Obstetric History

OBSTETRIC HISTORY

The basic obstetric history includes the patient’s gravidity, or number of pregnancies. A pregnancy can be a live birth, miscarriage, premature birth (less than 37 weeks of gestation), or an abortion. Details about each live birth are noted, including birthweight of the infant, sex, number of weeks at delivery, and type of delivery. The patient should be asked about any pregnancy complications, such as diabetes, hypertension, and preeclampsia, and whether she has a history of depression, either before or after a preg-nancy. A breastfeeding history is also useful information.

If a patient has a history of infertility (generally de-fined as failure to conceive for 1 year with sufficiently frequent sexual encounters), questions concerning both partners should cover previous diseases or surgery that may affect fertility, previous fertility (previous children with the same or other partners), duration that preg-nancy has been attempted, and the frequency and timing of sexual intercourse.