This book serves as a guide to a comprehensive range of diagnostic screenings and tests used during pregnancy. It links routine antenatal care with specialist investigations, describing when follow up is required and how to interpret the results. Designed for ease of reference, this resource helps midwives make informed, evidence-based clinical decisions. It also provides guidance about how best to discuss sensitive issues with mothers and how to provide support to parents receiving bad news. This book is an essential resource for midwives and other health professionals involved in delivering antenatal care to women and their families. Expert contributors ensure that the information is reliable and up-to-date, and the easy-to-use format guides practitioners through each procedure, interpretation of results, and appropriate interventions.
1. The Development of Fetal Investigations
2. Historical and Sociological Perspectives
3. Involving Parents: Information and Informed Decisions
4. Pregnancy Loss, Breaking Bad News and Supporting Parents
Section Two: Maternal Investigations
5. Haematology in Pregnancy
6. Maternal Disease in Pregnancy
7. Infections in Pregnancy
Section Three: Fetal Investigations
8. First Trimester Ultrasound Scans
9. The Second Trimester Detailed Anomaly Scan
10. Biochemical Markers in Downe?s Syndrome Chromosomal and Genetic Testing
11. Assessment of Fetal Wellbeing
Section Four: Ongoing Developments
12. Antenatal Investigations for the Future