What happens at my first antenatal check?
Usually, you are in charge of these notes and you must take them with you to any appointment relating to your pregnancy (including your delivery) so that everybody who needs to has important personal information about you at their fingertips. In fact, you will not be allowed to attend an antenatal appointment without your notes, so make sure you always pack them.
At your first check urine will be taken to check for: sugar (to ensure you are not developing diabetes), ketones (which indicates diabetes is established) and protein (indicating a urinary infection).
Also at your first visit, blood is taken from you to find out your haemoglobin level and check you are not Anaemic. The blood sample taken will also ascertain your blood group (A, B, AB or O) and your Rhesus blood type (Rh) which will be either positive or negative. All this information is crucial in case a blood transfusion is needed.
Other routine blood tests at this first visit may include tests for (which could cause serious liver damage to your baby) and also Syphilis (which if untreated could cause serious congenital problems for your baby) and Hepatitis B, Rubella (German Measles). If you do not have immunity to the latter, there is a possibility you could contract it and in early pregnancy this can cause blindness, deafness and heart defects in your unborn child.
Your foot size and height will be taken as these measurements can indicate a small pelvis if you are very small and your weight is monitored as this will help to indicate the growth of your baby. Your abdomen will be palpated (a special way of feeling your baby) by the midwife to ascertain the size of your growing baby and there is a possibility that you may have an internal examination. This is nothing to worry about and helps to confirm your pregnancy dates, your pelvic size and check the condition of your cervix. To check your pregnancy dates yourself, why not use our due date calculator to work out when you might have your baby?
Your blood pressure is taken at each visit, which may help to indicate any risk of pre-eclampsia occurring.
In addition to this, your legs will be checked for swelling or varicose veins and your breasts may also be examined. Your baby’s fetal heartbeat will be monitored from around week 14 of your pregnancy.
All these things are a perfectly normal part of this first antenatal visit and if it is your first pregnancy, you will probably find that you look forward to these check-ups as these are the points you can get feed back and ask your midwife any questions or concerns you may have.
See:
Introduction to antenatal care
What happens at my first check-up?
Will I see the same caregivers all the way through my pregnancy?
For more antenatal details
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