Antonia W. Shand is a Maternal-Fetal Medicine doctor in Sydney, NSW, Australia.
This type of care is all about pregnancy and the baby’s health. Antonia’s work tends to focus on situations where things get more complex than a standard pregnancy, especially when there are concerns before birth.
In many cases, the care needed involves infections picked up during pregnancy. Antonia looks after people with cytomegalovirus (CMV) antenatal infection, congenital cytomegalovirus, and cytomegalic inclusion disease. She also supports families when there are herpes virus antenatal infections, and when CMV infection may affect hearing loss and other baby health outcomes.
There are also times when growth and baby wellbeing are the main issue. Antonia helps with intrauterine growth restriction, and she deals with fetal concerns that can involve cerebral hypoxia. At times, the condition is spotted through scans and monitoring, then plans are made to reduce risks and guide next steps.
Pregnancy can bring other tough problems too. Antonia supports people with anaemia and iron deficiency anaemia, as well as thrombocytopenia. She also helps manage issues around cholestasis of pregnancy, including intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, and cholestasis more broadly.
Metabolic and blood sugar problems can be part of the picture as well. Antonia works with gestational diabetes, and sometimes diabetic ketoacidosis during pregnancy. High blood pressure in pregnancy can also need extra attention, along with pregnancy-related hyperemesis gravidarum and morning sickness that doesn’t settle with simple measures.
She also supports cases where the baby’s development may involve longer-term concerns, such as pulmonary sequestration. In some situations, blood and immune issues come up too, including haemolytic transfusion reaction.
Over time, Antonia’s clinical focus has covered a wide range of antenatal and pregnancy-related conditions. The goal is to make sense of what’s happening, explain options in plain language, and help plan safe care from the earliest signs through to what comes next after birth.