Sometimes we have talked about how useful preconception visits are, but one thing is theory and another is practice. Because, although they are not usually done often, What do we find when we go to the doctor to tell him that we intend to get pregnant?
When we asked you the question of how essential these medical visits were if the woman suffers from a chronic illness, a reader told us that when she had told the doctors that she wanted to get pregnant, the answer was: "You know what needs to be do".
Well, yes, we already know that and you don't have to study a career for it. They could have already tried a little more to give importance to something that has it for the conception, health of the mother, the fetus and the development of pregnancy.
Despite all the usefulness that these visits could have, in practice very little is done, among the poor awareness of future parents and it seems that also some professionals ... not surprisingly.
The health situation in Spain is not enough to launch rockets and establish consultations that are out of the ordinary. But let's take advantage of gynecological checkups if we are thinking about having a baby, and hopefully be lucky with who attends us ...
And, in spite of everything, we are fortunate if we compare ourselves with other latitudes, with developing countries where medical care is difficult or none at any stage of life, with which there is more maternal and infant mortality.
Remember that the preconception query is useful for:
- Assess the general state of health and identify chronic diseases.
- Identify risk factors of the woman or her partner that can complicate pregnancy.
- Advise us healthy lifestyles so that the baby is born healthy: feeding, physical activity ...
- Detect if you have been exposed to certain infectious diseases like HIV, toxoplasmosis, hepatitis B ...
- Check the vaccination status, especially against rubella, as it is a disease that, if contracted in the first months of pregnancy, can cause abortions and significant changes in your baby.
- Advise dietary supplements with folic acid, iodine ... to prevent congenital malformations.
- Solve the possible doubts of women.
For all this, we would love that both in theory and in practice the preconception visits were valid and important. Perhaps when better winds blow in the economic landscape, this theme is emphasized ...
