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Show f ... reduce your chances of having a low birlhweight baby. The importance of Whatls Prenatal Care? care should Prenatal you second menstrual period, and consist of 10 to 14 medical visits during your pregnancy. Care also includes at least one visit for yourself six weeks after the birth of your baby. Most healthcare providers charge a set fee which includes all your prenatal visits and your birth and aftercare. Delaying care won't save money and may cost more in complications for you and your baby. You will be charged the same fee regardless of whether you start receiving care early or late in you pregnancy. One or two visits can cost the same amount as 14 visits. This fee can be covered by your medical insurance plan. If you are uninsured, this guide will provide you with some other ways to get the early prenatal care you and your baby need. Your baby should be seen by a doctor very soon after birth and at regular intervals until at least one year of age. Why Is Prenatal Care Important? health care within die Seeking months of your and receiving continuous care on a regular basis until you deliver your baby is the most important step you can take toward enhancing your unborn child's health. (Ideally, you should be taking good care of your health and seek health care before laming pregnant) When you receive prenatal care from either a doctor or a certified e you'! J screened for medical oonditions that might affect your pregnancy. Care will include routine procedures such as urine and blood tests, recording of your weight and blood pressure, feral heart tones, and uterine growth measurement Your health care provider will also ask you about your family health history, inform you about nutritional needs, risks to avoid and important choices youTl need to make. nurse-midwif- What Can Happen Without Prenatal Care? One good sign that your will be healthy is his her weight at birth. the problem of low birthweight was recognized by the Surgeon General of the United States in 1980, when he called for the reduction of the low birthweight rate as one of the major health objectives for the nation. There are two categories of low birthweight births which occur before the 38th week of pregnancy (the length of a pregnancy is forty weeks); and babies who are but are underweight full-ter- m full-ter- m Utah Statistics and Why We Should Care must all be concerned about the tragic and costly fact that we lose about one baby each day (under one We of age) in Utah. In 1985, Utah's infant mortality rate increased ram 9.1 to 9.8 deaths per 1,000 live births. In 1973, Utah's infant rnortality rate was the lowest in the nation. Between 1974 and 1984 the Utah infant rwrtality rate decreased 25 while the national rate decreased 36. In and 1984 Utah's infant mortality rate increased. In the ten year period between 1973 and 1983 the percentage of low binhweigk infants bom in Utah did not decline. Approximately 1982 2,00hw Urthweight infants are bom to families in Utah each year. There is an inherent risk of having a baby-fall births have a less than positive outcome. ow birthweight babies have more medical problems than babies of normal weight A low birthweight baby may have trouble breathing or experience other problems such as anemia and low body temperature. Bleeding in the brain is one of the most severe yet most common results of very L low birthweight Special life-savi- Low birlhweight (a baby weighing less than five and a half pounds at birth) is the major factor associated with the death of infants in the first year of life. In fact, low birthweight infants are two and a half times more likely to die before reaching one year of age. Studies show that equipment and highly trained staffs in intensive care nurseries care for low birthweight babies who otherwise might not survive. The emotional cost of delivering a less than healthy baby is devastating. The newborn intensive care units in Utah have an average cost of about adequate prenatal care can greatly $1500 ng to $1700 per baby per day. our percent of 8 Considering that the average length of stay is 20 days, one very ill infant can cost $24,000 to $250,000 or more. Compare that to the average cost of a normal delivery of a healthy child, $2,500 to $3,000. The importance our community places on assuring proper prenatal care for all women is justified because it decreases the likelihood of the very expensive low birthweight babies being born. The Government Accounting Office in a report by the Committee on Children, Youth and Families (1985) states that for every one dollar investment in prenatal care, $3.38 can be saved in the cost of care for low birthweight infants. |