Two important things in your prenatal period are your baby's health, and your baby's size. An important indicator of the baby's health can be ascertained though an ultrasound where they take a wand, and put some jelly on your stomach, and use ultrasonic waves that are able to measure all areas of your baby – from arms, legs, heart, and brain. That usually occurs at twenty weeks. If you have any concerns about that ultrasound, or later in your pregnancy, do not be afraid to ask your OB to repeat it later during your pregnancy. The second, obviously, is your baby's size, and the reason that's important is if your baby gets too large you can have an increased risk of complications during delivery. An easy way to keep track of your baby's size is what's called fundal height. That is a measurement of your uterus that you will see the doctor or nurse do during the first visit; and each visit thereafter, they will take a tape measurer and measure the size of your stomach. It is supposed to correspond with the number of weeks that you're pregnant. For example, if you're twenty-five weeks pregnant, your fundal height should by twenty-five centimeters. If your fundal height becomes too large, you need to raise a concern that your baby also may be too large. Those are two very key areas, ultrasound and fundal height, to keep checking throughout your prenatal period. Related Articles:
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