Dealing with a high-risk pregnancy can take a toll on a woman’s physical, emotional, and mental health. Attempting to navigate all the prenatal testing, scans, checkups, and moments of worry can be incredibly difficult. For any woman dealing with a high-risk pregnancy, the essential thing to remember is that a lot of help and support is available. This support mainly takes the form of your personal healthcare team but can also be from family and friends.
Navigating a high-risk pregnancy takes time, planning, and guidance from your healthcare team. This is what you can expect.
What to expect from your doctors, nurses and midwives
From start to finish, a multidisciplinary medical team composed of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals will be onboard to help guide you through each step of your pregnancy. After meeting your team, routine follow-up appointments will likely be scheduled. Although different team members will attend various appointments, your pregnancy progress is charted in all your maternity notes, so all team members have a detailed understanding of what is going on with your pregnancy.
Prenatal appointments will involve in-depth discussions with your doctor about
- How you have been feeling since the last appointment
- If you have noticed any new symptoms or issues
It may also involve some tests, such as
- Blood tests
- Possible ultrasound or fetal testing of well-being
If you have a pre-existing medical issue such as a heart condition, seizure disorders, hypertension, diabetes, or other medical conditions
Suppose you have a severe pre-existing medical issue that has given cause to the high-risk pregnancy. In that case, this will be discussed in great detail with your OBGYN and possible referral to a maternal fetal medicine subspecialist. Depending on the issue, the specialist doctor might be a cardiologist, nephrologist (kidney specialist), maternal fetal medicine expert, or other doctor needed for your case.
The entire team will work with you to develop a safe pregnancy and plans for delivery. Those goals can take a lot of different shapes, but the idea is to help monitor the progression of your pregnancy. The plan will be particular to your own case and circumstances. It may include discussions around the following:
- Medications: If you are on medication for a particular condition, your doctor will review your medications at all prenatal checkups to ensure they work as expected.
- Specialty ultrasounds: Specialty ultrasounds are required in situations of increased risk. Detailed ultrasounds to look for anatomic or fetal abnormalities can be done in the first and second trimesters to help a patient understand or eliminate concerns. If needed, your doctors will discuss any special tests beforehand.
- Special precautions and healthy activities –Whether it is diet, exercise, or avoiding certain situations, your doctor will speak to you about any recommendations of things they think you should avoid, as well as some things that might be helpful. For example, they might recommend eating certain foods and engaging in low-intensity exercise. As above, this will depend on your own set of circumstances.
All pregnancies are unique, and a well-functioning women’s healthcare team aims to provide optimal outcomes for your family. The importance is finding situations with increased risk where planning, education, and interventions or care can favorably change the trajectory of pregnancy from at-risk to low risk. Be sure to ask your medical team questions when you have them, stay in touch, and find out if there are any extra steps you can take to help make your pregnancy as successful as possible.
