Prenatal Care During Your Pregnancy

Regular prenatal visits with your OBGYN are important to monitor both the patient’s and baby’s health and development.  Prenatal care is available during the entire course of the patient’s pregnancy from the first trimester up to hospital admission for delivery.  The patient’s very first prenatal appointment should be made as soon as she thinks she has conceived.

The frequency of prenatal appointments depends on how far along the patient is in the pregnancy and any known health issues.  In general, prenatal checkups are typically scheduled once a month between weeks 4-8.  Once the patient reaches 28 weeks, follow-up appointments may occur twice a month, and after 36 weeks women usually have weekly or bi-weekly visits.  If the pregnancy is considered high risk (which depends on factors such as the patient’s weight, age, and other health issues including high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, obesity, blood disorder, etc.), the OBGYN doctor may recommend more frequent prenatal visits and/or a Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist, depending on the circumstances.

The actual prenatal appointment may involve: reviewing the patient’s medical history (and/or reproductive history), discussing lifestyle choices, obtaining a urine sample, checking blood pressure, blood tests, measuring height, measuring weight, measuring abdomen growth, checking fetal heart rate, performing a fetal ultrasound (3D/4D), non-stress testing, and other various tests.  These appointments are a great time to discuss any questions or concerns that may arise as the patient experiences different changes at each progressive phase of pregnancy.

Contact our office today to schedule a prenatal appointment with one of our providers.