What is prenatal care and why is it important?
June 20, 2008 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Women's Health
Prenatal care simply means care before labor and delivery. Whenever possible, this can begin before the pregnancy. Why? Because most women don’t know they’re pregnant until a good few weeks into it and that time is very essential to fetal growth and development.
But, reality is that most women don’t consider prenatal care and regular prenatal visits until they find out about their pregnancy; that’s the norm.
The MayoClinic.com has three good entries that describe what is involved in these prenatal visits, according to trimester:
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Prenatal care: What to expect during the first trimester
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Prenatal care: What to expect during the second trimester
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Prenatal care: What to expect during the third trimester
