I think I was googling more during my pregnancy than during any exam period in my life. Everything caused questions: what to do and not to do, what is obligatory and what I can skip, what to check and what to ignore.
My gynecologist was one of those people that kept me sane. Actually, her calm attitude and timely pieces of advice inspired me to go on with this new column - Ask a Professional. I’m going to ask the professionals from the perinatal sphere a variety of questions any expecting or new mom can ask, and I want to share the information I get with you.
So, please meet Shorena Gogokhia MD, obstetrician, gynecologist, and endocrinologist (Medical House, Gagua Clinic). Shorena studied in Tbilisi and Moscow, and attended trainings in Spain and Italy. She is fluent in Georgian, Russian and English, and you can be sure that you won’t get that judgemental attitude from her, whatever your problem is.
- Shorena, what are the most frequent issues you have to address in your job?
- I can single out several reasons why women most often come to a gynecologist. First of all, menstrual dysfunction - a delay of menstruation from one week to several months. It can occur in any age group. The second is the conception problem: if you lead a regular (unprotected) sexual life for about a year or more, and pregnancy does not occur.
In Georgia, people are worried about such things earlier. There is no tendency to postpone pregnancy until later, like in Europe, where women want to achieve something, put their career first, and then have children.
- What is the first question any pregnant woman asks you?
- The majority of women want to know whether the gender of the child can already be determined, whether it is possible to have sex or if it will harm the child, and when their baby will start to move.
- What do you advise those who are in the planning stage?
- While planning your pregnancy, it is necessary to start taking folic acid three months in advance and continue taking it for the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. Of course, giving up bad habits such as smoking and drinking alcohol is crucial. Switch to a healthier lifestyle as early as you can: be active and eat healthily. And also it is desirable to get general blood tests done. There is no single approved list of tests, but I always recommend a general blood test, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), and a smear for flora. HIV, hepatitis, and syphilis tests are also necessary.
- What needs to be checked, once you find out that you’re expecting?
- We observe pregnancy in accordance with all international pregnancy protocols. It’s recommended to take the first genetic screening (so-called double marker test) and the second genetic screening (triple-marker test). There is a more detailed test branded as Harmony Test, but unfortunately, it is very expensive.
During pregnancy, the following tests are must do:
HIV,
syphilis,
hepatitis,
vaginal swab for chlamydia, gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, and genital mycoplasma.
Blood type and Rh factor tests are also necessary if you have never done those.
You can check out IgG to toxoplasma / cytomegalovirus and herpes viruses in order to understand whether there was an encounter with these viruses before pregnancy. But in general, this is not necessary, since there is no specific prevention.
A glucose tolerance test is recommended for all pregnant women, because it is the ONLY method of diagnosing gestational diabetes, which can be ASSYMPTOMIC, and its complications are very serious - the smallest problem being the birth of a large child over 4.1 kg.
In the worst case, one may experience pre-eclampsia. Heavy forms of gestational diabetes might lead to fetal malformations and an increase in the size of the baby’s liver and heart… It all sounds very nasty, so please make sure you control your sugar intake and check up your sugar levels and glucose tolerance.
- Okay, let’s talk about something more light-weighted. Mind sharing some superstitions pregnant women usually face in Georgia?
- There are a lot of weird things women hear! Like, you can not sit with your legs crossed, otherwise, the child will be clubfoot. Or, you can not eat fish during pregnancy, or the baby will start talking late.
Also, some people scare pregnant women that they shouldn’t cut or dye their hair while pregnant, not to make a shellac manicure, so that the child does not receive harmful substances… However, the amount of really harmful things in modern treatments is not so big.
Ah yes, another superstition is that you can not sew and knit during pregnancy so that the baby won’t be wrapped around with the umbilical cord.
- Oh, that’s a real superstition! I’m not crafty at all, but my son had a lot of umbilical cord around his neck. Luckily, it didn’t do any harm…
So dear moms, if you feel like knitting something for your baby or changing your hair colour, go for it! Pregnancy is the period when you need to do everything to feel good.
And by the way, the sugar level management is not a joke - I had them higher than usual and had to regulate them. It took a lot of patience to keep abstinent from cakes, but during the last weeks, I thought that an occasional eclair or two won’t do any harm. The last weeks lasted longer than I thought, and Daniel’s birth weight was 4.2 kg. It was not the easiest task to push those eclairy cheeks out!
Stay healthy and keep in touch! Let me know if you are interested in certain pregnancy-related questions, and I’ll do my best to find and interview a professional in this sphere.
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