Prenatal care

• Prenatal care is the care you get while you’re pregnant.
• Regular prenatal care helps keep you and baby healthy.
• A doctor, midwife or other health provider gives this care.

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Prenatal care is medical care you get when you’re pregnant. You can get prenatal care from certain health providers, like an obstetrician, a family practice doctor, a certified nurse-midwife, a family nurse practitioner or a women’s health nurse practitioner.

At each prenatal checkup, your provider checks on you and your growing baby. Your provider checks your weight, blood and urine. You can find out your due date and check if there are any vaccinations you need. You also get to experience the exciting moment of seeing your baby for the first time with an ultrasound. Many providers offer ultrasound to all pregnant women.

Your provider gives you prenatal tests to make sure your baby is growing healthy. Some of these tests include amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling (also called CVS) and cystic fibrosis (CF) carrier screening.

Use your prenatal checkups as a time to ask your provider all your questions about pregnancy and your baby.

See also: Your first prenatal care checkup, Later prenatal care checkups