Perinatal Center of Florida provides a number of different services. Please see the list below for more information.
Amniocentesis is a procedure used to sample the amniotic fluid around the baby while in the uterus. This procedure is typically done during or after the fifteenth week of pregnancy. Amniocentesis can be used to determine if the baby may have a problem with too many or too few chromosomes, to determine if the baby may have contracted a viral or bacterial infection, or, later in the pregnancy, to determine if the baby’s lungs are mature enough to deliver the baby.
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1st Trimester risk assessment testing is a combination of an ultrasound exam and a blood test to measure two chemicals normally present in the blood of all pregnant women.
Your doctor may send you to see a maternal-fetal medicine specialist for “a level II,” a “detailed,” or a “targeted” ultrasound even if they have already looked at your baby with ultrasound in their office. An ultrasound in one of our offices allows our doctors, who have had several additional years of training in ultrasound compared to general OB/GYNS, to use state-of-the-art equipment to look in more detail at your baby’s body, evaluate your baby’s growth, and assess the placenta and your uterus. This is not a 3-D or 4-D ultrasound, which are often used for keepsake pictures rather than for diagnostic purposes.
The term “high-risk pregnancy” is used to describe a pregnant woman who has one or more factors that may put her or her fetus at risk. It is important to recognize that the term “high-risk” is not meant to cause a woman and her partner to worry; rather it is a way to identify her situation so the gynecologist ensures she gets more specialized attention during her pregnancy.
Women who have had prior pregnancy losses with painless premature opening of the cervix and delivery during their second trimester may be diagnosed with “cervical insufficiency” or “cervical incompetence.” Women who have had prior cervical surgery for dysplasia (such as a LEEP or cone-biopsy) and women with a history of other cervical “trauma” (such as multiple D&Cs or cervical laceration during a prior pregnancy) may be at increased risk for cervical incompetence. Therapy can include supplementation with progesterone and vaginal cerclage. Vaginal cerclage involves placing a suture or “stitch” around the upper cervix in a purse-string fashion to provide additional cervical support and to decrease the risk of preterm birth. A vaginal cerclage is generally a day surgery procedure. The cerclage can be removed in the office around 36-37 weeks of pregnancy, and vaginal delivery can occur after cerclage removal.