It isn’t easy being a pregnant woman, even if your pregnancy is going relatively smoothly. The information available on the internet can help ease pregnancy worries, or just as easily they can send you spinning into a frantic panic. So, with all of this conflicting information just a click of a button away, how is technology useful in pregnancy and why does it make the process a lot smarter?
Online forums are something expecting mothers can not live without. It gives pregnant women a community and an opportunity to talk about real-life struggles with one another. This is much more comforting than discussing these issues with a DR that is for sure.
Technology makes pregnancy smarter when it comes to the mother’s mental health, as well as scientifically from a medical perspective. Here are a few examples of both;
Mothers Mental Health
1. Forums and Chat Rooms
As we mentioned above, online pregnancy chat rooms and forums bring together pregnant women from all backgrounds. It allows them to discuss freely whatever they wish, from emotional struggles to physical changes and even general chit-chat. This is massively helpful as not all pregnant women have friends or family members in the same boat.
2. Pregnancy Apps
Pregnancy apps are a great way of educating the mother on every stage of development that her baby is going through. Often, it is the unknown that frightens us, and being able to know exactly what is going on in your tummy through every stage is a reassuring feeling.
3. Online Information
Pregnant women are not allowed to eat anything and everything they like, unfortunately. Some foods can even cause harm to the growing baby. Being able to research instantly food an expecting mother can and can’t eat could be the difference between feeling unwell after a meal or avoiding the food group completely.
Likewise, women can research in their own time ‘facts’ that their friends have thrown about to see if it is an old wives tale or backed up with any scientific research. For example, Chinese women are told not to eat watermelon as it cools the body down too much. True or false, what do you think? Check out this page that talks about the effects of cinnamon on pregnant women, it’s an interesting read!
Technology in DR’s Appointments
1. Check For DNA Abnormalities
Through a simple blood test, a DR can see if the baby has any genetic abnormalities that need to be treated.
2. Parent Compatibility
Checking the mother and father’s blood can reveal if they are compatible with one another (scientifically). This is done when the parents have health issues in the family and calculates the chance of their baby inheriting a condition.
3. 4D Ultrasounds
Gone are the days that you have to wait for the baby to arrive to see what their gorgeous little face looks like!
4. Amniocentesis and Other High-Tech Checks
Amniotic fluid is extracted during amniocentesis and checked for underlying problems. This is usually only done to women over the age of 35.
