Pregnancy and Childbirth

Folic Acid

• reduces the risk of birth defects of the brain and spinal cord; referred to as the “neural tube”

• helps prevent a new mother from losing her own bone density as the fetus uses the mineral for bone growth

• helps both the mother and baby’s blood carry oxygen

• needed by most women to maintain adequate levels of these minerals

Calcium

• helps prevent a new mother from losing her own bone density as the fetus uses the mineral for bone growth

• helps both the mother and baby’s blood carry oxygen

• reduces the risk of birth defects of the brain and spinal cord; referred to as the “neural tube”

• needed by most women to maintain adequate levels of these minerals

Iron

• helps both the mother and baby’s blood carry oxygen

• helps prevent a new mother from losing her own bone density as the fetus uses the mineral for bone growth

• reduces the risk of birth defects of the brain and spinal cord; referred to as the “neural tube”

• needed by most women to maintain adequate levels of these minerals

Vitamin Supplement

• helps both the mother and baby’s blood carry oxygen

• needed by most women to maintain adequate levels of these minerals

• helps prevent a new mother from losing her own bone density as the fetus uses the mineral for bone growth

• reduces the risk of birth defects of the brain and spinal cord; referred to as the “neural tube”

Ultrasound

• uses high-frequency sound waves to form pictures of the fetus on a computer screen

• measures the levels of alpha-fetoprotein in the mother’s blood

• inserts a catheter or needle into the womb and extracts some of the chorionic villi (cells from the tissue which will become the placenta)

• examines the cells shed by the fetus into the surrounding amniotic fluid

Alpha-Fetoprotein Screening (AFP)

• uses high-frequency sound waves to form pictures of the fetus on a computer screen

• measures the levels of alpha-fetoprotein in the mother’s blood

• inserts a catheter or needle into the womb and extracts some of the chorionic villi (cells from the tissue which will become the placenta)

• examines the cells shed by the fetus into the surrounding amniotic fluid

Chorionic Villi Sampling (CVS)

• examines the cells shed by the fetus into the surrounding amniotic fluid

• uses high-frequency sound waves to form pictures of the fetus on a computer screen

• measures the levels of alpha-fetoprotein in the mother’s blood

• inserts a catheter or needle into the womb and extracts some of the chorionic villi (cells from the tissue which will become the placenta)

Amniocentesis

• examines the cells shed by the fetus into the surrounding amniotic fluid

• inserts a catheter or needle into the womb and extracts some of the chorionic villi (cells from the tissue which will become the placenta)

• measures the levels of alpha-fetoprotein in the mother’s blood

• uses high-frequency sound waves to form pictures of the fetus on a computer screen

age of viability

• Times from when a baby can survive if born early; possibly as early as 23 weeks, but 24-28 weeks improves chances

• fluid filled sac that surround the baby in the uterus

• Lower, narrow portion of the uterus that connects the uterus to the vagina or birth canal.

• Outermost membrane that surrounds the baby in the uterus.

amnion

• Fluid-filled sac that surround the baby in uterus

• lower, narrow portion of the uterus that connects the uterus to the vagina, or birth canal.

• outermost membrane that surrounds the baby in the uterus.

• Joining of the ovum and sperm cells.