Blog post

Pregnancy during a pandemic can be quite an overwhelming experience. But with a little foresight, precautionary measures and support from family and the treating doctors, pregnancy can be managed in the healthiest manner. The utmost importance of a prenatal care regimen during pregnancy cannot be stressed enough. This is essential for the health of both the mother and the baby and to catch issues if any early on so prompt treatment can be started. Pregnancy can be a stressful period with all the hormones coursing through and hence prenatal appointments can to a great extent keep unnecessary worries at bay.

In the current COVID-19 scenario adhering to in -person doctor visits may not always be possible as it is advisable to keep people contact to a minimum except in emergency situations or if the pregnancy is a high-risk one. Virtual doctor appointments are always encouraged and this should happen as per schedule. But whenever the prenatal appointments are deemed necessary say for important prenatal scans, hospitals do go out of their way to ensure a safe visit for the patients with disinfection, staggered appointments and social distancing. But with the fear of a virus looming, we can’t always be too sure.

In the difficult circumstance that hospital visits cannot be possible for conducting the important prenatal blood tests or other tests there are quite a few things that the pregnant women can do in the comfort and privacy of their home. Various point of care devices can come to the rescue in such cases. These are easy to use, accurate, with quick results as well. Such point-of-care devices facilitates non-invasive screening of pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes and anaemia.

A glucose monitor can help to keep blood sugar levels in check especially if there has been a diagnosis or possible risk of gestational diabetes, a blood pressure cuff can help with checking the blood pressure, a handheld ultrasound foetal doppler monitor can help to monitor the baby’s heartbeat. These home tests can be performed during virtual doctor visits so the values of the tests can be shared with the doctor. A blood pressure cuff is a device that consists of an inflatable cuff, a measuring unit, and a mechanism for inflation which can be a manually operated bulb and valve or a pump operated electrically.

The woman can also monitor the baby’s movement by using “kick counts” from the 20^th week of pregnancy. This means recording the number of times the baby kicks, twists, and turns. Each roll, kick, punch, or twist counts as 1 foetal movement. The doctor can advise on the number of daily tests required to adequately monitor blood glucose levels as this is can vary depending on patient condition.

In the case of an IVF pregnancy, travelling to the doctor’s clinic for appointments can be risky during the Covid-19 outbreak. Choose a hospital with outreach services to make treatment more convenient and safer. Most hospitals can arrange for a teleconsultation or have a specialist examine at home.

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