Prenatal Care

What To Expect During Prenatal Visit

Scheduling for prenatal visit with your midwife is one important thing you should do as soon as you know you're pregnant. That way, you can start getting prenatal care properly.

First Prenatal Visit - What To Expect
Whether you're seeing a midwife, your first prenatal appointment is likely to be the longest prenatal appointment. Usually the first prenatal check up is scheduled when you're approximately 8-12 week pregnant unless you have had problems in the past, or are having problems at the moment.

These are the list of things your Midwife would like to know during the first prenatal visit:

Your menstrual cycle history. This is important to assess your reproductive well-being, as well as, to estimate your delivery date. Your and your family health history, including genetic and birth defect history. Your activities, habits,and living condition, so that your caregiver can determine whether you have a condition which could affect your safety and emotional well-being. The medication or supplements you've taken since your last menstrual period to assess whether you've ingested potentially harmful substance.

Once your midwife interviews you, she will give you advice of what you should or shouldn't do to take care of yourself during your pregnancy. She may ask you to get some vitamin and mineral supplement to support you and your baby's well-being. If you have a midwife as your caregiver, you'll find that she will emphasize a lot on this aspect; a midwife is likely to give you a long talk on nutrition and how to take care of yourself properly to avoid pregnancy and childbirth problem in the future.

In addition, during the first prenatal visit, your midwife will ask you to sign the necessary paperwork to continue on the care with her. Your midwife will also perform standard physical examination including measurement of the fundal height (i.e. the stomach), blood pressure, heart pulse, and your weight during the first prenatal visit.

Subsequent Prenatal Appointment - What To Expect
Depending on your risk factor, your caregiver will determine the number of prenatal appointment you need to make. If you are a normal healthy woman with a low-risk pregnancy, you will see your caregiver once a month until you're 32 week pregnant. After 32 weeks, you will have to see your caregiver every two weeks. Then, one month before your due date (approximately 36 weeks), you'll see your caregiver every week.

During the subsequent prenatal check-up, your caregiver will perform the standard physical examination like the ones performed during the first prenatal visit, measure the baby's heartbeat with a doppler and may ask for certain prenatal testing to be done. Additionally, your midwife may test your urine on every visit to quickly check on the level of sugar and protein in your urine.

The duty of a health provider during prenatal appointment is not only to look after the pregnant women physically, but also to ensure the emotional well-being of the pregnant mother. Unfortunately, this is an area which is often overlooked. A physician generally simply does not have enough time to sit and talk heart-to-heart with the pregnant mother to find out whether there is something in her life troubling her. A physician usually only has time for brief physical examination, ask you about your health concern, and give you brochures on pregnancy and birth.

In contrast, the midwifery model of care is strikingly different.

Granted, a midwife wouldn't do anything differently from what a physician would have done in terms of physical examination. However, a midwife has time to "do" beyond physical examination.

She can have a heart-to-heart talk with you over a cup of tea or maybe a massage during your prenatal check-up. She takes time to educate you about pregnancy including teaching you about nutrition and exercises you need to do, things you should avoid and how to look after yourself during pregnancy.

Basically, she treats you like an important person, not just patient number one, two, etc. It is not surprising that midwives earn trust and have bond with their clients in the process. We tend to be comfortable with somebody we really trust. In birthing situation, the trust and bond between the caregiver and the pregnant mom is even more important, since the secure feeling helps moms to relax during labor. Therefore, to have a birth with somebody you trust really helps.

If you hire a midwife, you'll find that you long for your prenatal check-up, which is in contrast to most women I know. Yes, most women dread the prenatal visit because of the long wait and short 'check-up time'. In fact, many women feel that they often rushed during their prenatal visit. Yet, prenatal the visit is important if you're pregnant.

If you hire a midwife, you will not have to wait. To begin with, a midwife often offers to visit the client's home, so there's no wait here. Alternatively, even if she suggests you to visit her home for a prenatal visit, you'll likely be the only client she sees for that particular day. So you won't have to wait.

And the prenatal appointment itself is nice and long. You won't feel like you're having a prenatal appointment. Instead, you may feel like you're visiting a long-time friend.

We do not provide nor do we recommend the routine use of ultrasounds, glucose tolerance testing; prenatal RhoGAM for Rh- women; and genetic screening such as Alpha Fetoprotein testing, Chorionic Villi Sampling, or Amniocentesis. I do have some written material an these tests/procedures in our library and files so that parents can make informed choices. Many of these procedures have known or suspected risks involved in their use. It is important to make sure that the benefits to you and your baby outweigh any possible risks.

If you choose to have testing done, you must set it up for yourself. You will need to pay for an office visit with a nurse practitioner or physician who will then order the test for you. I do have an OB/GYN that I recommend. Just ask for my list of doctors, if you don’t have a back up doctor.

Prenatal visits are scheduled every four weeks until the 30th week of pregnancy, every two weeks until the 36th week and then weekly until your baby is born. Each prenatal visit lasts about on hour. Only 10 to 15 minutes is spent on the physical exam. The rest of the time is available to discuss any concerns of questions you may have regarding your pregnancy and upcoming birth. I do nutritional counseling with you and work with the herbs and homeopathic remedies to address physical complaints, acute illnesses, fears, symptoms of disease, and so on. I am not a Doctor and  I do not diagnose any illness or disease. You should educate yourself on any treatment you choose to engage in and it should first be discussed with your own family practitioner.

Prenatal visits will be done at my home office. Please check with me regarding my current office hours as the schedule changes from time to time. I will do one home  prenatal visit at 36 weeks. You are welcome to bring family members and friends to your prenatal visits if you like. It’s your time.