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A maternal fetal medicine
specialist is an obstetrician
gynecologist who specializes
in high risk obstetrics.
We take care of pregnant women
from the time they decide
to become pregnant, if they
have any medical complications,
they wanna optimize
prior to the pregnancy.
We take care of patients during
pregnancy, especially if they
have any medical or
surgical complications.
And then we'll take care of
any problems that arise during
delivery or
immediately after delivery.
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A maternal fetal medicine
specialist is an obstetrician
gynecologist who then does an
extra three years of training to
learn the high risk medical and
surgical complications
of pregnancy
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A general OB/GYN takes care
of routine pregnancies.
They take care of
the pregnancy itself, and
then they take care
of the delivery.
When an issue arises
during pregnancy,
whether it be immediately
prior to become pregnant,
whether it happens during
the pregnancy itself or
if some problem arises
during the delivery,
a maternal fetal medicine
specialist is usually consulted.
We're also consulted
when the baby,
has an anomaly that's detected
or a problem that's detected,
we get called in at that stage
also to help manage the care
of the pregnancy and the care of
the delivery of that pregnancy.
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It depends on
the healthcare system.
Normally, an obstetrician
will refer a patient in to
see a maternal fetal medicine
specialist when an issue arises
during the pregnancy.
However, occasionally,
a patient will self-refer in,
particularly if they've been
followed by a maternal fetal
medicine specialist
in a prior pregnancy.
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A maternal fetal medical
specialist, a perinatologist,
a high risk obstetrician
are all one in the same.
All high risk obstetrician
are board certified in maternal
fetal medicine.
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A maternal fetal medicine
specialist treats a wide gamut
of pregnancies.
We start with any fetal
complications that arise,
such as when we're
doing an ultrasound and
we find a cardiac anomaly.
A maternal fetal medicine
specialist is involved in
the care of
the continuing pregnancy,
and also planning for delivery.
We also take care of a mother,
whether she had medical issues
prior to pregnancy such as
diabetes or hypertension or
medical problems that may
arise during the pregnancy.
A maternal fetal medicine
specialist is often consulted.
Finally, we take care of
problems that arise at delivery,
whether it be a problem with
bleeding at delivery or
a complicated cesarean delivery.
A maternal field medical
specialist is consulted.
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A maternal fetal medicine
specialist is consulted at any
time that an issue
arises during pregnancy.
We see patients prior to
them becoming pregnant so
we can optimize
their medical care.
We'll see a patient anytime
during the pregnancy that
the general obstetrician is
concerned or we'll see them only
at the time of delivery just
depending on the issue.
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A maternal fetal medicine
specialist performs a wide
variety of tests and procedures.
The majority of maternal
fetal medicine doctors
do prenatal diagnosis and
ultrasound, starting from basic
ultrasound on up to very high
level targeted ultrasounds, and
fetal echocardiography.
We also do prenatal diagnosis
where we do different tests and
procedures to help
determine if there's any
anomalies in the baby
that we can detect.
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It depends on the situation.
Most of the time,
a maternal fetal medicine
specialist will consult,
will develop a plan of care with
patient and her obstetrician,
and then a patient would return
to their obstetrician for
their anaenatal care and
for their delivery.
Occasionally, a maternal fetal
medicine specialist will be
asked to take over the care of
a patient or assume the care
of a patient at the request of
an obstetrician if the situation
arises that they need a higher
level of continuous care.
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