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,  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!

Choosing a doctor for your child is an important step to providing your child with quality health care. It can also be an overwhelming task.

The first thing is to find a doctor that participates in your particular health plan. I live in the United States where there seems to be numerous health care plans. Depending upon the plan offered by your particular employer, you may have an abundance of doctors to choose from, or you may just have a few. It’s important to call the doctor’s office to make sure that they are still participating in your particular insurance plan. Don’t trust the insurance company to have the most up to date information!

If you can, it’s helpful to find a doctor who has other partners in the practice. You can still choose one particular doctor to manage your child’s care, but it is nice to have other options if that particular doctor has a full schedule and your child is quite sick.

Some other things to ask about when looking for a doctor: does the office have extended hours? Do they have weekend and evening appointments? Is there a separate office for well child check ups? Can you schedule and appointment yourself, or must you go through a nurse triage line where the nurse determines if your child is sick enough for an appointment?

Lastly but certainly not the least to consider: is this particular office respectful to you? Do they value you as an important member of “the team”?

Finding the right doctor can be a lot of work, but the payoff for your labors is huge. When your child is sick or needs emergency care, you’ll be glad that you invested all that time finding the very best doctor to take care of your precious child.