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Prenatal Doctor Visits
What to Expect During Office Exams from Conception to Delivery
By Renee Roberson
The physician will order a complete blood count to check for anemia, immunity to rubella, STDs and in some states, HIV. She will also go over your pregnancy history and inquire about past miscarriages, live births and abortions, all of which also help determine potential risks during the pregnancy.
At each checkup the mom-to-be should be prepared to provide a urine sample and have her blood pressure checked as well. With the blood pressure check, doctors are looking for signs of pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH), which is a high blood pressure condition that occurs in about 7 percent of pregnancies, Dr. Jackson says.
Often in PIH, protein will begin spilling from the kidneys, and this will be evident in the urine test. This, along with elevated blood pressure levels, helps give doctors an idea of how the fetus is being affected by the condition. The risk for PIH goes up the farther along a woman is, which is why the blood pressure and urine tests are required at each checkup.
Around 10 to 12 weeks, the doctors can also detect the baby's heartbeat with a Doppler instrument, and later through a stethoscope, and will check for it at each visit. After the first trimester, when the size of the uterus starts to rapidly grow, obstetricians will also start measuring the height of your uterus to help determine how the baby is growing.
"By about 20 weeks, the uterus should be up at the belly button area," Dr. Jackson says. "If it's not, additional testing may need to be ordered. If it's way above that length, dates could be wrong or there could be a possibility of a multiples pregnancy."
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