What is an Obstetrician and What Does an Obstetrician Do?

An obstetrician is a medical doctor who has specialised in the field of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. An obstetrician is a Doctor who specialises in delivering a baby, treating various disease conditions linked with pregnancy and much more. Obstetricians have undergone medical training and have been certified to deal with pregnancy and its related conditions. If you're planning to get pregnant or Expect a baby shortly, an obstetrician is the one Speciality doctor which you will encounter the most till delivery of the baby.

Core Responsibilities and Clinical Care

Obstetricians are involved in Prenatal(before birth), natal(birth) and postnatal(after birth) care of both mother and baby. They make sure that the foetus and mother remain healthy, and if the mother is suffering from some disease like hypertension or diabetes associated with pregnancy, complications due to these can be reduced. Notably, in India, Most obstetricians also deal with gynaecology meaning apart from pregnancy and its related medical conditions they also deal with female reproductive conditions like infertility, irregular menses, vaginal discharge etc.

Diagnostic Procedures and Monitoring

• Confirms pregnancy: An obstetrician confirms pregnancy on your first visit by using ultrasonography, because the Urine pregnancy kit is not a confirmatory test of pregnancy.
• Diagnosing Ectopic pregnancy: First USG, is done to confirm pregnancy, An obstetrician also rules out ectopic pregnancy. Ectopic pregnancy happens when the embryo is implanted somewhere else apart from the uterus endometrium.
• Screening for diseases: An obstetrician orders several investigations on your first visit and subsequent visit to screen and diagnose pregnancy-related diseases like gestational diabetes, pregnancy-induced hypertension, gestational trophoblastic disease, anaemia etc.
• Maternal and Foetal well-being: At every antenatal visit, an obstetrician records the mother's weight and haemoglobin status to assess maternal well-being. An obstetrician performs an anomaly scan(2nd-trimester USG scan) and other scans to rule out any congenital anomaly in the baby.

Management of High-Risk Pregnancies

Obstetricians are trained in managing high-risk pregnancies like Pregnancy-induced hypertension, Pre-eclampsia, Gestational diabetes, anaemia, and Intrauterine growth restrictions. Additionally, an obstetrician is involved in diagnosing recurrent pregnancy losses, and also in treating it. Recurrent pregnancy loss can be due to underlying conditions like APLA syndrome or Cervical incompetence. It is important to consult an obstetrician as soon as you find you're pregnant, based on symptoms of pregnancy, or after testing with a pregnancy kit.

The Role During Labour and Birth

Regular monitoring of foetal well-being, like foetal heart rate and its variations is recorded by an obstetrician. Just before labour continuous monitoring of foetal heart rate and maternal uterine contraction is recorded to know if there is foetal distress or not. An obstetrician assists normal vaginal delivery in different steps of labour. If labour doesn't progress obstetricians are also involved in Induction of labour.

Surgical and Instrumental Interventions

If there is foetal distress or maternal complication for which vaginal delivery cannot be performed, C-sec is done by an obstetrician. Obstetricians also perform C-sections and provide medication to treat these pregnancy-related conditions. Furthermore, Instrument deliveries like forceps delivery, and episiotomy are also performed by an obstetrician.

Postnatal Care and Complications

During birth and after birth they work closely with paediatricians to monitor foetal well-being and to provide after-birth (post-natal) care to the mother. Obstetricians are involved in managing after-birth complications like subinvolution of the uterus, in which the uterus doesn't return to normal before pregnancy size or sepsis, postpartum haemorrhage, uteri.