Your starting time prenatal visit may be one of the longest yous'll have during your pregnancy — and definitely the most comprehensive. Not but will there be tests and information-gathering, at that place will be lots of time spent on questions and answers. There volition as well be plenty of advice given, from what to eat (or not), what prenatal vitamins to take, and how much to practise.

Here are the details on when to get for your start pregnancy appointment, how to prepare for it and what actually happens while y'all're there.

When should I schedule my offset prenatal visit?

Equally before long as you accept a positive result on a home pregnancy test, phone call your practitioner to schedule an appointment. Good prenatal care is one of the most important steps in having a healthy pregnancy and babe.

When volition my start prenatal visit accept place?

The first prenatal appointment usually takes place in the 2d month, between week 6 and week 8 of pregnancy.

Be sure to call every bit soon equally you lot doubtable you're pregnant and have taken a pregnancy test. Some practitioners will be able to fit you in right away, but others may accept waits of several weeks (or longer). Certain OB/GYN offices as well offering an earlier "pre-OB" visit to confirm a pregnancy every bit presently every bit y'all think you're expecting.

Regardless of when that first appointment is scheduled, starting time acting meaning once you get that positive result at home (such as by taking a prenatal vitamin, following a healthy nutrition, switching to mocktails and skipping certain off-limits foods like raw fish and deli meat). Yous may exist familiar with the basics, but don't hesitate to call your practitioner's office if you need to castor upward.

And if the expect is of business concern because y'all feel your pregnancy may be high-risk (considering of a chronic condition or a history of miscarriages, for example), check in with the part to see if yous tin come up in earlier.

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How should I fix for my first pregnancy date?

Once the date is on your calendar, do a little prep work to make the well-nigh of your visit. These tips are a smashing place to start:

Make a listing of key health facts. Your practitioner will want to discuss all the details of your medical history, so check your records at domicile or call your master care doctor for a refresh. Come prepared with at to the lowest degree some nuts almost:

  • Your personal medical history: immunizations you lot've had, previous major illnesses or surgeries, known allergies including drug allergies
  • Your mental health history: any history of depression, anxiety disorder or other mental health disorders
  • Your gynecological history: historic period of your first period, details most your cycle, whether you have bug with PMS or PMDD, prior gynecological surgeries, history of abnormal Pap smears or STDs
  • Your obstetrical history: previous pregnancies, including pregnancy complications or losses and details nearly previous deliveries
  • Potential illness exposure: Any contagious diseases you may have been exposed to (say, if you traveled abroad recently or piece of work in wellness care)

Take stock of your medicine cabinet. Your OB/GYN or midwife will also want to know the names and peradventure the dosages of whatever medications and supplements yous take (herbs and vitamins included).

Find out about health conditions that run in your and your partner's families. Acquire what illnesses your family has a history of, then you tin can inkling in your practitioner from the get-go.

Jot downwards your questions. In the excitement of that start prenatal appointment, lots of moms-to-be forget to ask the called-for questions that accept been keeping them up at night — so make a listing of them beforehand (and don't forget to bring it with you).

What will happen at my first prenatal visit?

Practitioners also have their own to-practise lists for the kickoff prenatal appointment. Here's what to look:

  • You lot'll get a bank check-up. This may include a general health examination (checking your heart, lungs, breasts and abdomen); measuring your blood force per unit area to serve as a baseline reading for futurity appointments; noting your height and weight; a expect for varicose veins and swelling equally a baseline for future visits; a pelvic exam; and an cess of the size of your uterus and the size and shape of your pelvis.
  • You lot'll get a confirmation of your pregnancy. Fifty-fifty if you got a positive result on a abode pregnancy exam, your practitioner volition echo a urine exam and exercise a blood test to cheque your hCG levels.
  • You'll undergo a battery of other tests. Some tests are routine for every meaning woman, some are routine in some areas of the state, and some are performed merely when necessary. The almost mutual tests at your first prenatal visit include:
    • Urine test. Your urine may be checked for poly peptide, glucose (sugar), white blood cells, claret and bacteria.
    • Bloodwork. A sample of your claret volition be used to decide blood blazon and Rh status and check for anemia. Your blood will also exist screened for antibody titers (levels) and immunity to certain diseases (like rubella and chicken pox) and perhaps for vitamin D deficiency.
    • Genetic carrier screening. If you lot weren't screened before formulation, a blood draw also tests for whether you lot're a carrier for the more common genetic atmospheric condition, including cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, Tay-Sachs disease and others.
    • STD tests. Your doctor may screen for sexually transmitted infections similar hepatitis B, syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia and HIV.
    • Pap smear. Just similar you lot get at your annual appointments, to screen for abnormal cervical cells.
    • A blood sugar test. You may get this test if you had gestational diabetes in a previous pregnancy or if you're at college risk for gestational diabetes (for example, if y'all take a family history).
  • You'll get an official countdown. If you know when you conceived and the engagement of your last period (LMP), make sure to mention information technology. Your OB/GYN or midwife will summate your due date using your LMP, a bank check of your cervix and uterus for signs and approximate gestational historic period of the pregnancy, your hCG levels, and, most likely, an ultrasound.
  • You'll chat about yourself and your baby. To give you the best possible care, your practitioner will want to know a lot about you lot. The first prenatal appointment is the time for your practitioner to get upwardly to speed on your health history and make full you in on how to care for yourself and your growing infant, as well as address any concerns you lot have (this is when that listing of questions comes in handy). It's helpful to take notes; your dr. or midwife is sure to share enough of info you'll want to call back (and momshoped-for are notoriously forgetful).

Volition I see my baby on an ultrasound at my outset prenatal visit?

Almost practitioners do a prenatal ultrasound during the first visit, which is the most accurate way of dating a pregnancy. Nonetheless, some docs wait until a bit later, when at that place's more to see.

Showtime Ultrasound In 3 Words