Moderate anemia in pregnant women is usually not thalassemia. Thalassemia is a hereditary anemia, and you can tell if you have it at birth, and you can show symptoms from an early age, and you usually don’t show moderate anemia until you are pregnant. However, it is important to be aware if you are a carrier of the thalassemia gene without showing anemia. At this time, it is important to have a good prenatal checkup, and if your partner is a carrier of the same type of thalassemia, there is a 1 in 4 chance that you will give birth to a baby with a severe form of thalassemia. Thalassemia is classified as mild, intermediate, or severe depending on the severity of the condition. Mild thalassemia is usually asymptomatic or mildly anemic. Intermediate thalassemia usually begins to show symptoms of anemia such as pallor and fatigue around the age of 1 to 3 years. Severe thalassemia will begin to show symptoms such as pallor, abdominal swelling, and jaundice around 3 to 12 months of age, and will get progressively worse with age. Screening for anemia can be done during pregnancy to see if the fetus is at risk for the disease by testing to see if the fetus carries the anemia gene.