregnancy. This is mainly because in the early years when medical resources were relatively tight and routine prenatal check-up items were not popularized in early pregnancy, this cognitive habit was formed. This kind of classification is rarely used now.

Last week, when I was attending a community obstetrics clinic, I met a pregnant woman who had just turned 6 weeks old. She came in in a panic, clutching her newly issued B-ultrasound sheet. She said that she didn’t know she was pregnant a few days ago and had gone to a disco. After drinking two glasses of iced Americano, she asked if she should start prenatal care now or wait until the registration is established in two months. I told her at that time, in fact, from the moment your B-ultrasound confirms that the baby is growing well in the womb, you need to pay attention to dietary taboos, adjustment of work and rest, folic acid supplementation, avoidance of exposure to toxic and harmful environments such as formaldehyde and radiation, and even whether to adjust your commuting style and work intensity, and to come to the hospital in time if any abnormality occurs. These are all part of prenatal care. If you wait until 12 weeks to set up the file to pay attention, many risks that should be avoided will have been avoided long ago.

Many people think that prenatal care ends on the day of the expected delivery. In fact, this is not the case. Even if you have not started labor after 40 weeks, the weekly fetal heart rate monitoring, exercise guidance from the doctor, and oxytocin assessment are all part of prenatal care. Only when you have clear labor signals such as regular uterine contractions every 5-6 minutes, redness, or water rupture, and officially enter the labor process, will the direction of care switch to intrapartum care. It's actually a bit like growing small tomatoes. From the day you plant the seedlings with healthy roots into the flowerpot, the water you pour, the fertilizer you apply, and the sunlight you provide are all maintenance before the fruit is born. You don't have to wait until it grows to a certain height, until you see the embryonic form of the small fruit emerge and start to expand. These previous operations are considered early stage management and care, and the logic of prenatal care is exactly the same.