According to a study at Australia's Queensland University of Technology, the majority of women aren't fully educated about routine prenatal tests, despite a general agreement amongst medical practitioners that education about such tests is an important component of prenatal care. The study indicated that part of the problem is that the various practitioners that may be involved with a woman during her pregnancy aren't all on the same page about just which of them is accountable for ensuring that the patient is fully informed of risks and potential outcomes. Thus many women aren't really giving "informed consent" when undergoing such tests, which they undergo because they're simply led to understand that they're routine.
I have to admit, during my first pregnancy I was pretty shellshocked, and also working full time (for a pretty unsympathetic boss, who wasn't really thrilled about giving me time off to pee four hundred times a day, much less to go get blood drawn). Without any kid-having friends or family around me, I just did what I thought was right. I initially went to one of the more renowned prenatal centers in the major city in which I lived, where I saw whomever was on call at the time I could schedule an appointment. I knew bugger-all about prenatal tests and didn't feel inclined to find out. I put my faith in medicine and went to whichever lab they sent me to for whatever test had been ordered, and I had no idea what any of them were for (other than the ultrasound, which obviously was to tell me that I was having a girl). It wasn't until I moved midway through my pregnancy and switched to a private practice (same doctor every visit, like clockwork) that I found out what those tests were for, when my new doctor went over my pregnancy history with me on our first appointment together. And it wasn't until after I'd had the baby and started visiting parenting forums on the Internet that I found out just how frightening those tests can be sometimes. I felt both better and more worried during my second pregnancy, when I knew what it was all about.
It seems strange in hindsight that I went through the entire "testing" phase of a pregnancy without having the first clue what was being done to me or what the potential ramifications were, but apparently I'm not alone. And apparently Unnamed Major City Hospital isn't alone in its laissez-faire attitude toward informing its patients. Where did you get your information about prenatal tests? Or did you?
