Prenatal care schedule

Prenatal care should start soon after you learn you are pregnant. Call our office if you have confirmed pregnancy with a home test or if you suspect you are pregnant.

First prenatal appointment

Your first prenatal appointment should happen around 8 weeks after your last menstrual period. At this appointment:

• We will confirm pregnancy via urine test, blood test or ultrasound.
• We will discuss safe foods and medications during pregnancy.
• You will likely have a blood test to confirm your blood type, and a urinalysis to detect any infections.
• You will have a chance to ask any questions you have about your pregnancy.

First & second trimester appointments

During a typical pregnancy, you will be seen by your provider once a month during the first and second trimester (until approximately 27 weeks). You will also have ultrasounds at approximately 12 weeks and again at 20 weeks.

The 12-week ultrasound is done in combination with a first-trimester blood screening for genetic abnormalities, should you choose to undergo such a screening. Our office works with the providers at Novant Health Maternal Fetal Medicine to complete this ultrasound, also called a nuchal translucency (NT) scan. This provides valuable information about your baby's development.

At approximately 20 weeks, you will have another ultrasound in our office to check on your baby's growth. At this ultrasound, it is often possible to determine your baby's gender if you would like to know!

Third trimester appointments

Towards the end of your pregnancy, you will be seen more frequently. Typical appointments include:

• Bi-weekly appointments weeks 28-34.
• Weekly appointments from week 35 until delivery.

For high-risk pregnancies, including pregnancies involving multiple babies, you might be seen for extra appointments or ultrasounds.

Your support person is encouraged to attend any or all of your appointments. While it is not necessary to have someone with you, it is often helpful to have another person hearing answers to your questions or listening to instructions from your doctor. There is a lot to keep up with during pregnancy, and those close to you can help you make sense of it all!

Meet the entire care team supporting you

We are proud to have a team of board certified obstetricians who work together for you. Each of these experienced physicians will provide you with excellent care for the duration of your pregnancy, delivery and in the post-partum period. While each patient has a “primary” physician, it is important that you meet all of our providers.  We require that you rotate prenatal appointments among all of our physicians so that you have an opportunity to get to know each of the providers who could deliver your baby. 

In addition, all of our physicians also share on-call duties with the providers of Novant Health Bradford Clinic. Your delivering physician could also be one of these providers.