A 20-week pregnant patient with twins at home and a prior miscarriage is best classified as which Gravida/Para?

• A. Gravida 3, para 2
• B. Gravida 4, para 2
• C. Gravida 3, para 3
• D. Gravida 2, para 1

Answer: (A)

Gravida and Para are about how many times a woman has been pregnant and how many of those pregnancies have reached viability and resulted in birth. In this case, the patient is currently pregnant with twins and has had a prior miscarriage, so she has been pregnant three times in total. Para counts pregnancies that have reached viability and been carried to at least 20 weeks (and include births). The prior miscarriage does not count toward para, but the current twin pregnancy has reached viability by 20 weeks, and there was a prior pregnancy that resulted in a birth, so two pregnancies have met the viability/birth criterion. Therefore, this pattern fits gravidity of three and parity of two.