hi everyone we are the doctors bjorkman a physician couple going week by week through
pregnancy sharing medical education topics from trying to conceive to pregnancy labor and delivery
as well as postpartum and sharing our own in real life experiences as we live it this week
i am eight weeks pregnant so we are talking all about going to that first prenatal visit
that's right with this week we're going to be focusing in on that first visit things that you
can expect and how to best be prepared to make the most of that first meeting with your ob provider
and just in case it's your first time meeting us i'm kurt i'm a pediatrician
i'm sarah i'm an ob gyn and we are the doctors bjorkman
welcome back last week we covered nausea and vomiting of pregnancy so hopefully what
we covered was able to help you combat those all too common symptoms of the first trimester if you
missed it go back and check out week 7 for tips and tricks on how to fight that first trimester
morning sickness or all-day sickness and two weeks ago in week six we talked a lot about how
to choose where to give birth and also who to be your ob provider and that discussion is going to
be really helpful this week as we're talking about the first prenatal visit and so hopefully from
that time that conversation has helped you and you've already looked into scheduling that visit
definitely so with that this week we want to give you some insight on what to expect at your first
prenatal visit but before we do that let's talk about what's happening with baby's development
it's week eight baby's growing really fast now is looking a little bit more like a human and
it's already the size of a raspberry well the arm buds in the leg buds have continued
to grow the hands and feet are now starting to differentiate they look a little like
paddles at this stage but it won't be long and hopefully those fingers will be grabbing yours
the first prenatal visit usually happens sometime between week 8 and week 10 of pregnancy so once
you've confirmed you're pregnant and chosen that ob provider it's a good time to call
and get that appointment scheduled because it may take some time to get in depending on the
group or person that you're hoping to see yeah and this visit actually ends up being one of
the longest visits you're going to have of your pregnancy but it's got three big goals okay and
those are first for the ob provider to learn all the important things about your medical history
second to make sure you're up to date with all of the ob care you need and third to help you
prepare for the next 30 plus weeks of pregnancy our goal this week is to help you be prepared for
this one visit to make it as useful as possible for both you and your provider definitely so in
terms of your medical history your provider is going to want to know everything they're
going to want to know any medical problems that you've had in the past or have now they're going
to want to know about any surgeries you've had they're going to ask all about your gyn history
as well as your ob history and that includes any prior pregnancies birth losses or terminations
and they're also going to talk to you about your mental health history this can seem like a lot but
it's really important to in terms of optimizing your health and your baby's health throughout
your pregnancy and so this helps your provider anticipate things that could come up during your
pregnancy they're also going to want to know any medications or supplements you're taking so
it's good to write down a list of anything you're taking how much how often the other big piece of
information that's going to come up at this too is family history both for you and your partner
and so this is extra important you sit down with your partner before you go given current visitor
restrictions so things that you can think about is there any family history of genetic defect
a specific history of cardiac defect or even any history of learning disabilities
in addition to making sure they know all of your pertinent medical history this first prenatal
visit is a great time for your provider to make sure you are up to date with all of your needed
medical care to get this started your provider or one of their nurses is going to take a baseline
height and weight as well as your vitals you're also going to have a complete physical exam so
they're going to listen to your heart and lungs do a breast exam as well as do a pelvic exam
to assess the size of your uterus and the shape of your pelvis they may also get a pap spur at this
time if you need one they're also going to do a couple of tests which are commonly blood and urine
the most common blood tests start out with getting a blood type with rh factor which becomes really
important pregnancy screening for immunity to certain diseases like rubella and chickenpox
and then also looking for stis like hepatitis b chlamydia gonorrhea syphilis and hiv these tests
are standard for all pregnancies and so even if you feel like they aren't pertinent to you
and is in the best interest of your developing baby to make sure that these aren't employees
they can have pretty significant effects to the developing fetus and it's best that if you have
them they get treated right away definitely so you're also going to give a urine sample which
is going to look for blood protein glucose or bacteria just a heads up you're going to give
a urine sample at every prenatal visit because the two common complications of pregnancy diabetes and
preeclampsia both have markers that begin to show up in the urine the first prenatal visit is really
long my visit started with an hour-long visit with the nurse where she collected
a lot of that history we talked about my past medical history medications guy in history ob
history we talked about my family history we talked about kurt's family history which we
had reviewed before i went because unfortunately he still can't come to most of these appointments
and then you talk to your doctor and then you have to go to the lab to get your blood drawn and then
you maybe have an ultrasound so it's just kind of a long ordeal but it's the part of the process
another piece of testing that will be discussed at this first prenatal visit is genetic screening
and this is going to be discussed in two types the first of which is carrier screening carrier
screening looks at mom and dad for specific common conditions that you could be carrying without even
knowing it this is things like taste sex cystic fibrosis spinal muscular atrophy or even blood
conditions like sickle cell disease or thalassemia now you may have done this before even conceiving
but if you haven't now is a time when you could still do that the second type of screening that
will be discussed is first and second trimester genetic screening of your baby that is looking
for aneuploidies and certain genetic conditions given that genetic testing is such a kind of
complex topic we are going to cover it in full detail in next week's episode of week nine
the final part of this first prenatal visit is confirming gestational age and assigning
an official due date you may have already done this if you had an early confirmation
or pregnancy visit but if not that will happen this week so your ob provider
is going to calculate your edd or your estimated date of delivery also known as the due date by
going 40 weeks from the first day of your lmp and then comparing that to the measurements from your
very first ultrasound and making sure they line up so you may remember this ultrasound picture
from sarah's six-week confirmation of pregnancy visit at that time they did what's called a crown
wrong length or measuring from babies head to tail it's this length in combination with the
last menstrual period date that helps your ob provider estimate your date of delivery
this is the first visit for you to get to know your provider and your provider to get to know you
so i really encourage you to write down a list of questions that you have ahead of time
because i know when i get into the room with the provider i forget everything i wanted to ask and i
get home and anyway yeah so some things you might want to have on your list include things like when
should you call is there a nurse line or what's the best way to get in touch with your provider
when's your next visit going to be and how many visits should you plan on for pregnancy
what kind of changes are happening at the practice or at the hospital because of coped yeah and this
is also going to be a really good time for you to bring up any special desires you have
like unmedicated birth vaginal birth after c-section or even wondering how long past your
due date might you go so that is the first prenatal visit hopefully that gives you a
outline of what to expect if you have any questions please leave them below we're happy
to answer them and otherwise we will see you next week we're going to come back talking all
about genetic screening and testing for baby um so anyway click subscribe we'll see you in a week
we're doctors but not your doctors anything we've said in this video
is for education or entertainment purposes only it is not medical advice
any specific medical questions you have should be directed to your provider