What Happens At The First OB Appointment?
Monday was my first OB appointment. I’ve had many people ask me over the years exactly what happens at the first appointment? What can I expect? Read on to find out!
The first appointment is usually at least an hour in length. Plan ahead and find a sitter for younger children if possible. If you are concerned about the length of the appointment, you may be able to shorten it by completing some of the paperwork ahead of time. You can download forms off of some doctor’s websites for just this purpose.
The first thing that happens at your appointment is that the nurse will ask you for a urine sample. Usually, they test for protein or sugar in your urine. Most offices also do a pregnancy test to confirm your pregnancy. After this comes the part I dislike–they WEIGH you. In fact, I dislike being weighed so much that I requested that they weigh me backwards! They complied.
After this, a nurse went over my family history and health history. She asked about my husband’s family as well.  If you have had any pregnancies and deliveries before, they’ll ask about that. Since I am of–ahem–advanced maternal age, they requested that I consider going for genetic counseling.  I declined the blood testing they offered to test for genetic problems because I’ve seen too many friends worry about false positives. I asked if I could get a high resolution ultrasound to look for markers for Down’s Syndrome instead. They said yes. I declined an amniocentesis test.
They took blood from me to test for different things like HIV, Â which is pretty routine.
They did a quick physical and asked if they could do a Pap test. I declined simply because I tend to bleed and I knew it would worry me, especially with my history of miscarriage.
Then they offered to do an ultrasound to see that the baby was where he or she should be and that everything “looked” ok. I agreed. They did an ultrasound on my stomach but really couldn’t see much because I am only 8 weeks along. I agreed to a vaginal ultrasound.  We could see the baby and the sac. We could see the heart fluttering too. They printed out my child’s first picture for me to take home!
The doctor was careful to remind me that I still have about 4 weeks left to go until the first trimester is over, until then, my risk of miscarriage is still high.
For now, we wait an hope that I’ll be able to “keep” that OB appointment in February!
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Kristin says...
Is it unusual for husbands/partners to attend the first OB appointment? My husband really wants to be involved with our first child and I do to but I worry it’ll be weird.
Melissa says...
I have worked at a clinic for 5 years and its not weird that your husband will come with you to this appt. Its actually good for him to be there to listen to what the doctor has to say about what is going to be happening to you and the baby. If you feel uncomfortable about him being in there for the pap smear then maybe he shouldnt be in the delivery room, you need to feel comfortable about what is going to happen in the next 7 months or how ever long you have….
-Melissa