A New Way to Plan for Prenatal Checkups.

Pregnancy involves rolling with the punches (or, rather, kicks). But staying on top of doctor’sprenatal care visits, baby’s development, your changing body and your emotional well-being can be, well, a lot. Meet Planner+, a way for pregnant people to schedule and prepare for every prenatal appointment.

This appointment prep guide will help you feel 100 percent prepared every time you stroll into your provider’s office. Planner+ will show you appointment-specific information about the visit, all verified by medical professionals—because if a pap smear is potentially coming your way, it’s nice to know about it. (Note: Not all moms-to-be will need every appointment; there will be some variances depending on your specific practice and unique pregnancy.)

You can schedule and sync appointments on your iOS calendar through The Bump app—and we’ll send you a reminder email 48 hours before, complete with the full guide for that visit. Because, pregnancy brain is a very real thing.

First Trimester Prenatal Appointments

The first trimester is a whirlwind, sprinkled with moments of unfiltered joy and utter anxiety. It can go insanely fast or torturously slow. But knowing what to expect in the coming days and weeks—and having your upcoming appointments scheduled on the calendar—can help you feel prepared for the roller-coaster journey ahead.

After you get that fateful positive pregnancy test, you’ll want to schedule your first prenatal appointment for between 8 and 10 weeks. At that time, your ob-gyn or midwife will take your medical history, have you pee in a cup, order some basic blood work and perform a physical exam and pap smear. If all checks out, you’ll be seeing your provider for regular prenatal appointments every four weeks for the next couple of months.

During the first trimester, your doctor will also offer some prenatal genetic testing options. These screenings can reveal important information about baby’s health. The most common first stop for all women is a two-part test scheduled for between 11 and 14 weeks. Aptly named the first-trimester screen, it includes bloodwork and the nuchal translucency ultrasound that measures the back of baby’s neck and a blood test. Together, these assess baby’s risk for having Down syndrome, Trisomy 13 and other genetic conditions.

Around the same time or shortly after, you’ll have the option to move forward with cell-free fetal DNA screening, also called non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT). This is another blood test that screens for potential genetic conditions. It can also reveal baby’s sex.

If earlier testing determines you’re at an increased risk for having a baby with a chromosomal disorder, your doctor may schedule you for chorionic villus sampling (CVS), a slightly more invasive procedure that can provide more definitive results. It involves getting a small sample of the placental tissue transabdominally or via the cervix.

Second Trimester Prenatal Appointments

The second trimester is sometimes referred to as the honeymoon stage of pregnancy. Those early unpleasant symptoms have (hopefully!) faded, and you’re not yet in the stick-a-fork-in-me phase (that comes later!).

Appointments abound in trimester two. You’ll continue to see your provider every four weeks, but you’ll also pop in for some extra testing. Between weeks 15 and 22, you’ll have the modified sequential screening—also known as the multiple marker screening. This blood test checks for the levels of four different hormones and evaluates baby’s risk for some genetic conditions, neural tube defects and growth issues. Your provider will also combine the results of your first-trimester screening and the modified sequential screening to better assess baby’s risk for having Down syndrome.

Depending on your situation, your doctor may also recommend amniocentesis, between 15 and 20 weeks. A needle is used to carefully extract a small amount of amniotic fluid for genetic testing. It can more definitively identify a number of potential issues, including Cystic fibrosis, Down syndrome, neural tube defects and some metabolic disorders.

Next comes the appointment you’ve been waiting for: the midpregnancy ultrasound (aka the anatomy scan). Yes, around week 20, you’ll get to see baby’s adorable nose and toes on screen. Your ultrasound technician will take measurements to ensure baby’s growth and development is progressing as expected. And if you haven’t yet found out baby’s sex, you’ll have the opportunity to get that exciting newsflash.

Around week 26, you’ll have the glucose challenge screening. You’ll drink a super-sweet glucose drink and have your blood drawn one hour later to see how your body reacts to sugar. If the results are above the threshold, you’ll come back for a more definitive three-hour diagnostic test that’ll determine whether you have gestational diabetes.

Third Trimester Prenatal Appointments

You’ve reached the homestretch: the third trimester. Ready to get this show on the road? First, you’ll want to get your many appointments lined up. Beginning in week 28, you'll likely start seeing your provider every two weeks, until you reach week 37, when you’ll start going in for weekly visits. But before you get to that point, you’ll have a group B strep test at around 36 weeks. Your doctor will take a swab of the vagina and rectum to check for group B strep, a harmless-for-you bacteria that can pose a risk to baby during a vaginal delivery (don’t worry—proactive antibiotics will mitigate this concern). Around this time your provider may also start performing cervix checks at your regular appointment to evaluate for potential effacement and dilation.

If your pregnancy is high-risk, you may also have additional ultrasounds and non-stress tests in the last few weeks of pregnancy to ensure everything is progressing well. All these appointments will culminate in the ultimate event: baby’s birth! The grand finale is approaching—hang in there!

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