While January is National Many Things Month, including Self-Love, Adopt a Rescued Bird, and Walk Your Dog Month (shouldn’t that be a year-round thing?), at risk of throwing shade at the bird lovers, most poignant to my profession is the fact that it is National Birth Defect Awareness Month.
Did you know that independent of a person’s:
personal and family history,
maternal conditions, such as diabetes, seizures, and untreated thyroid disease, and
exposures during pregnancy, including to illicit drugs, maternal infections, and certain over-the-counter and prescription medications,
the background risk, i.e., everyone’s baseline risk, of having a child with a birth defect is 3-5%. This makes sense if you consider that your baby is continuing to develop throughout pregnancy.
Birth Defects & Genetic Counseling
If you are:
planning a pregnancy,
are currently pregnant, or
have a pregnancy or child diagnosed with a birth defect
a genetic counselor can, depending on the scenario:
assess your specific risk to have a child with a birth defect
by obtaining information on your pregnancy, personal, and family health history,
discuss the potential cause of a given birth defect and risk for recurrence
which can be isolated, related to a genetic condition, a chromosome anomaly, or an environmental factor, or be multifactorial (with both genetics and the environment contributing to the cause),
review the availability of appropriate screening methods during your pregnancy to assess for the presence of the birth defect
including, but not limited to, a detailed anatomy scan, fetal echocardiogram, or fetal MRI, or
connect you with multidisciplinary teams of healthcare professionals that can assist you with the treatment options available for the birth defect.
If you find yourself in need of additional information, consider using one of many fabulous resources available, such as:
March of Dimes - which offers support and education to patients and providers along with funding millions of dollars for birth defect research.
MotherToBaby - the nation’s leading authority and most trusted source of evidence-based information on the benefit or risk of medications and other exposures during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. They provide patient friendly information sheets on numerous medications, vaccines, chemicals, herbal products, substances of abuse, and maternal health conditions.
And of course, Stork Genetics, where you can schedule a telehealth genetic counseling appointment to talk with a genetic counselor about your specific situation.
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