First Visit

By: Anthony Andres

Pregnancy is a very long process. It must undergo tests and procedure to prevent dangerous complication upon delivering the baby. We must take a look back on how to care for women during pregnancy and what midwives can do to help these women.

All pregnant women undergo a routine Pap smear procedure. A Pap smear is usually a part of your first prenatal visit and it is a test carried out on a sample of cells from the cervix to check for abnormalities that may be indicative of cervical cancer. Women lie on their back with their feet in stirrups while a speculum is inserted into the vagina to give the practitioner a clear view of your cervix. The practitioner will rub a swab over the cervix, gathering cells, which are sent to a laboratory to be cultured and analyzed. One of the main reasons why pap smear is important for the first visited for women to know if they have sexual transmitted disease. Women are often unaware of being infected with sexually transmitted infections (STIs), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also recommends that all pregnant women be tested early in pregnancy for gonorrhea, chlamydia, trichomoniasis, hepatitis B, HIV, syphillis and human papillomavirus (a.k.a. HPV, the extremely common virus with certain strains that can cause genital warts or cervical cancer) at the first prenatal visit. In addition to a vaginal swab, a blood testwill also be necessary to diagnose some STIs. If abnormal cells are found during a routine Pap smear at the first prenatal visit, the practitioner may opt to perform a colposcopy (an exam where the practitioner takes a closer peek at your cervix), but biopsies or further procedures are usually delayed until after the baby is born.

If the test is positive for another STI, fortunately most are easy to safely treat even during pregnancy. If they do have a bacterial infection, such as gonorrhea or chlamydia, it will be treated with a pregnancy-safe antibiotic before giving birth, and the partner may also need to take antibiotics to avoid reinfecting the woman. Since HPV is a virus, it unfortunately doesn’t respond to antibiotics, and the vaccine available to prevent it is not recommended for use during pregnancy. If they have genital warts, the pregnancy may or may not cause an outbreak. If women do have an outbreak and the warts don’t seem to be clearing on their own, the practitioner can safely remove them with freezing, electrical heat or laser therapy. If they’re not impacting the pregnancy, he or she may want to wait until after the delivery to treat it. Warts very rarely affect the ability to have a vaginal delivery. And don’t worry — HPV transmission to babies is very low. However, there’s no risk associated with pap smear But there are definite risks to your baby, including eye infections and pneumonia, if you give birth while you have an undiagnosed, untreated STI.