Two weeks following your last menstrual period occurs is generally when you would want to make your first prenatal appointment with the doctor. If you find it impossible to keep this meting, then it’s important that you schedule a new appointment, and make it as soon as possible following the revelation that you’re pregnant.

Out of all the doctor visits of your life, this will normally be one of the longer ones you will have. It can take even longer if you do not come prepared with all of your information and any possible dates that the doctor should know about.

Also for this visit it would be a great idea for your partner to come along with you so that any questions that you and he will have can also be addressed during the visit.

One of the first things that your doctor will ask about is your medical history. Your history should include any medical or psychosocial problems, your vitals such as blood pressure, obvious ones like your height and weight, when your last breast and cervical exam was and the results, the date of your last period which will help determine how far along you are as well as an expected due date, any birth control methods you have used if any, whether or not you have had any history of abortions or miscarriages, and if you have been hospitalized for anything. Other obvious things that your doctor will ask is if you are currently taking any medications, if you have any allergies to medications and what your family’s medical history is in order to check for anything that might run in your family medically.

After all of the questions about your medical history your doctor will also give you a physical examination. In addition to the normal exam your doctor will also perform a pap smear, cervical cultures, and if you had a question about how far along you are or are experiencing bleeding or cramping then your doctor can also perform an ultrasound. After all of this blood will be drawn for a number of lab tests which check, hemoglobin and hematocrit, your Rh factor which if negative will need to be rescreened again at a later time in the pregnancy, a rubella screen, varicella and rubella and hepatitis vaccine, a cystic fibrosis screen, hepatitis B surface antigen, tay sach’s screen, a sickle cell prep screen, an HIV test, and also the levels of your hemoglobin and hematocrit, and finally specific tests depending on each patient such as hepatitis C or tuberculosis.

Your doctor may also want to discuss lifestyle changes or questions in order to keep you and your pregnancy from hitting any roadblocks. Things like travel limitations, miscarriage precautions, diet and exercise, nutrition and weight gain, environmental hazards and the physician or midwife rotation in the office. The important thing to remember is that your questions are just as important as the doctors and you should never hesitate to ask anything you want about the pregnancy process and how the procedures go. Things like a nurse line to call for any questions while you are away from the doctor’s office, what to do when bleeding or cramping and who to call, any habits that may need to change and obviously you should ask when your next visit will be so that you can keep up to date and continue the process. Another important thing to discuss with your doctor is any labor or delivery issues. Sometimes knowing beforehand about these will help to ease the stress of the process and be able to have a happy and healthy baby when the time comes.