Title: What to expect at your first prenatal appointment
Headings: What to expect at your first prenatal appointment
What to expect at your first prenatal appointment
Find a healthcare professional that best suits your needs
Prepare for your first prenatal appointment
Bring your partner to your prenatal visit
Determine your baby’s due date
When you can expect to hear your baby’s heartbeat
You’ll have a physical exam at your prenatal appointment
You’ll be sent to the lab for a complete workup
You’ll be offered a first-trimester screening
Get ready to answer (and ask) mental health and lifestyle questions
How long will the first prenatal visit take?
How often will you have follow-up prenatal appointments?
Make a pregnancy plan
Don’t stress
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When is it safe to announce your pregnancy?
What you need to know before booking a prenatal massage

Content: More commonly, your healthcare provider should be able to detect the baby’s heartbeat using a Doppler fetal monitor (a handheld ultrasound device) when you’re 12 weeks along, so you’ll get to hear it for the first time then. ( Don’t panic if your doctor can’t find it immediately, says Thorne. If your dates are off by a few days and you’re earlier than 12 weeks or if your bladder is too full, your uterus is tilted or you have a high body mass index, the baby’s heartbeat may not be detectable via the Doppler until 14 weeks or later.) You’ll have a physical exam at your prenatal appointment
Your midwife or doctor will measure your progress in pregnancy by gathering baseline information, such as your pre-pregnancy weight, current weight, height and blood pressure. A full physical may not happen at your first prenatal visit due to time constraints, but during the first few appointments, you’ll have a head-to-toe physical, where they’ll check your head, neck, thyroid, heart, lungs, skin and breasts and do a Pap test (an internal swab of your cervical cells to look for cancerous cells) if you are due for one. ( The latest recommendation is to have a Pap test every three years, unless you’ve had an abnormal Pap or are at high risk—and, yes, docs recommend doing the test during pregnancy.) You’ll be sent to the lab for a complete workup
Your doctor or midwife will give you a requisition for comprehensive blood work to assess your complete blood count (red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets, which can indicate anemia or infections) and blood type (in case you are Rh negative, which can affect your pregnancy). You will also have routine public health screenings through blood work for rubella, syphilis, hepatitis B and HIV. How prenatal counselling can help you through pregnancyYour healthcare provider may order additional blood work based on your lifestyle and health history, such as checking your chickenpox status and thyroid levels. If you’re a vegetarian, they might check your vitamin B12 levels.