Prenatal visits are a generally accepted practice during pregnancy and rightfully so. Prenatal visits (especially with a midwife) are a great way to correct and/or affirm nutrition, exercise, and overall progress. The frequency of prenatal visits varies depending on the health care provider and the risk involved with each particular woman and her pregnancy.
Prenatal visits are a rather joyful event. My midwife (she is absolutely fabulous) schedules prenatal visits every three weeks until the last two months of pregnancy. Our most recent prenatal visit occurred at sixteen weeks. Many things happened during this prenatal visit.
First we went over the results of my blood work. The results were great! My vitamin D levels were at the sufficient level so my midwife reminded me to take a vitamin D3 supplement so that my levels would be more than just sufficient (easy fix).
Next she asked about what I had been eating and in what amounts including my water and vitamin supplement intake. She also reminded me about the amounts of each supplement that I need to take daily.
After that she weighed me, my weight gain has been good so far. Then she took my blood pressure which was also very good. Next she used the doppler to locate and check the baby’s heart rate. Finally she measured my belly which measured between sixteen and seventeen centimeters; right on track.
Towards the end of our visit I asked her about scheduling an ultrasound and what she recommended. She gave us information for an ultrasound technician that she really liked and told us that she would like to come too (which was really nice to know that she’ll be there)! We then scheduled my next prenatal visit (on my husband’s birthday). As we were leaving she had tested my urine which was also spot on! Our sixteen week prenatal visit was wonderfully reassuring; so far things are going great!