Preconception Check-up Important For Parents

BABOKI KAYAWE
Staff Writer | Friday May 14, 2010 00:00

This action not only shows parental responsibility but helps in ensuring a healthy pregnancy. In most instances, women do not realise they are pregnant until after the first crucial weeks have passed. When Kedi Pelontle, a mother of a 13 months-old baby boy fell pregnant last year she had not sat down to think about it.

'It just happened,' she says.

Though she never went for a preconception check up, Pelontle says the importance of that can never be undermined. She says she has learnt from her previous pregnancy that she lacked the necessary preparations, besides getting to know diseases that one might have.'It is a good move as you can ensure that the foetus develops in a conducive environment,' she says.

A preconception check up basically is discussing one's own and or the partner's lifestyle habits and general state of health as well as any potential risk factors that may affect chances of conceiving and carrying a healthy pregnancy. In an interview with The Monitor, Dr. Kathrin Eichler; a specialist in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Gynae & Care Clinic in Gaborone, says it is crucial for a woman who plans to bring a new life to undergo this phase as it involves medical check-ups for diseases that could bring about defects such as cervical, breast cancer and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) like HIV and AIDS and syphilis that can damage the embryo or can be passed onto the baby. She advised that the check up be done annually, but in case it was not done, women should not dismiss it. 

'These are harmful to the embryo, for instance if a woman falls pregnant only to discover that she has cervical cancer.  It is harmful to her and the unborn baby in the sense that she can bleed to death,' Eichler says.

She says the check-up could help them decide how best to treat the diseases (in cases of those that can be treated) in order to give room to a healthy pregnancy. In addition, Eichler says women should consult obstetricians so that they can help them know; depending on their menstrual cycle when it is best to stop contraceptives. 

She further adds that folic acid is one of the most important necessities that can prevent serious birth defects. Eichler says it is essential to get enough every day, especially before conception and during the early pregnancy. 'It is advisable for a woman to take 400 micrograms daily before conception and during early pregnancy to reduce chances of spina bifida or open spine,' she says.

This is a neural tube defect that involves incomplete development of the lower or upper part of the spinal cord or the brain. Depending on the severity, Eichler says the condition can lead to paralyses of the baby or it can die in the uterus.

'The most common neural tube defects are spina bifida (an incomplete closure of the spinal cord and spinal column), anencephaly (severe underdevelopment of the brain), and encephalocele (when brain tissue protrudes out to the skin from an abnormal opening in the skull),' reads KidsHealth online.

Furthermore, it says all of these defects occur during the first 28 days of pregnancy, which is usually before a woman even knows she is pregnant. Hence, it is important for all women of childbearing age to get enough folic acid, not just those who are planning to become pregnant.

'Only 50 percent of pregnancies are planned, so any woman who could become pregnant should make sure she is getting enough folic acid - found mostly in leafy green vegetables like kale and spinach, orange juice, and enriched grains,' says Eichler.

Besides diseases and making sure that one gets enough folic acid before conceiving, Eichler says it is advisable for partners to engage in healthy lifestyles. She said they should stop smoking and drinking and eat healthy so that the woman's body weight can accommodate the developing baby.

'She shouldn't be underweight or overweight,' she says.

She further says the check-up (preconception) can also examine the partners' medical history and genetic diseases.

'Issues of genetically inherited diseases are low though,' she says. 

Eichler encourages women to take responsibility for their children through undertaking planned pregnancies, which entails preconception check-ups most notably by people with a history of birth defects or an underlying medical condition.