No Prenatal Care Until Wk 10-12??

[gummibears]

It's been a while since I had prenatal care with ds, but I'm CERTAIN I had care well before 10-12 wks. This time I was told that they won't do any apts for prenatal care prior to 10 weeks. Is it just me or is that incredibly LATE? I see online people talk of scans and such at 5wks and so on and I'm not getting nothing til next month.

This site says around 6wks most women get their first apt. It just seems... odd. Just like my one and only one US with son and no stress tests and all those things you are told will be done were not done. Am I just getting crappy care?

When did you get your first prenatal apt? I had a small one a couple weeks ago after pelvic pain and this is when they told me I'd not get any regular care before week 10.

[Aliy]

not unusal. I didn't have prenatal care until 12 weeks with any of mine. I had met with a doctor or midwife but no actual prenatal stuff. except a req for blood work.
I'm in Canada and BC at that so that might be the difference. I also generally don't get ultrasound until at least 18 weeks. so now doens't sound strange to me at all

[Earthy Mama]

I think you're fine. You're still in the 1st tri. by that point so any testing that you want done can be done.

[MyFullHouse]

Not unusual at all. The only times I've had appts. before 10wk were due to "abnormal" circumstances. I didn't have a LMP with #3, so I had an u/s to estimate how far along I was, and I had an ectopic after #4, so there was a scan at 6wk with #5 in order to rule out a repeat.

In a "normal" pregnancy, there really isn't much to do until later.

[Mackenzie]

Nope. Not unusual. I've found that the CPs that start care earlier are the ones more heavy handed in managing your pregnancy and birth.

[Mama2mc]

I got my first apt. at almost 6 weeks.

[~Adorkable~]

Normally I would have had my first appointment at 8 weeks and that would have just been a intake consult, first doc or midwife would have been a week or two later.
I ended up seeing someone at 6w4d because of really bad cramps so we wanted to rule out something ectopic.

The only thing I would make sure for yourself is that if you are going to want to do NT scans they need to be done as close to 12 w as possible, so you may want to ask about setting that up. Also if you are unsure about dates, the sooner you do a dating scan the more accurate it is.

Congrats and good luck!

[jeminijad]

There are many care providers who don't start till 12 weeks.

If something goes wrong before that point, they really can't do much, KWIM?

[ballmom]

My first appt was at 8 wks and that was with the NP to get the family history, exam, and blood work done. My first appt with the OB was at 11 wks.

[lillymonster]

I think I was 8, just for dating, then next appt was the n/t scan at 12 weeks.

[CherryBomb]

When I was pregnant with my first nearly 10 years ago, it seemed common to come in right away. But now most offices don't see you until around 10 weeks. Because I had an ectopic pregnancy in the, past, I have to have multiple hcg checks and then an u/s around 5/6 weeks to make sure it's not another ectopic pregnancy, but after that I don't get seen till 10 weeks.

[Lady Lilya]

I'm 15 weeks. I had one prenatal appointment, but we didn't do any of the examy stuff. So that examy stuff won't happen until my next visit at 19 weeks.

[NiteNicole]

I had my first appointment at 8 weeks because I was in town (we were moving so I was using a obgyn in the town we were moving to and trying to arrange appointments around our move). I was told repeatedly that they "don't usually see anyone THAT early."

[Funny Face]

Originally Posted by Mackenzie

Nope. Not unusual. I've found that the CPs that start care earlier are the ones more heavy handed in managing your pregnancy and birth.

Most CP don't see you before then unless there is a specific issue that needs addressing.

Some of us wait even later than 12 weeks to start regular care.

[JessieBird]

Totally normal. My family doc (who used to be an OB) as well as my midwife both book first appointments for somewhere between 9 and 12 weeks. No later than 12 so that there's time to book the integrated screening test if you want it but there's no real point to booking any earlier either unless you have a specific concern. Prenatal appointments are so anti-climactic anyway. We get all excited but then they don't really do anything!

[DanielleT]

It is quite normal however some of us are higher risk and tend go in quicker...My previous pregnancy ended in miscarriage so as soon as i found out i was pregnant i went in and started the process which in my clinic its ALOT of blood work, then the history and paper work junk and then i was able to go for an early scan just for piece of mind (11 weeks)...some women have wonky cycles and don't know when their last cycle was so they need a dating scan...At 13 weeks was when i had my first actual prenatal

[Lady Lilya]

Yeah, I can see going in right away if there were some tests that apply in your specific situation.

My MW said there are some tests that need to be done before the birth, but they don't provide any useful info for this stage of pregnancy, so we can wait on them until later on. She also said it makes no sense to measure at this point, because the numbers are so variable. And I asked her if there is any useful info from listening to the heart beat, and she said really it is just a matter of determining if it is there. If it is not there, too late anyway. So we can wait on that too, since I wasn't comfortable with using the doppler so early.

[Dichotomy]

At the OBGYN I work for (and use for my care) we see our patients for the initial pregnancy visit between 8-10 weeks. This is because its difficult to visualize things on ultrasound before this point, and we are most likely to be able to pick up on a beating heart for the baby at this point. Patients that insist on coming in earlier often have to come back for a repeat ultrasound a couple weeks down the road to detect a heartbeat.

We do sometimes have patients coming in earlier, but its usually just to do the serial labs (checking beta hcg and progesterone)

[WifeofAnt]

I had my first appointment at 10 weeks. Did bloodwork, exam (to make sure all the organs are there? lol), dating ultrasound since I have irregular cycles, and a family history.

Didn't see him again until 16 weeks. (Had anatomy ultrasound at the hospital at 18 weeks.) Then again at 20. Then 24. Then 28.

[momtoS]

Midwives here see you after you reach 12 weeks.