Prenatal care is medical care you get when you are pregnant. You can get prenatal care from a doctor, midwife or other health care provider. The goal of prenatal care is to monitor for potential problems for you and yor baby so as to identify problems early before they become serious.

Go for a prenatal care checkup as soon as you think you are pregnant  and then the schedule will be typically one visit per month for the first 6 months. Then two visits per month during months 7 and 8. Then one visit per week during the last month until baby is born. It is important to keep all your prenatal appointments.

The first checkup will cover your personal and family history. Current medications will be discussed and prenatal vitamins will be initiated. An ultrasound will be arranged to estimate the age and expected date of delivery of your baby. Blood tests, urine test, blood pressure, weight will also be assessed. The blood pressure, weight and urine will be assessed at every visit. From 10 to 12 weeks the doctor can let you listen to the baby’s heart and from 20 weeks, measurements of your abdomen will allow the doctor to track the baby’s growth.

Other important tests in your pregnancy will be the nuchal scan between 11 to 13 weeks to determine the risk of  down’s syndrome, the anomaly scan at 20 weeks to detect birth defects and the gender of the baby, the glucose screening test at 28 weeks to detect gestational diabetes, screening tests for HIV, syphyllis, hepatitis, sickle cell, toxoplasmosis, rubella immunity, and blood group.

It is important to maintain a healthy diet in pregnancy and to have regular exercise. Exercises that are safe for pregnant mothers are walking, swimming, riding a stationary bike and yoga.

There are some common discomforts which you may experience in  pregnancy which are usually not serious. Backache can be helped by wearing flat shoes, avoiding lifting heavy things and exercising regularly. Constipation can be helped by drinking lots of water and eating more fruits and vegetables which are good sources of fibre. Heartburn can be helped by eating smaller more frequent meals and avoiding carbonated drinks and spicy foods. Morning sickness can be helped by eating dry crackers before getting out of bed in the morning, eating more often but less at a time and avoiding greasy, spicy foods with strong smells. Swollen feet can be helped by putting your legs up often, waeing comfortable shoes, and getting up and moving around every hour.