All pregnancies are at some risk of adverse fetal and neonatal outcome. The risk increases, however, if the pregnancy ends too soon (preterm), or if it ends too late (postterm).

Although antenatal care was widely introduced in the Western world only in the 20th century, it is now universally accepted and advocated as beneficial and advisable for all pregnant women and hence consumes a considerable amount of accommodation, equipment, professional time and costs to the women themselves. Resource use is rarely measured routinely but must vary enormously because of differences in the amount and intensity of care proposed, and in its uptake, in different geographical settings. However, even when resource use is at the lower end of the spectrum, antenatal care should be audited so that the needs of women and their babies can be best addressed.

Major progress has been made in the knowledge and management of diabetes and pregnancy. However diabetes in pregnancy remains an important medical complication, with implications for mother and child in both the short and the long term. There are still controversies concerning the diagnostic criteria of gestational diabetes and concerning the best strategry for the treatment of this disorder. There is even less agreement about whether gestational diabetes is a pathological condition. The perinatal mortality in gestational diabetes has recently become as low as that in the general population. This has led to the conclusion that gestational diabetes is no more than a variant of metabolic adaptation during pregnancy. However, fetal hyperinsulinism is present in gestational diabetes, resulting in macrosomia, neonatal complications and most probably long term consequences. Improvements in the care of the preexisting insulin-dependent pregnant diabetic have been achieved but further progress in understanding the underlying mechanisms and in preventing and treating the disease are important goals for the near future.

The most important congenital heart disorders occurring in children are mainly due to malformations of cardiac structure. The underlying anatomical defect is established soon after the heart is first formed in embryonic life, less than 8 weeks after conception. However, the full echocardiographic picture may not be apparent until after birth or even later in childhood.

The ductus venosus is a blood vessel functioning exclusively in the fetal circulation. According to many reports it was described for the first time by Giulio Cesare Arantius (Bologna 1530–1589) in his book De humano foetu libellus (1563) and it is often referred to as the ductus Arantii. Thorough research, however, has made it clear that Andreas Vesalius described this vessel in 1561 in his book Examen observationium Falloppii, which was published three years later. Moreover, it has been pointed out that the first and second editions of Arantius’s book did not contain a description of the ductus venosus but that this appeared in the 1571 edition.