The most effective way to determine pregnancy is through a pregnancy test. Home pregnancy tests are available over-the-counter and are considered highly accurate. Your doctor or health care provider can also do a pregnancy test. If you take a home pregnancy test and receive a positive result, schedule an appointment with your doctor to follow up. They will be able to confirm the diagnosis at this point.

How do you know if you're at risk for a high-risk pregnancy? There are many factors which can determine your probability for a high-risk pregnancy. These include: being of young or old maternal age, being underweight or overweight, having had problems in previous pregnancies and pre-existing health conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes or HIV.

Conditions such as gestational diabetes and preeclampsia are serious complications that can develop during pregnancy. Preeclampsia causes high blood pressure during pregnancy and if ignored, can progress to eclampsia which involves dangerously high blood pressure and convulsions. Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that can lead to serious problems including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure and nerve damage. At the start of your pregnancy, ask your doctor to test you for these conditions and your risk for developing them. Doctors recommend trying not to be overweight before you become pregnant in order to lessen your risk.

It is difficult to diagnosis risk in pregnancy especially when the female is a first time mother. About 40% of the pregnant population at any given time has never before had a child. But because both conditions can be dangerous or even fatal if left untreated, ask your doctor for a physical examination and blood testing, which will be able to detect the conditions.

Keeping to your arranged schedule of prenatal check-ups and screenings is the easiest and most effective way of diagnosing a problem with the pregnancy or any development, positive or negative.