Biology

Pregnancy and Childbirth

996 Questions

This hub covers essential biology questions on pregnancy, fetal development, and childbirth. Topics include the placenta, maternal physiology, and the stages of labor. These concepts are frequently tested in general science sections of various competitive examinations.

Placenta and fetal nutritionStages of laborMaternal immune systemPregnancy complications

Pregnancy and Childbirth Questions

Multiple choice

During pregnancy which among the following changes happens in a female?

  1. Plasma hCG level is at the height between weeks 10 and 14 of gestation.

  2. The secretion of placental progesterone is maximum in the first 8 weeks of gestation.

  3. Blood flow in kidneys remain unchanged.

  4. Maternal respiratory rate gets increased.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Respiratory rate is normally unchanged during gestation.

Multiple choice

Pick out the correct statement regarding the fetal circulation in human.

  1. The fetal heart rate is about double that of a healthy adult.

  2. All the blood circulating in the umbilical vein enters the right atrium.

  3. The three embryo shunts normally close immediately after birth.

  4. Fetal blood pressure is similar to that of an adult.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

It is true that the fetal heart rate is about double that of a healthy adult. By the starting of the 9th week of pregnancy, the normal embryo heart rate is an average of 175 BPM. At this point it begins a rapid decline to the normal embryo heart rate for the middle of the pregnancy of about 120-180 BPM.

Multiple choice

Select the true statement regarding the functions of the placenta.

  1. It nourishes the developing embryo by establishing a dialysis pattern for exchange between the maternal and fetal circulations.

  2. The placental wall is highly lean, thin & is freely permeable to glucose and amino acids.

  3. The PO2 of the blood of the umbilical vein is similar as that in the maternal arterial blood.

  4. The estrogens released by the placenta tend to inhibit uterine excitability during pregnancy.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The conduction of the intervillous spaces of the placenta with maternal blood allows the conduction of nutrients and oxygen from the mother to the fetus. Nutrient transfer to the developing embryo takes place through both active and passive transport.

Multiple choice

Pick out the true statement regarding the respiration in the fetus and a newborn.

  1. The peripheral chemoreceptors are active in the developing embryo.

  2. Oxygenated blood is delivered to the fetus through the placenta.

  3. Lack of surfactant in the neonate does not effect respiration.

  4. The first breath is achieved by large changes in the intrathoracic pressure.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

It is true that in a neonate, large intrathoracic pressures are generated during the first few breaths.

Multiple choice

Select the true statement regarding oxygen carriage by fetal blood in mother's womb.

  1. Blood returning to the developing embryo by the umbilical vein is fully saturated with oxygen.

  2. The develpoing embryo's hemoglobin has a higher affinity for oxygen than adult's hemoglobin.

  3. Fetal blood has a lower hemoglobin content than adult blood.

  4. Blood perfusing the brain of a develpoing embryo has the same PO2 as that of blood in the descending aorta.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Fetal blood has a higher hemoglobin content than adult blood and fetal hemoglobin has a higher affinity for O2 than adult hemoglobin. The O2 content of blood in the umbilical vein is about 160 ml/l.

Multiple choice

The condition of erythroblastosis arises when the respective Rh of mother and foetus, are

  1. Rh positive & Rh positive

  2. Rh positive & Rh negative

  3. Rh negative & Rh positive

  4. Rh negative & Rh negative
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

In order for the fetus to be Rh positive, the father must also be Rh positive. As a result, when the mother is Rh negative and the father is Rh positive (or his Rh type is unknown), doctors usually assume that there will be a serious medical problem.

Multiple choice

In a couple, male is Rh positive and the female is Rh negative, what are the chances that there will be a mother-foetus incompatibility problem? Assume that the couple has already had a child and that there has been no medical treatment to prevent this problem.

  1. 100%

  2. at least 50%

  3. lesser than 50%

  4. 0%
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

If the father is homozygous dominant (DD) the chances of the fetus being Rh positive and an incompatibility problem occurring will be 100%. If the father is heterozygous (Dd), the chances are 50%. There will be no problem if the fetus is Rh negative.

Multiple choice

Mother-foetus incompatibility problems originate from

  1. the mother's antibodies agglutinating the embryo's Rh positive RBCs

  2. the embryo's antibodies agglutinating his own RBCs.

  3. the embryo's antibodies agglutinating his mother's RBCs.

  4. the mother & embryo's antibodies agglutinating each other's RBCs.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

As a result of fetal blood entering the mother's system during her first pregnancy with an Rh positive baby, she will regularly produce antibodies to Rh antigens. They will pass through the placental barrier into her fetus and agglutinate its blood.

Multiple choice

Erythroblastosis foetal occurs _____.

  1. when the mother is Rh positive and the child is Rh negative

  2. when the father and child are both Rh negative, but the mother is Rh positive

  3. when the mother and child are both Rh positive, but the father is Rh negative

  4. when the mother is Rh negative and the child is Rh positive
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Erythroblastosis foetalis occurs when an Rh-negative mother is sensitized to Rh-positive fetal red blood cells, usually during delivery, and subsequently produces anti-Rh antibodies. These IgG antibodies can cross the placenta in a subsequent Rh-positive pregnancy and destroy fetal RBCs.

Multiple choice

Which of the following includes in abdominal findings during normal pregnancy?

  1. Fundus is first palpable at 20th week.

  2. Fundus is at umbilicus at 36th week.

  3. Fundus is at xiphoid sternum at 20th week

  4. Fundal height increases approximately by 2cm/week after 24 weeks.

  5. A free head after 37 weeks in a multiparous woman.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

After 24 weeks, the fundal height increases by about 1cm/week. The head usually engages after 37 weeks in a nulliparous woman but is frequently not engaged before labour in multiparous women. Breech presentation is common before 34 weeks and is only of significance if the woman is in (preterm) labour.