Hooray! A positive pregnancy test! Now what?!?!?!
It can be an overwhelming minefield of information of appointments, supplements, scans, and more appointments. Here’s our simple checklist to make it simpler for you to know the essentials of managing a new pregnancy, and guide you through what needs to be done. This is what I give my patients when we start the antenatal care journey together – use this wisely with your own GP, as this will need to be tweaked for your individual circumstances.
Pregnancy checklist:
*This assumes all goes well, which we know is not the case for 1 in 4 pregnancies. Please see your GP regularly along the way for support.
- Confirm pregnancy with your GP.
- Take a daily prenatal vitamin.
- Book in your dating ultrasound after the 6.5-7 week mark.
- Blood tests are needed before 8 weeks of pregnancy, including blood type.
- Organise a referral to a private or public antenatal care service, depending on your preference.
- Ensure your GP and/or obstetrician and/or midwife knows about conditions that need special care in pregnancy, e.g. thyroid disease, diabetes management.
- A reminder to stay up to date with your cervical screening – let your GP know if this is overdue as it can be safely done in pregnancy.
- First trimester screening is done at 10-13 weeks of pregnancy and is done to identify pregnancies at a higher risk of chromosomal anomalies. There are two options:
- The newer Non Invasive Prenatal Test (NIPT) OR
- Combined first trimester screening
- (Discuss these with your doctor and which one (or both) is right for you!)
- We recommend an early pregnancy morphology scan at 13 weeks gestation.
- Make sure you get your annual influenza vaccine – this protects both you and your baby.
- Your mood and mental health can change during pregnancy – in fact this is very common. Please tell your GP if this resonates with you, to get the support you need for a thriving mind and pregnancy.
- The morphology scan is the ‘anatomy scan’ done at 18-20 weeks of pregnancy. Make sure you book this in well before it is due. Enjoy the images – life’s greatest art!
- Book in for your pertussis vaccination with your GP, anytime from 20-32 weeks of pregnancy. This protects your baby in their first six weeks of life.
- Watch out for urinary tract infection signs. These are more common in pregnancy, and need timely management.
- The test for gestational diabetes (diabetes that develops in pregnancy) is done at 26-28 weeks gestation. Forgive us for the awful concentrated sugar hit!
- Ensure you have regular checkups with your GP, obstetrician, and/or midwife throughout your pregnancy. We recommend once a month initially, building up to every week in the last stage of pregnancy.
- Make sure you have emergency numbers for the delivery ward or obstetrician you are booked in with – save this in your phone!
Resources we recommend:
Pregnancy and Food Safety resource: https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/consumer/life-events-and-food/pregnancy/pregnancy-and-food-safety?utm_campaign=redirected
Pregnancy and Exercise resource: https://www.gethealthynsw.com.au/program/get-healthy-in-pregnancy/