A while ago, a doctor frantically complained on social platforms: a pregnant woman was pregnant in October without a single prenatal examination, and went to the hospital to ask for delivery after term, and as a result, it was found that the pregnant woman was not pregnant at all, but "pregnant" with a tumor!
Brushing this matter, I chuckled in my heart: In the 21st century, there are still people who are ignorant to this point?
Prenatal examination can effectively protect the life safety of pregnant women and fetuses, avoid birth defects and improve the quality of newborns. But after joining several groups of pregnant women, I found that some pregnant women have voiced their opposition to prenatal checkups, and they reject prenatal checkups for various reasons: long queues, high costs, fear of radiation, fear of risks...
◎ Zhihu on "How do you think of pregnant mothers who do not go to pregnancy tests and prenatal examinations?" ". / Network screenshot
Because of missing the prenatal examination, some people are pregnant with "molar pregnancy", some have a large month fetus stop without knowing it, and some give birth to defective babies, resulting in a lifetime of tragedy.
In 2023, why do people still reject prenatal examination?
Before a new life is born, it needs to go through a process of "breaking through". Some people think that as long as they successfully conceive and escape an accidental miscarriage, the baby will be safe, but they often overlook one level, that is, birth defects.
Nowadays, with the implementation of the national policy to encourage fertility and the increase of advanced maternal age, more and more people may be stuck in the "birth defect" barrier.
01
Every 30 seconds, a defective child is born
The so-called birth defect refers to the body structure, function or metabolic abnormalities that occur in the mother before the birth of the fetus, which is the main cause of infant death and disability in mainland China. At least 8,000 birth defects are known, including congenital heart disease, polydactyly, cleft lip, neural tube defects, Down syndrome, etc.
◎ The incidence of perinatal birth defects is in order (1/10,000). / Report on the Prevention and Treatment of Birth Defects in China (2012)
According to the "China Birth Defects Prevention and Control Report (2012)" data, the total incidence of birth defects in the mainland is about 5.6%, based on the national annual number of births of 16 million, 900,000 new birth defects every year, equivalent to the birth of a defective child every 30 seconds.
◎ Changes in the national infant mortality rate and the composition of causes of death from birth defects from 2000 to 2011. / Report on the Prevention and Treatment of Birth Defects in China (2012)
Birth defects have caused a heavy economic burden on China, and at the same time have brought great mental pressure and pain to families. In this context, the mainland has adopted "three levels" of preventive measures to reduce birth defects: Level 1 refers to premarital and pre-pregnancy eugenic health examinations; Level II refers to prenatal screening, prenatal diagnosis, maternal health care; The third level is neonatal disease screening and systematic care for children.
Relatively speaking, secondary prevention is the most core, focusing on two words - prenatal examination. Prenatal examination has many benefits, it can detect problems of pregnant women and fetuses as soon as possible, reduce the occurrence of adverse pregnancy conditions, and ensure the safety of mother and baby. But despite this, many people still scoff at prenatal checkups.
02
What is the reason for pregnant women who do not go to the prenatal checkup?
"People who used to get pregnant did not go to the prenatal examination and did not give birth to healthy dolls."
"Hospitals are all cheating money, deliberately exaggerating, and making people pay more for examinations."
"It's the same whether the prenatal examination is done or not, if it is found that there is a problem with the child, what should it be lost? Since you want to give birth, it is better not to check. ”
In reality, we have found that no matter what the economic income and education level of expectant mothers, there will always be a small group that can find thousands of reasons to deny the value of prenatal examination.
Xiaomei, who was 20 weeks pregnant, went to the hospital for three-dimensional ultrasound of deformity, and she complained in the group of pregnant mothers:
"I came to the hospital at 8 o'clock in the morning, waited in the ultrasound room for 2 hours, and when the test results came out, it was noon, and it took another 2 hours to register and read the report to the doctor in the afternoon, from morning to afternoon, wearing a mask, my whole body collapsed."
◎ With the improvement of the epidemic situation in the mainland, there are long queues at the entrance of obstetrics and gynecology departments in many hospitals. / Station Cool Hero PLUS
During the prenatal examination, excessive time and energy consumption can dissuade many pregnant women.
After a woman becomes pregnant, she usually needs to "file" and "set up" in the hospital first, and then undergo a prenatal examination in the designated hospital. And to do a routine prenatal examination need to go through the complex process of "registration - registration / waiting for call - consultation - billing - payment - appointment - acceptance of prenatal examination - registration - doctor to see the result", each link pregnant women have to spend in waiting, some even spend a whole day in the hospital, resulting in pregnant women complaining.
Compared with the "inefficiency" of prenatal examination, many pregnant women are more afraid of the uncertainty of prenatal examination.
◎ In the face of every maternity examination, many expectant mothers are more apprehensive. / Station Cool Hero PLUS
The moment Sugar Candy, who was 24 weeks pregnant, got the B-ultrasound result, she sat in the hospital and cried: the fetal tricuspid valve closed with a reflux signal, the doctor suspected that the fetal heart was not developing well, let her supplement more protein, and rechecked at 28 weeks.
For pregnant women, hearing the doctor say "no problem" after each examination is the greatest comfort, but there are also many pregnant women who are worried because of the words "fetal heart bright spot, posterior cranial widening, short limbs, high risk of eclampsia, and high risk of Down children" in the examination list.
