Month One of Your Pregnancy

At the Doctor's or Midwife's

At the Doctor's or Midwife's Office

Set up your first prenatal care visit as soon as you know you are pregnant. For now through the seventh month, you'll be seeing your provider on a monthly basis (unless you are considered high risk, in which case you may have more frequent appointments). If you still haven't chosen a provider, now is the time to do so.

Your First Visit

When you go to the doctor or midwife for your first checkup, you will likely experience the following:

1. Undergo a thorough physical examination.
2. Give a urine sample (the first of many).
3. Have blood drawn for routine lab work.
4. If you haven't had a Pap smear in the last three months, your provider may also take a vaginal swab of cells scraped from your cervix for this purpose.
5. Have your pregnancy confirmed.

Estimating Your Due Date

Most providers determine gestational age (how far along you are) from the first day of your last menstrual period (LMP). If you have a regular twenty-eight-day cycle, you can figure out your own estimated due date.

1. Take the date of your last period. ___________________
2. Count three months back. ___________________
3. Add seven days. ___________________
4. The resulting date, ___________________, is your Estimated Due Date!

For example, if your last period began on September 1, you would go back through August 1 and July 1 to June 1. Then add seven days to come up with an estimated due date of June 8. An alternate method is to count 280 days (40 weeks) from the first day of your last period.

Prenatal Nutrition

For some nutritional insurance, your doctor or midwife is likely to prescribe a prenatal vitamin containing most, if not all, of these nutrients.

When to Contact Your Doctor or Midwife

If you experience any of the following symptoms, call your doctor or midwife immediately:

• Abdominal pain and/or cramping
• Fluid or blood leaking from the vagina
• Abnormal vaginal discharge (foul-smelling, green, or yellow)
• Painful urination
• Severe headache
• Impaired vision (spots or blurring)
• Fever over 101°F
• Chills
• Excessive swelling of face and/or body
• Severe and unrelenting vomiting and/or diarrhea
• Fainting or dizziness, especially if they are accompanied by abdominal pain or bleeding (They could be symptoms of ectopic, or tubal, pregnancy, a potentially fatal condition where implantation occurs outside of the endometrial lining of the uterus, such as in the fallopian tubes.)

While a good dose of common sense should be used in contacting your doctor or midwife after hours, in most cases better safe than sorry applies. Trust your instincts. If something just doesn't feel right to you, make the call.

Month Two of Your Pregnancy