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