Getting prenatal care is a good way to stay healthy while you are pregnant. Prenatal care is regular visits to a doctor, nurse or midwife to check on your health and the baby’s development. Seeing your health care provider regularly allows them to spot problems early and help you prevent complications.
Prenatal care includes early and continuing risk assessment, health promotion, screening for medical and psychosocial risks, monitoring of fetal growth, laboratory testing, and nutritional counseling and other interventions. The benefits of attending prenatal care include the prevention of adverse pregnancy outcomes, including premature birth, low birth weight and newborn death. It also reduces disparities in perinatal outcomes, particularly for women from low socioeconomic backgrounds.
The first prenatal visit is important because the health care provider will review your family history and your medical condition, and perform a complete physical exam and a urine and blood test. Your health care provider will then give you a schedule of how often to return for routine visits during your pregnancy, depending on whether you have any preexisting conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure, your age, and your stage in the pregnancy.
During these visits, your health care provider will take an ultrasound to check the location and size of the fetus and to monitor the baby’s growth. The doctor or nurse will talk to you about lifestyle choices, such as eating well and being physically active, that can improve your chances of a healthy pregnancy. They will also answer any questions you have.
You should make your first prenatal care appointment as soon as you think you are pregnant, ideally by 12 weeks along. This will allow you to get the necessary tests and care in time to help prevent serious complications, such as ectopic pregnancy.
If you are having a healthy pregnancy, your health care provider will probably only need to see you about once per month as the pregnancy progresses. If you have a preexisting condition or are at high risk for problems due to your age or other factors, your health care provider will want to see you more often.
Group prenatal care brings together patients with similar needs for a health care encounter that provides improved patient education and social support, while maintaining the risk screening and physical assessment of individual prenatal care. Studies show that participants in group prenatal care have better prenatal knowledge, feel more prepared for labor and delivery, are less fearful of breastfeeding, and report higher satisfaction with their overall care. However, large randomized trials are needed to identify the specific subpopulations that might benefit from group prenatal care. In general, adolescent women appear to particularly benefit from the social support and educational components of group prenatal care. In addition, some adolescent studies suggest that group prenatal care may be more effective than individual prenatal care in reducing disparities in perinatal outcomes, particularly among minority populations.