Antenatal Care

What is it?

Antenatal care is the care you receive from healthcare professionals during your pregnancy. You'll be offered a series of appointments with a doctor who specialises in pregnancy and birth (an obstetrician).

They will check that you and your baby are well, give you useful information to help you have a healthy pregnancy (including healthy eating and exercise advice) and answer any questions you may have.

Starting antenatal care

You can book your appointment with you GP as soon as you know you are pregnant. He can put you touch with the nearby OB.

It's best to see them as early as possible to obtain the information you need to have a healthy pregnancy, and because some tests, such as screening for sickle cell and thalassaemia should be done before you're 10 weeks' pregnant.

Antenatal appointments

If you're expecting your first child, you'll have up to 10 antenatal appointments. If you've had a baby before, you'll have around seven antenatal appointments.

Early in your pregnancy, your doctor will give you written information about how many appointments you're likely to have and when they'll happen. You should have a chance to discuss the schedule with them. If you can't keep an antenatal appointment, let the clinic know and make another appointment.

Your antenatal appointments should take place in a setting where you feel able to discuss sensitive issues that may affect you, such as domestic violence, sexual abuse, mental illness or drugs.

Your first visit

At this first visit, you will be given information about:

• folic acid and vitamin D supplements
• nutrition, diet and food hygiene
• lifestyle factors that may affect your health or the health of your baby, such as smoking, recreational drug use and drinking alcohol
• antenatal screening tests, including screening for sickle cell disease and thalassaemia, infectious diseases and screening for Down's syndrome.

It’s important to tell your doctor if:

• you've had any complications or infections in a previous pregnancy or delivery, such as pre-eclampsia or premature birth
• you're being treated for a chronic disease, such as diabetes or high blood pressure
• you or anyone in your family have previously had a baby with an abnormality, such as spina bifida
• there's a family history of an inherited disease, such as sickle cell or cystic fibrosis
• you know that you are a genetic carrier for an inherited condition such as sickle cell or thalassemia. You should also tell the doctor if you know the baby's biological father is a genetic carrier for one of these conditions
• you have had fertility treatment and either a donor egg or donor sperm

An important part of antenatal care is getting information that will help you to make informed choices about your pregnancy.

Questions you might be asked

The doctor might ask about:

• the date of the first day of your last period
• your health
• any previous illnesses and operations
• any previous pregnancies and miscarriages
• ethnic origins of you and your partner, to find out whether your baby is at risk of certain inherited conditions, or other relevant factors, such as whether your family has a history of twins
• your job or your partner's job, and what kind of accommodation you live in to see whether your circumstances might affect your pregnancy
• how you're feeling and whether you've been feeling depressed

Your booking appointment is an opportunity to tell your doctor if you're in a vulnerable situation or if you need extra support. This could be due to domestic abuse or violence, sexual abuse or female genital mutilation.

Later visits

From around 24 weeks, your antenatal appointments will usually become more frequent. However, if your pregnancy is uncomplicated and you are in good health, you may not be seen as often as someone who needs to be more closely monitored.

Later visits are usually quite short. Your doctor will:

• check your urine and blood pressure
• feel your abdomen (tummy) to check the baby's position
• measure your uterus (womb) to check your baby's growth
• listen to your baby's heartbeat if you want them tov