here - Health Promotion Agency

Antenatal care and antenatal classes
IF YOU’RE GOING TO
HAVE YOUR BABY IN
HOSPITAL,
your GP or midwife will
send or give you a letter for
the hospital. Antenatal care
varies around the country.
In some areas, the first
(booking) appointment is at
the hospital then all or most
subsequent appointments are
with the GP or community
midwife unless the
pregnancy is complicated,
when all appointments are
at the hospital. In other
areas, all care is given by the
GP and/or midwife unless
there is a reason for referral
to the hospital antenatal
clinic.
IF YOU’RE GOING TO
HAVE YOUR BABY IN
A MIDWIFE UNIT OR
AT HOME,
then you will probably go
to your own GP and
community midwife for
most of your antenatal care.
You may need to visit the
hospital for an initial
assessment and perhaps for
an ultrasound scan or for
special tests. Sometimes your
midwife may visit you at
home.
WEIGHT
You’ll be weighed. From now on,
your weight gain will probably be
checked regularly, although this is
not done everywhere. Most women
put on between 10 and 12.5 kg
(22–28 lbs) in pregnancy, most of
it after the 20th week. Read pages
8–12 on what to eat in pregnancy,
and take regular exercise. Much of
the extra weight is due to the baby
growing, but your body will also be
storing fat ready to make breast milk
after the birth.
HEIGHT
Your height will be recorded on the
first visit because it is a rough guide
to the size of your pelvis. Some small
women have small pelvises, and
although they often have small
babies, they may need to discuss
their baby’s delivery with their
doctor or midwife.
URINE
You will be asked to give a sample of
urine each time you visit. This will
be checked for a number of things
including:
•
sugar – pregnant women may
have sugar in their urine from
time to time, but, if it is found
repeatedly, you will be checked
for diabetes (some women
develop a type of diabetes in
pregnancy known as ‘gestational
diabetes’ which can be controlled
during pregnancy usually by a
change of diet and, possibly,
insulin; the condition usually
disappears once the baby is born);
•
protein, or ‘albumin’, in your
urine may show that there is an
infection that needs to be treated;
it may also be a sign of
pregnancy-induced hypertension
(see High blood pressure and
pre-eclampsia on page 84).
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GENERAL PHYSICAL
EXAMINATION
The doctor will check your heart
and lungs and make sure your
general health is good.
BLOOD PRESSURE
Your blood pressure will be taken at
every antenatal visit. A rise in blood
pressure later in pregnancy could be
a sign of pre-eclampsia (see page 84).