Prenatal Advice

[mrs.green2015]

Hello ladies!

So I just found out I'm 4 weeks pregnant! I couldn't be more excited as it took us about 7 months to make it happen. Anywho, my first prenatal appointment is over the phone and then my first office visit will be when I'm 7 weeks. What happens at your first appointment? Can we hear the heart beat? Hubs wants to go but I don't want him to kiss work for nothing too exciting and rather him wait for the "good" appointments.

Which ones would you recommend he go to? We're not finding out the sex so that won't be one of them. Lol

 

[DobbyForever]

I never made it to my first prenatals, but from what I read the first is the longest and most informative. At 7 weeks, you will hear the heart and have a cute blob with very tiny but noticeable leg and arm buds if you get a good pic. I like YouTube ing u/s to get an idea. So I say hubs def go to prenatal 1, but as for the others can't comment

 

[kksy9b]

Until baby is closer to 9-10 weeks (and even a little later in some cases) it can be difficult to hear the hb unless they do a transvaginal US. It really just depends on what your doctors practice does. I would call ahead and ask so you know whether or not for your DH to come. Your second appt though they should definitely be able to hear.

At my first appt we first met with thr insurance gal to go through what our insurance covered, then they did a pap smear as I was due for one, listened for the hb (my first appt wasn't until 10 weeks), they also collected a urine sample, did weight and blood pressure. Then we sat and answered my long list of questions. It's mostly just an informative appointment

 

[KatieMK]

I'd ask what will happen at your 7 week appointment when you have your phone appointment. However, your phone appointment is likely to be "intake": your family histories, when your last period was, what your medical history is, etc etc. They will tell you what over the counter medicines to avoid and how much calcium to take and things like that.

They SHOULD do an ultrasound at your 7 week appointment in order to determine your due date. They'll measure the baby and look for the heartbeat. He should go to that, unless the person you speak with on the phone says they aren't going to do that for some reason. I would be really surprised though.

After that, it seems to be all over the place about the frequency of scans. It's a good question to ask when you are setting up your follow up visits. We went in at 6.5 weeks for a "viability" scan because I had had some bleeding, and they did an ultrasound and measured the baby for a due date then. I had my intake appointment a few weeks later, and the first doctors appointment two weeks after that (last Monday, actually!). Because they had already measured the baby at that point, the doctor only planned on using a doppler to listen to the baby's heartbeat, but she couldn't find it so she had to do another ultrasound (yay!). We aren't scheduled for another one until the 20 week appointment. That means that it was possible for me to go from week 6.5 to week 20 without seeing the baby again! It's crazy, but I think that's pretty standard.

So... I think it's safe to assume you'll have one at the 7 week appointment, ask to be sure, and ask when you set up all your appointments after that!

 

[Christie2011]

My first apt was at 8.5 weeks. She did a super quick scan, though probably because I had just had a scan 3 days ago at my fertility clinic. She was going to do a trans-vaginal u/s but during the general exam she felt my uterus was high was able to do an abdominal scan. She did a general gyn annual exam, minus pap since I'm not due for one yet.

She also required blood work and a urine sample, then we went and to her office and talked about the first trimester screening and asked if I had any questions.

 

[mrs.green2015]

Thanks ladies. I was probably going to have him come to 7 weeks and 20 weeks so he can get the full view of everything.

 

[Christie2011]

Most the other visits are quick and include: listen to heartbeat, urine sample, weight check and fundal (sp?) measurement.

 

[summermoee]

I had my first one today at 7 weeks 2 days and I was in and out in like 10 minutes lol he did a transvaginal ultrasound for like 2 min, talked briefly and that was it. I go back in 2 weeks to test for down syndrome. Went a lot quicker than I expected!