Step One

Couples have realised the benefits of consulting a counsellor BEFORE they start trying for a baby. M&B got Shilpi Ashta, Clinical Psychologist, and Dr Ruby Sehra, Senior Consultant, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, both from the Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute, Delhi, to explain why this is so essential...

Marriage is an institution that is meant to be long-term. A lot of thinking goes before you decide whom you want to get married to. People give significant importance to things like matching kundlis, height, education, family status, etc, before marriage. However, amongst all these, no one really considers how the pair’s progeny will be. The male’s participation in the preparation is equally as important as the woman’s preparation. There are various tests that should be undertaken by both the male and female before starting marital life together to ensure that the child who is born will be hale and hearty. For example, a simple test like Haemoglobin electrophoresis (HPLC) can be taken to know whether the bride and the groom are thalassemia carriers or not even if they are not suffering from the disease. Thalassemia is a condition in which the life span of Red Blood Cells (RBCs) is less than one month as against the normal life span of three months. Hence, the blood does not have a good oxygen-carrying capacity. A thalassaemic patient always looks pale, and the bones are affected. The forehead bone becomes prominent and bulging because of its hyperactivity to compensate for the poor oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood. In such a situation, repeated blood transfusions are required, which in turn run the risk of transmitting various diseases.