Re: a couple of early pregnany questions

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Often it begins earlier than this, but it is variable.

>
>2) What percentage of women have morning sickness? 50%? or more? or
>less?

I would say that at least 50% of women will experience some degree of "morning sickness". That may range from very mild "quesy" feelings, all the way to frank nausea and vomiting.

>
>3)what is the difference between a fetascope and a stethascope?

A true fetoscope is a scope that is inserted into the uterus to view the fetus directly. You really don't want that and it is primarily used in research protocols. Now some may refer to the doppler or specialized stethascope used for listening to the fetal heart rate as a fetascope. The differences here are that the doppler is an electronic device that is able to hear the fetal heart beat as early as 10-12 weeks of the pregnancy. A specialized stethascope can begin to hear the fetal heart beat at about 20 weeks of the pregnancy. Even a good stethascope can be used from this point forth.

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>4)what is the difference between a HCG test and a beta-HCG test?

Basically for practical purposes, the same thing.

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>5)Are women always given a lood test to confirm if they are pregnant or
>not?

It depends, I always insist upon a blood test if the patient is earlier than eight weeks gestation, presenting for her first OB visit and the only confirmation she has had is a home pregnancy test. The primary reason I do this is because at the first prenatal visit, I am going to order the standard prenatal labs, which run about $250 and most insurances don't pay for these. If a woman is not really pregnant, I hate to have her pay for all the prenatal labs. Better to be sure with a blood pregnancy test.

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>6)When is a woman considered high-risk in pregnancy?

Your asking a perinatalogist a loaded question. All pregnancies are high risk. Seriously, for a pregnancy to be high risk, there needs to be either pre-existing maternal health issues such as autoimmune disease, heart disease, diabetes, etc. or a problem that develops over the course of the pregnancy that requires specialized care... Lynn

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Lynn D. Montgomery, MD
Director, Maternal-Fetal Medicine
Rocky Mountain Perinatal Center
Missoula, Montana

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