◎ When fetal heart rate monitoring is started in the third trimester, fetal heart rate monitoring often fails. / Station Cool Hero PLUS
A pregnant woman diagnosed with gestational diabetes said: "The doctor asked me to do a fetal heart ultrasound 28 weeks ago, but I chose not to do it, otherwise the problem cannot be solved, and the doctor cannot guarantee anything, which will make me very anxious." ”
It is true that pregnant women are suddenly pulled into a completely unfamiliar environment full of medical terms, and undergo all kinds of "bizarre" examinations. Due to the complexity of the human body and the uncertainty of medicine, the inability to diagnose, explain the cause, and unable to intervene medically often occurs in the prenatal examination, and the examination data of pregnant women are usually considered "normal" in the range range, and once the value deviates from the range, it will undoubtedly breed anxiety, helplessness, anxiety and even fear.
◎ When pregnant women pay attention to maternity software for a long time and see the bad news inside, the psychological burden is heavier. / Station Cool Hero PLUS
"When it comes to risks, the doctor will let me weigh it myself, so what is the point of my prenatal examination?" Some pregnant women will simply give up prenatal check-ups in order to "escape" uncertain risks.
There are various reasons for not doing prenatal checkups, and some pregnant women will refuse prenatal checkups because of financial problems and leave problems, and then go to the hospital to give birth when they give birth, which can save some costs, time, and energy, but they may also pay a heavy price.
03
How important is every check-up?
Some netizens shared the real story he encountered: a 28-year-old female workshop worker suddenly fainted at work, and her husband bought test strips and found that she was pregnant.
The director specially let her go to the hospital for half a day off to draw blood for B ultrasound, but she came back after a while, she did not do B ultrasound, the reason was that B ultrasound was not good for the child, and for the blood drawing results "full of arrows", she did not care, did not consult, and did not re-examine.
A few months later, the female worker suddenly suffered heavy bleeding and went to the hospital and was diagnosed with "malignant molar pregnancy", a type of choriocarcinoma. Later, the people were gone.
◎ The vesicular tissue of molar pregnancy has exceeded the range of the uterine cavity, invaded the deep part of the myometrium or metastasized in other parts, which is called malignant molar pregnancy, also known as erosive molar pregnancy. / Station Cool Hero PLUS
There was also a pregnant woman who was suspected of being "high-risk" when doing "Tang screening", and the doctor recommended that she do a "sheep piercing" screening. But the pregnant woman gave up the prenatal examination program because she was worried that "sheep wearing" would hurt the baby, and she decided to "gamble" like other pregnant women, but after the baby was born, she was diagnosed as a Down's child, which brought endless pain to her and her family.
◎ Physical characteristics of children with Down syndrome. / Station Cool Hero PLUS
For pregnant women, prenatal check-ups are actually very necessary. Prenatal examination includes general examination, physical examination, auxiliary examination, etc. of pregnant women, and also includes monitoring of the baby's development, which is conducive to pregnant women to pass pregnancy and childbirth smoothly and safely, so as to effectively protect the life safety of mothers and fetuses and improve the quality of newborn birth.
The guidelines for pregnancy health care issued by the World Health Organization recommend 8 prenatal check-ups, while the mainland recommends 7-11 prenatal check-ups.
In the first trimester, that is, 1-3 months of pregnancy, you need to go to the hospital for prenatal examination in time to fully understand the physical condition, including B ultrasound, blood routine, urine routine, thyroid function, liver and kidney function, etc., to 11-13 weeks +6, NT (posterior zona pellucida) screening is also required to detect whether the fetus has malformations, screening for high-risk fetuses such as Down syndrome and congenital heart disease.
◎ NT examination can exclude large structural deformities that appear in the early stage, which can be called a small deformity investigation. The thicker the transparent layer of the neck, the greater the probability of fetal abnormalities. / Station Cool Hero PLUS
In the second trimester, 4-6 months of pregnancy, a second stage of Down screening is performed at 15-20 weeks. In 20-26 weeks, it is necessary to improve the system color ultrasound, fetal echocardiogram examination, that is, the so-called large deformity, fetal heart ultrasound, this examination can understand whether the fetus is malformed, fetal organ activity, and timely detect abnormal fetuses. Around 24-28 weeks of pregnancy, you will also need to be tested for gestational diabetes.
Entering the third trimester, that is, 7-9 months of pregnancy, you need to pay attention to fetal movement, and follow the doctor's advice for regular prenatal examination, usually once every two weeks or once a week, such as through fetal heart rate monitoring to assess the fetus in utero, through B ultrasound examination to observe placental maturity, placental position, amniotic fluid volume and other indicators, while observing whether the fetal development is in line with the gestational age time, to provide a basis for choosing a delivery method.
◎ Prenatal examination time reference. / Web Images
Nowadays, with the decline of fertility in modern society, the demand for a healthy child is constantly strengthening. For an unhealthy child, no parent will guarantee that they can fully accept, or completely free of psychological burden, and prenatal examination as a medical technology, its purpose is not to provide interventional treatment, but to screen unhealthy embryos and terminate them in time, thereby greatly reducing the birth rate of defective babies and maximizing the health benefits of families and even society.
Children are the most precious gift given by God, scientific pregnancy, active prevention of birth defects, eugenics and childbirth, is the best gift parents give their children.
Editor|Liao Yingyao
Editor|Liang Zhongming
Cover|Station Cool Hero PLUS