Avoiding Birth of an Abnormal Baby
Ideally, every prospective mother should consult her doctor before becoming pregnant. But you must surely do it if the following circumstances exist in your case:
1. A close member of family has an abnormal at birth or where the baby has developed evidence of inherited (genetic) disorders like thalassemia, hemophilia (both blood disorder) and muscular dystrophy later in life.
2. Your previous baby had an abnormality as birth (e.g mongolism) or suffered from genetic disorder later.
3. You or another member of family is suffering from diabetes.
4. if you are suffering from epilepsy, high blood pressure, kidney disease, thyroid disorder, tuberculosis, syphilis or any other long standing disease or are receiving some long term drug treatment.
If there is family history of mongolism, thalassemia, or other genetic disorders on your side or that of your husband, your doctor will refer you to an expert in hereditary diseases for detailed checks. After thorough assessment, he will discuss with you and your husband the degree of risk of your baby being abnormal. This will enable you to take an enlightened, well considered decision about becoming pregnant. In the event of your going ahead with your pregnancy, your obstetrician will arrange some appropriate special checks (like amniocentesis, ultrasound, chronic villas biopsy and fetal blood examination) within the first few weeks for early detection of any abnormality in your baby.
Diabetic mother carry a high risk of their babies being born with congenital defects. Because the developmental defects in the baby largely occur at a very early stage of the diabetic mother’s pregnancy, it is important for her to ensure that her diabetes is well under control before she becomes pregnant.
High blood pressure, thyroid disorders, syphilis, epilepsy, tuberculosis and kidney disorders must also be adequately treated and kept under control, both before and during pregnancy. Safe drugs which are known to be harmless to the developing baby would be used.
Ideally, every mother should ensure that she is protected against German measles before becoming pregnant. If she develops this viral disease during first four months of her pregnancy, the causative virus may go across the placenta and damage the baby’s developing organs leading to birth abnormalities like heart defects, mental retardation, and deafness. Immunization with rubella vaccine or MMR vaccine (which contains rubella, measles and mumps) is therefore done in childhood to provide later protection against these potentially diseases.
A simple blood test will show whether your body possesses an adequate level of protective antibodies. If you are not human you should take doses of rubella vaccine to build up your immunity. In that case you would need to avoid pregnancy for a period of three months after you have received the vaccine to avoid any risks to your baby.
Also Read: What is Cord Blood?
