How Genetic Testing Can Help An Anxious Mother-To-Be Handle Her Pregnancy
While giving birth is meant to be one of the most incredible experiences of a woman's life, not everybody feels excited early on in their pregnancy or even throughout their pregnancy. Some people who are chronically anxious or worried feel as if they cannot relax because they worry so intensely about all of the problems that could occur during the pregnancy or with the baby in general. Every mother has such qualms at some point, but those mothers who are chronically anxious may need further reassurances about their health and that of their child than others. Get to know how genetic testing can help with this and what you can do if you are such an anxious and worried mother.
Get Yourself Tested Prior To (Or During Pregnancy)
If you and your partner are planning to get pregnant and have some time prior to conception, you can get your own genetic testing done prior to beginning your pregnancy. You can use genetic testing to determine whether you are a carrier for certain diseases or conditions and genetic abnormalities.
For example, if you and your partner are Jewish by birth, there is a chance that you are a Tay-Sachs carrier. This is a recessive genetic disorder that is prevalent in Ashkenazi Jewish populations as well as among French Canadians and Cajun peoples to lesser extents. If both parents are carriers they will have a high chance of passing this disorder on to their children as carriers and a one in four chance of having a child affected by the disorder. Those who are affected will not survive. However, carriers will be healthy.
Other genetic testing can be done for carrying the genetic predisposition for early onset Alzheimer's as well as other disorders and conditions. Getting yourself and your partner tested can reduce your anxieties when you do become pregnant or while you are pregnant.
In-Utero Genetic Testing
There are also tests that you can perform on your unborn child while you are pregnant to ensure their general health and to determine if they are affected by certain conditions. Amniocentesis and CVS (chorionic villus sampling) procedures are the tests used on a fetus to check for issues while pregnant.
Such testing can identify issues such as Down's Syndrome and other chromosomal disorders and abnormalities. If you find that you are a carrier for specific health conditions, an amniocentesis can be used to analyze whether or not those have been passed on to your child.
Based on the test results, you can make important decisions about your pregnancy, and prepare yourself and your home if you have a child on the way with special needs. This knowledge can and will help to alleviate some of your anxiety and therefore some of the uncertainty around your pregnancy.
Now that you know more about how genetic testing can help you if you are an anxious mother-to-be, you can go forward in your pregnancy feeling calmer and more secure. Visit Courtagen Life Sciences for more information about genetic testing.
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