Common first trimester appointments and testing. Remember that each chapter is different as each pregnancy, so your doctor or midwife may request different procedures and testing for you than another position. This can also vary depending on where you live, and what's considered standard care in your region. Personally, I have seen significant differences in care between doctors at practice in the same city where I live. So just bear in mind that some of the common medical appointments and procedures I talked about may or may not apply to where you live to our pregnancy or to what your doctor recommends for you. The confirmation pregnancy tests at your doctor's office.

Generally a positive drugstore test is accurate with very rare exceptions, but your doctor will still want to confirm usually initially with a urine test at their office as possible they may order bloodwork right away too, but not every doctor does this. If you haven't already. Make sure you Contact your ob gyn, midwife or primary care physician if you don't already have an OB GYN. As soon as you get a positive pregnancy test, it's good to still contact your doctor even if you have a negative test but have reason to believe that you're pregnant, such as if you had in this period or experiencing pregnant like symptoms. Hopefully though, you've already confirmed your pregnancy since we're taking a pregnancy course. Standard appointments and testing depending on how your ob gyn or midwife typically does things, it's pretty common to have your initial prenatal appointment around six to eight weeks pregnant.

In the US Weeks Pregnant are usually counted from the first day of your last period, which is also how I reference Weeks Pregnant throughout this course. A lot of doctors won't request to see them sooner than that timeframe and the six to eight weeks pregnant for your first visit. Unless you have something concerning in your medical history are experiencing worrisome symptoms or have an irregular period and don't know how long you find part. first trimester ultrasounds. Some doctors will do an early ultrasound around the time of your first visit. While others may not request an ultrasound or another several weeks, I have gone to both an OB GYN practice in a different midwife practice in my area.

Ob gyn I started with my first pregnancy did an eight week ultrasound at the very first visit. But the other practice I went to the midwife practice didn't give the option of an ultrasound for low risk pregnancies until the 11 to 13 week ultrasound, so your ultrasounds may vary depending on your care provider. Most factories in the US will offer you the option of doing an 11 to 13 week ultrasound, also referred to as an equal scan, which checks for Down syndrome and an array of other abnormalities. This can also check for your baby's growth and confirm or rule out if you're pregnant with twins or more. which you may not know especially if you didn't have an ultrasound already. And the benefit of this scan is knowledge about your baby.

The downside Is that if they find something wrong depending on what it is there may not necessarily be anything they can do to help your baby with a few exceptions. So an early ultrasound and a 13 week ultrasound are generally the only significant ultrasounds during the first trimester. But again, this can vary with your personal pregnancy and with what your doctor wants. first trimester bloodwork and testing. During your first trimester, it's likely there will be multiple bloodwork test ordered, but you can usually get them all done at once. Generally, you'll get tested for certain STDs.

And I think part of this part is required by law where I live at least and maybe different where you live. And we'll test for some other things as well. To check for a healthy pregnancy. You usually have to go to a separate testing facility besides your doctor's office to get the bloodwork done. Most lab facilities don't require an appointment for bloodwork and standard pregnancy bloodwork doesn't usually require fasting for the first trimester. You can double check on that.

So because your doctor may order something else that does, but note that there is a glucose test in the second trimester that does require fasting, and that will occasionally be done in the first trimester. In cases where women may have a higher risk of gestational diabetes. One thing you definitely want to make sure is that wherever you go for blood work during your pregnancy takes your insurance. We'll talk some more about the this insurance stuff in part five of the section. There is a blood test that can determine the sex of your baby in the first trimester. Of course, whether or not you personally get this will depend on your doctor, where you live and what your insurance covers.

If you don't get this blood test and you want to know your baby's gender, you'll likely need to wait until the 18 to 20 week ultrasound to find out which would be during your second trimester. Of course, whether or not you find out your baby's gender is totally your choice. But if you're undecided, I do talk about a couple possible benefits of finding out in section two as well. are you saving money during pregnancy? And I do think it's a good thing to review that section during your first trimester if you can. But again, that's totally your choice as far as if you want to find out the baby's gender.

And just to know you'll want to remember to bring your insurance card photo ID and script from your ob gyn for any ultrasounds bloodwork or tests that are done at facilities outside of their office. Some doctors are really great about faxing over scripts in advance, but there's no guarantee that the facility will get it. I used to work in a doctor's office and trust me, vaccines do not always go through. So it's always good to bring a physical copy of any scripts. A lot of places also require you to bring your license or photo ID and of course they would need your insurance info to develop first trimester routine appointments. Every routine prenatal appointment with your doctor or midwife will usually check your vitals.

Have you pee in a cup to test your urine ask you about your symptoms and Listen to your baby's heartbeat. Most doctors will recommend you take a prenatal vitamin throughout your pregnancy. If you don't take a prenatal vitamin, you will really want to make sure that you're getting good nutrition through your diet so that you're not deficient with any vitamins or nutrients that your baby needs. And just like with other types of vitamins, there's going to be certain brands or types of prenatal vitamins that are better quality than others. So you may want to compare the prenatal vitamin options that you have. And if you experience constipation from a prenatal vitamin, you may also want to ask your doctor about an iron free one or if there's one they could give you that has a smaller dose of firing because sometimes that will cause that.

Usually in your first trimester, your routine prenatal appointments will be about every four weeks. And during your first trimester, you can discuss with your doctor or midwife. Any medical tests, procedures or decisions that you'll need to make for the rest of your first and second trimesters. So that you have time to research these in advance Now I did mention a lot of the common things that are ordered and recommended, but there may be additional things that you need to decide on. And just because something is recommended for pregnant women in general doesn't always mean that you have to do it, or that it's best for your personal pregnancy. Again, you'll want to research things that you're not sure about, and talk with your medical care provider about it.

And also discuss with them what things are unsafe during pregnancy, such as food substances, activities, exercises, chemicals, and so on. You can also research this on your own, but I would definitely talk that over with your doctor to especially if there's things you have specific questions on, and any unusual or concerning medical issues or symptoms. Don't procrastinate with bringing up any concerns in this area. Now to do next, on page one of the first trimester workbook, you can mark down any upcoming medical decisions you want to research and any questions or concerns that you want to discuss with your doctor or midwife. The next lesson in this course part three, we'll discuss check if you qualify for WIC, so you can watch this when you're ready. Remember though to pace yourself with this course so that you can apply the suggestions and not be overwhelmed with too much info at once.