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Antenatal Care in Normal Pregnancy

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Antenatal care is the ongoing assessment of a mother and fetus during pregnancy, for the purpose of obtaining the best possible outcome for the mother and child. Throughout the antenatal period a midwife can monitor the progress of the pregnancy which will enable her to support both the maternal and fetal health and development.
In 2003 the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), published the original Antenatal Care Guideline.
The aim of the guideline was to “Offer information on best practice for baseline clinical care of pregnancies and comprehensive information on the antenatal care of the healthy woman with an uncomplicated singleton pregnancy.” NICE (2008)
By following this guideline, a midwife can ensure that she …show more content…

The pattern of antenatal care can vary greatly between trusts and although the World Health Organisation (WHO) have taken an extremely proactive approach with regards to the schedule of care that should be given, several trials have been carried out and according to Villar et al (2008), maternal satisfaction is greatly diminished when there contact with health professionals, especially there midwives is broken or changed. It is currently recommended that primiparous low-risk women like Rebecca, should receive 10 antenatal appointments and multiparous should receive seven. NICE (2008). A Cochrane review of studies conducted throughout the world suggests that 4 prenatal visits is the minimum for low-risk women Villar et al (2008).
Rebecca was keen to have a very natural pregnancy and labour and although she was nervous she suggested a home birth which was discussed at length. Rachael made every attempt to go through all options available before Rebecca made a decision as suggested by the Department of Health (2007:2009) who stated that ‘“all women should have the choice in where and how they have their baby’’. A home birth is not always best for all pregnancies as identified by Leighton & Halpern (2002) who state that many first pregnancy women wish to have an epidural and home birth midwives have limited resources in administering pharmacological pain relief.
Rebecca was debating on whether or

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