1st Trimester Dr Appointments
When to call the doctor-
Because I had a miscarriage a few years ago, my doctor has always been super cautious and wonderfully accommodating- so please keep in mind that your experience may be slightly different depending on your doctor and local hospital policies.
The day I got a positive at-home pregnancy test, I called my OB. They scheduled me with their lab to come in for a blood test to confirm the pregnancy and test my progesterone levels. At this appointment, I went straight to the lab; I did not see a nurse or a doctor, simply had 2 vials of blood drawn. For this lab work, it was not necessary to be fasting.
Once the blood test was confirmed and my progesterone suppository prescription was called in, they scheduled my initial OB interview. At this appointment, I met with the nurse. She showed me around the maternity unit- where to check in, where to leave a urine sample during each visit, etc. She then took me to her office so we could discuss the process. During this appointment, we went over the do’s and don’ts of pregnancy and answered any questions I had at this point. We finished up this appointment with more blood work- our state requires several STD tests as well as a blood alcohol/ drug test so the lab drew several vials of blood but again didn’t require fasting.
Around 8 weeks, I was scheduled for my first actual OB visit with a doctor. They told me up front this would be a long appointment- and it was! We started out with a glucose test, then had an early vaginal ultrasound, blood work, and ended with the doctor to go over everything they were able to learn during the earlier tests of that appointment. Typically the glucose test isn’t until further into the process, but as I am older and not as skinny as I would like to be, we had to do an early glucose test.
The 1 hour glucose test is not quite as awful as everyone makes it sound, although it’s also not something I would just volunteer to do for fun either! Basically you get to pick the flavor, my options were orange, lemon lime, or Hawaiian Punch; I chose the orange. The nurse then gives you 5 minutes to drink this super thick syrupy juice. The nurse will then give you a timer and you have to wait an hour before going to the lab for your blood work. Although this blood work doesn’t require fasting, they do recommend you not consume a lot of sugar leading up to this appointment as it may skew the results.
After drinking the glucose test liquid, we went down the hall for the vaginal ultrasound. If you’ve never had a vaginal ultrasound, let’s talk about that- this is not at all the ultrasounds you see on tv and in movies. You undress from the waste down, the ultrasound tech has a probe thing, that she will cover with lubricant, then she will hand the lubricant-covered probe to you for you to insert it, then she will move it around to get the different pictures she needs. It does not hurt, but the pressure is a little uncomfortable. The images on the screen are hard to make out, for me, it looked like like a tiny alien blob. The ultrasound tech doesn’t really tell you anything, she will wait in the doctor for that, so don’t take her silence to mean anything is wrong!
During this hour, while we continued to wait on the lab, we met with the doctor then the financial services person. During these appointments, they refer to the doctor as “the provider.” So the provider does a general check up and possibly a state mandated STD swab. This is a good time to tell your doctor about any uncomfortable symptoms and ask any questions you may have. If this is your first pregnancy, and even if it’s not, you may have a lot of questions, and that’s ok!! This is a pretty big deal after all!! The appointment ended with the blood work. Blood work is basically blood work, right? They took 2 large vials from my lower arm, once the results are in, and someone calls to notify you if any of the levels are out of line. All in, this appointment took about 2 hours.
The afternoon following my 8 week appointment, was ROUGH for me!! I felt TERRIBLE! You know that feeling when you can’t get your blood sugar to normalize? I felt shaky, faint, nauseous, and had absolutely no energy, so we went home for me to lay down and I was absolutely useless the rest of the afternoon.
Given the way I felt all afternoon, I wasn’t completely surprised when the nurse called a few days later to tell me I had “failed” the one test.
Click to read more about what happens when you fail the one hour blood test-
As you near the end of your 1st trimester, you will have another dr appt. For me, this was scheduled at the end of my 11th week/ beginning of my 12th week. This was a super short appointment! Like normal, get there, pee in a cup, check your blood pressure- all the normal stuff. For this appointment they didn’t even have be change into the normal “hospital gown;” they just examined me in my normal clothes. Basically the doctor came in, asked how I was feeling, and if I had any questions, then used her handheld radar thing to check my belly for baby’s heartbeat. At this particular appointment, she was having trouble finding baby, but she assured me this wasn’t concerning because of the size of baby at this point. As her plan B, she got the small ultrasound machine that they can roll into the room and was able to find baby and baby’s heartbeat almost immediately- everything looked exactly the way it was supposed to. The next appointment is in 4 weeks, so stay tuned!
Stay tuned for updates as this journey progresses into the second trimester! I am so excited to be on this journey with you. You’ve got this momma!!