What To Expect at your First Pregnancy Appointment

One of the first things you should do when you find out your pregnant is to find an OB doctor and get your first appointment scheduled. Ideally, you’ll want to get your first appointment scheduled within the first 10 weeks from your last period.

This appointment will be quite a long appointment filled with questions, paperwork and tests. Sometimes there’s not enough time to complete everything so some of these items may go into your second appointment.

Here’s a list of what you can expect during your first appointment or two:

1. Your doctor will gather a detailed medical history & ask you about your lifestyle & mental health.

This can include:

☑ medical conditons

☑ medications you’re taking

☑ prior surgeries

☑ vaccination history

☑ presence of pets

☑ history of medical conditions in your family or your partners

☑ history of past pregnancies

☑ history of depression

Usually you’ll be asked to fill out paperwork to provide this information. Of course, answer as truthful as possible, as some of these items may affect your pregnancy.

2. Exams:

✔️ Pap smears

✔️ std & sti tests

✔️ lots of blood work (~7 tubes of blood)

✔️ physical

✔️ pee in a cup

These are all standard exams or tests that could happen in your first or second appointment. Each test is important, as it gives the doctors information such as if you have anemia or if you are immune to certain diseases. They even figure out what your blood type is during this time. These tests will help your doctor prepare for your pregnancy better.

3. Possibly determine your due date (might need to be confirmed with an ultrasound)

If you are familiar with the first day of your last period, your doctor can estimate your due date. However, they will need to order or perform an ultrasound to comfirm it. Your doctor will most likely do this during your first appointment, because the earlier they perform the ultrasound, the more accurate the due date will be. If not, they’ll schedule an ultrasound as soon as possible.

4. Get prescriptions for prenatals, vitamins and other medications

Your doctor will ask if you are taking prenatal vitamins. If not they should be able to order you a script. They may also prescribe additional medications as needed. During my twin pregnancy, I was on 6 pills a day! My doctors wanted me on: prenatals, iron, folic acid, baby aspirin, vitamin B6 and Unisom.

5. Answer your questions and concerns

Start a list of questions in your phone a few days or weeks before. Then just add to it as you think of things! Keep a running list of questions throughout your pregnancy to ask at each appointment. I also recommend to take notes during each appointment, especially the first few. There’s a lot of information thrown your way!

The first appointment can be daunting and filled with alot of information. But this is such an exciting time in your life, so enjoy every moment!

#lemon8partner #summerdiary #pregnancyadvice #pregnancy #newmom #parenting #Lemon8MomsClub #lemon8moms #pregnancyjourney #letschat