Answer questions about pregnancy and childbirth

The most appropriate time to go to a hospital is when the contractions of the uterus cause pain every 10 minutes, each episode lasts about 15 to 20 seconds, if it is the first child. If you have a baby, you should go to the hospital as soon as you have a contraction.

Should have a full pregnancy checkup.(Photo: Yu4you)

Obstetrician, Jean Claude Tissot, Vietnamese French Hospital Hanoi, answers some common questions of pregnant women:

- What should be done during antenatal care visits?

- In the first visit (3 weeks after menstrual delay), the woman has her first ultrasound to confirm the developing pregnancy and compulsory blood tests. For the second time, about a month later, the doctor also performed an ultrasound to accurately determine the date of conception, confirm the development of the pregnancy, measure the thickness of the neck to check for Down syndrome. Mid-term visits are usually only follow-up, tetanus vaccination.

At the 36-week visit, in addition to monitoring, vaginal discharge testing should be performed for strepto B bacteria, giving a prognosis of birth methods. From the 38th week, additional tests may be performed such as ultrasound monitoring of amniotic fluid, fetus, placental condition .

- What complications can happen?

- It is vaginal bleeding, placenta, frontal vegetable, cervical infection, urinary tract infection, uterine and menstrual contractions, hypertension accompanied by edema and albuminuria (danger hematoma after each other and eclampsia, stillbirth. Too much weight gain and gestational diabetes are also dangerous. If these complications occur, women have to do more tests and sometimes have to be hospitalized for follow-up, or more at a different specialty such as cardiology, endocrinology.

- What are signs of labor?

- There are two possibilities: Occurrence of uterine contractions causes pain and rupture of the amniotic fluid (may not cause abdominal pain). At this time, need to go to the hospital immediately. The medical staff will monitor the opening of the cervix, the level of the end of the fetus. This process can last from 1 to 12 hours, followed by a period of push when the cervix has completely erased and the baby's head is lowered below the vagina, which takes about 5-20 minutes.

- When do you need emergency surgery?

- Need caesarean section when fetal heart failure, cervix does not open, or dilate the cervix completely without head fall. Cases of opaque amniotic fluid, mother's fever, high bleeding due to low sticking vegetables also need surgery to get pregnant.

- Which cases need surgery according to plan?

- The doctor will schedule the operation if the expected date of birth is exceeded, no birth can be performed, or the fetus is in the buttock, horizontal position. The following cases also need surgery according to the predetermined plan: Large pregnancy / narrow pelvis; Before pregnant women have had cervical surgeries, cervical tip; vegetable strikers; severe diabetes; have cardiovascular or metabolic disease; a history of caesarean section or surgery to remove uterine fibroids.