One of the best ways to ensure a healthy birth is to have a healthy pregnancy. With routine prenatal evaluations and appointments, women can significantly increase their changes of enjoying a healthy pregnancy and healthy childbirth experience. As Obstetricians and Certified Nurse Midwives, we are experienced in providing the best possible care for you and your baby throughout your pregnancy,
labor and delivery. The practice of obstetrics gives us at SunLife the privilege to be a part of one of the most significant events in a woman’s life and our extensive medical experience ensures that
we get the best results.
Our obstetrics team is also adept at managing difficult or high-risk pregnancies in coordination with a perinatologist and other specialist. We offer the best care for mothers who have medical conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, HIV, Hyperthyroidism, seizure disorders as well as obstetrical conditions such as cervical incompetence, twins or a prior history of preterm deliveries just to name a few.
Unlike many other medical offices in South Florida, our office performs blood draws and other testing in office for your convenience There are many test done at different points during the pregnancy to screen for medical, obstetrical and genetic disorders during a pregnancy. Many are routine and others are specific to a mothers underlying medical or obstetrical conditions.
First Visit- At your initial visit we will obtain your medical and prior obstetrical history as well as draw blood for our Hemoglobin level, Blood type and Rh status, immunization status for Rubella (German measles), presence of blood borne sexually transmitted infections (STI) such as HIV, Hepatitis B & C, Syphilis, a urine analysis and culture, Cystic Fibrosis screening, Sickle cell and other Genetic screening when indicted
Second Visit- We will discuss the results of your initial routine prenatal blood work, do your physical exam, perform your Pap smear if indicated and collect samples for STI screening for Gonorrhea and Chlamydia. Most other test will depend on any underlying medical conditions and how far you are during your pregnancy. Of course counseling and testing for Zika exposure, nutrition, work related environmental exposure and other topics will be discussed throughout your pregnancy.
10 - 16 weeks- Dating ultrasound and cervical length assessment, Noninvasive Prenatal Testing for aneuploidy screen (Down syndrome testing. This will also tell you the sex of your baby if you wish to know).
16 - 20 weeks- Ultrasound Anatomic survey (best between 18-20 weeks) and cervical length measurement, Maternal Serum Alphabetprotien testing (Spina bifida testing)
26 - 30 weeks- Gestational Diabetes screen (sugar test), repeat your hemaglobin levels, Repeat State required HIV screening, and repeat Rh testing for those Rh negative women in need of Rhgam.
28 - 34 weeks- It is recommended for pregnant women to be given the Tdap vaccination booster at this time, but many insurance companies especially Medicaid does not pay for adult vaccinations.
35- 37 weeks- epeat hemoglobin and repeat Gonorrhea/ Chlamydia testing, Group B Strep culture and Broward County Health Department recommended repeat testing for Syphilis
A high risk pregnancy is any pregnancy that has a higher than normal risk of health complications or death to the pregnant woman, the unborn baby or both. Women with high risk pregnancies need extra care and monitoring to help reduce the risk of complications. As mentioned our practice has a particular niche in Broward County for managing cases of high risk pregnancies that most other private OBGYN practices will not take. Until 2004, before we moved out practice to Plantation General Hospital, our group ran the Regional Intensive Perinatal Care Clinic at Broward Health. Since then, we have continued to offer women a private office alternative to being seen at the county clinics for management of their high risk pregnancies. We take a comprehensive multidisciplinary team approach in these situations and have close relationships with several local Perinatologist, Neonatologist, Pediatric Cardiologist and Pediatric Surgery groups to closely co-managing high risk cases.
High Risk Cases we manage: