What to Expect at Your First Prenatal Appointment
Expecting a baby? Congratulations! It’s always good to come in for a prenatal visit as soon as you find out you’re pregnant. It helps prevent any complications and ensures a healthy pregnancy later on.
Before you go in for your first prenatal appointment, here are some things you should carry with you:
- A list of medications or supplements you have been taking
- Any recent reports for lab work that you might have gotten done
- Any health records that you have
- A list of questions you have
Here’s what you can expect during your first ever prenatal visit:
Check-Up
Like every other health appointment, a prenatal appointment also starts with taking your history and doing an examination.
Your health provider will ask you about your general health, your last period date, how you found out you’re pregnant, and any other questions they might consider relevant. Your EDD (estimated date of delivery) is then calculated from the date of your last period.
The examination will just be an assessment of your overall health. This involves taking your vitals (Blood pressure, pulse, temp, etc) and checking your body for any other signs. If you have any other complaints like vaginal pain or discharge, your health provider may also do an examination of that area to rule out any disease.
Pap Smear (Maybe)
One of those examinations is sometimes a pap smear. A pap smear is taking a sample of cells from the inside of your vaginal wall and sending it to the lab to check for any abnormalities.
Although a pap smear is not routinely done during the first prenatal visit, your health provider might prescribe you one if it’s time for your annual screening or if they want to get it done to rule out any disease.
Confirmation Of Your Pregnancy + Official Countdown
While you probably confirmed your pregnancy via a home pregnancy test, your health provider might want to do a blood test or an ultrasound to confirm it.
This is also important for documentation and to estimate your delivery date. Sometimes the EDD is not always a perfect representation of how far along you are in your pregnancy. The ultrasound can help your care provider to make a more accurate calculation after seeing the size of your growing little one.
Time for Questions
At the end of the appointment, it’s finally time to bring out that list of questions that you prepared! Ask your health provider any and everything that you want.
You can ask them about what you should and should not eat, any special care that you need, when and if you can have sex while pregnant, what things do you need to stop during your pregnancy. You can also ask them about antenatal exercises and how to deal with conditions like nausea, thirst, and anything else you’re beginning to experience.
At Charleston Birth Center, we are committed to providing you with the best pregnancy care from the very first visit. Our team of qualified midwives will be happy to assist you in whatever way we can. Contact us today to book your appointment!