Each woman who has chosen to become a mother in Maternity Hospital “Saint Lazar” can count on her doctor 24/7. She can call him, whenever she feels it is necessary, or even request an examination at 3am. This is one of the extras, that we offer to our patients, who have chosen our package services”, says Dr Nikolov, the co-founder and one of the owners of Maternity Hospital “Saint Lazar”.
The doctor has specialized in the obstetrician clinic “Bodlock” in Paris, a part of the “Koushen” group, in “Saint Antoan” Hospital, as well as in other European clinics and institutes.
Contemporary pregnancy monitoring requires full examination from the very first day of the woman has found out she is expecting a baby. The good and adequate monitoring guarantees the lack of surprises, later during pregnancy or any unfavorable outcome. And he also added: Since the opening of the hospital (14 years now) and thanks to the appliance of full pregnancy monitoring package, we have not lost a baby, nor injured a woman, let alone a death case. This is the main reason why the future mother should start monitoring her pregnancy from the very beginning – 6th, 7th or 8th week after conception.
The heartbeat of the embryo is being established by using high-class ultrasound in the above mentioned period. This guarantees that the early pregnancy is vital. We, unlike many other professionals and colleagues from other hospitals, perform complete blood test. It includes form elements, complete biochemistry and a view that gives a lot of valuable information about the health of the woman before she got pregnant, this is the main output data, which will become a prerequisite for successful monitoring in the coming months, “said the specialist of ” Saint Lazar”.
He and his colleagues observe the fetus during the first trimester of the pregnancy (until the twelveth gestation week), with the help of one of the most advanced ulrasounds available at the moment they perform tests in order to detect severe chromozome and structure abnormalities. And thus preventing from malformative pregnancy (anomaly).
We also conduct an exam for malignancies in the first trimester. We have the ability to make tests regarding possible precancerous and cancerous state. Fortunately, these cases are very rare. We also monitor the gynecological status, which is a piece of the main picture, added Dr Nikolov.
During the 18th gestation week of the pregnancy, we, in “Saint Lazar”, perform a special test dedicated to the detection of any structural abnormalities of the fetus. This can happen thanks to 2D, 3D and 4D equipment, which later allows us to make medically informed decisions, if necessary. When the pregnancy is half way through, these is new portion of exams, in order to make sure it is runing normally. This is the time when all mistakes concerning the due date will be rejected. And when the patient has negative Rh we monitor her antibodies in order to reject the possibility of isoimmunization disease (development of antibodies in response to isoantigens).
According to the doctor, during the 20th-22nd week it is also very important to perform a complete check-up on the future mother.
At this point, we also recommend a consultation with internist doctor, something which our colleagues do not offer in the ambulatories and hospitals. The reason is simple, it is widely believed that this sort of consultation is necessary only if there is a previously diagnosed disease. “Here, however, the behavior is different, “said Dr. Nikolov. He explained that the internist can detect diseases that are not related to obstetrics and gynecology, but can accompanying pregnancy (such as diabetes, hypertension, etc.). But they should be monitored because otherwise they can worsen the pregnancy outcome, for both baby and mother”, said the specialist from “Saint Lazar “.
As of the 28th gestational week we start monitoring the baby’s heart rate. These tests give us a very good estimate for the state of the placenta, of the fetus, and the connection between placenta-mother, they also give information about tissue respiration of the fetus, how it is oxygenated, whether it gets sufficient nutrients for growth, etc.” The Doppler test is also performed on the large blood vessels of tha baby. Thus we get information with almost 100% certainty about the status of the baby. During the 33rd-34th gestational week once again we perform full medical check-up. “And during the last lunar month, we monitor the pregnancy weekly and at any time of the day”, concluded Dr Nikolov.