Prenatal Care

Once you find out you're pregnant, it's important to find prenatal care near you. Your first prenatal care visit is usually when you're around eight weeks pregnant. From there, you'll have routine prenatal visits throughout your pregnancy to ensure you and your baby stay as healthy as possible.

UPMC's compassionate prenatal care centers on your needs and preferences. We know that pregnancy is an exciting and anxious time. We take the time to educate you on what to expect and reassure you at every prenatal visit.

What Is Prenatal Care?

Prenatal care is expert medical care – led by an obstetrician or midwife – throughout your pregnancy.

Regular prenatal visits are preventive. Prenatal care helps you stay healthy during pregnancy. It also enables you to have a safe birth and a healthy baby.

Regular prenatal care visits throughout your pregnancy can prevent a low-birth-weight baby, premature birth, and other problems. It can also reduce the chance of needing emergency medical interventions during birth.

It is essential to attend all your prenatal visits. If you can't make a prenatal care appointment, reschedule it.

What conditions does prenatal care treat?

Prenatal care treats health problems that can arise in pregnancy as well as existing health problems that could affect the pregnancy.

Obstetricians work with other doctors, such as heart doctors, endocrinologists, pain doctors, and others, to ensure complete care. That way, we can ensure you get the necessary treatments for the healthiest pregnancy possible.

Conditions we diagnose and treat that may arise in pregnancy include:

• Anemia.
• Fetal growth restriction.
• Gestational diabetes.
• High blood pressure.
• Infections during pregnancy.
• Mental health challenges.
• Morning sickness, including hyperemesis gravidarum (an extreme form of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy).
• Miscarriage and pregnancy loss.
• Preeclampsia, which is dangerously high blood pressure during pregnancy.
• Preterm labor, premature rupture of membranes, and premature birth.
• Problems with the placenta.
• Too much or too little amniotic fluid.

We also work with other providers to manage the health problems you had before pregnancy. We work to prevent these problems from worsening during pregnancy and ensure your treatment for other health issues is as safe as possible during your pregnancy. This may mean changes to your medication.

Underlying conditions that we help to manage in pregnancy include:

• Autoimmune disorders.
• Cancer.
• Heart problems.
• Infectious diseases.
• Obesity.
• Type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

What Services Do You Offer?

We offer routine prenatal visits throughout your pregnancy, where you'll get access to tests, treatment, information, and support. Your main obstetrician or midwife will follow you throughout your pregnancy. You'll also meet nurses, ultrasound technicians, childbirth educators, and others throughout your pregnancy journey.

Routine prenatal appointments

We usually schedule your first routine prenatal visit when you're about eight weeks pregnant, about four weeks after your missed period.

We may need to see you earlier if you have:

• A concerning symptom (like vaginal bleeding or cramping).
• A medical condition on top of pregnancy.
• Extra concerns about your current pregnancy due to problems with a previous pregnancy.

If your pregnancy progresses typically, your prenatal visits will happen about once a month. You'll have more frequent visits during the last two months of pregnancy – every week or two.

If you have a high-risk pregnancy, you may need more frequent prenatal visits and extra testing. Extra monitoring helps us prevent problems or spot them early.

What happens at a routine prenatal visit?

Prenatal visits allow your provider to share information, support your physical and emotional health, and look for any signs of problems.

At your prenatal care visits, you'll get:

• Blood pressure checks, weight checks, and belly measurements at each visit.
• Advice on maintaining a healthy pregnancy, including nutrition, exercise, stress management, and more.
• Answers to your questions. We're here to listen and help you. We can answer any questions about your pregnancy, birth, or what happens after birth.
• Tests that help us catch problems early in pregnancy so we can prevent harm to you or your baby. You will get different tests at different stages of your pregnancy.
• Access to UPMC's pregnancy, childbirth, newborn care, and breastfeeding classes.
• Connections to support groups, programs, and resources that may help you have a healthy baby and stay healthy throughout your pregnancy.
• Advice on how to avoid toxins or infections that could be dangerous to your baby.
• Vaccines that you may need to keep you and your baby healthy during pregnancy.
• Counseling and treatments, like opioid replacement therapy, for people who have substance use disorders.

Tests to diagnose and monitor problems in pregnancy

You'll have various prenatal tests throughout your pregnancy. Many of these tests aim to catch health problems early so doctors can prevent them from harming you or your baby. Your care provider will explain the benefits and risks of each test and describe what will happen during the test.

Here are the tests you may have at some point during your pregnancy.

Blood and urine tests

• Blood tests to look for signs of problems like low iron or preeclampsia.
• Urine tests at each appointment to monitor protein and sugar levels.
• Urine cultures to look for signs of a urinary tract infection.
• Blood tests to look for infection, including hepatitis B or C, HIV, rubella, and sexually transmitted diseases. Diagnosing and treating the infections can prevent them from passing to your baby.
• Blood testing to check your blood type, including whether you and your baby are Rh negative or Rh positive. If you are Rh negative and your baby is Rh positive, you'll need medication to prevent your body from making antibodies that could harm your baby.

Fetal heart rate monitoring

• Your doctor will check the baby's heart rate using a fetal Doppler probe at each appointment.
• A nonstress test is a more advanced fetal heart rate test. This test monitors both the baby's heart rate and uterine contractions for 20 to 30 minutes. The doctor uses it to check how the baby's heart rate responds to contractions or fetal movement.
• If the baby's heart is beating too fast or slow, your doctor may follow your pregnancy closely with ultrasounds or other tests. They may recommend inducing labor early if your due date is close.

Gestational diabetes testing

Gestational diabetes is when your blood sugar is too high during pregnancy. It can cause your baby to be too large, increasing the risk of labor complications and stillbirth.

The one-hour glucose challenge test is a screening for gestational diabetes. You'll drink a sugary drink and, an hour later, take a blood test to check your sugar levels.

The three-hour glucose tolerance test diagnoses gestational diabetes. If the challenge test showed high blood sugar levels, you'll repeat the test to confirm the results.

You'll fast overnight leading up to the test. Doctors will take a blood sample, and then you'll drink the sugar drink. They'll check your blood sugar one hour, two hours, and three hours after you drink it.

If any two of these readings are too high, you're diagnosed with gestational diabetes.

Group B strep testing

Group B strep is a common bacteria. It's harmless for adults but can cause serious problems in babies. As you near delivery, your doctor will test you for this bacteria with a swab of your vagina and anus. If the test is positive, your doctor will offer antibiotics to treat the bacterial infection before birth.

Tests to diagnose congenital conditions

Testing of your baby to screen for and diagnose congenital conditions includes:

• Blood and ultrasound tests — These tests screen your baby for health problems. You can decline these tests if you prefer not to learn about potential congenital abnormalities.
• Genetic testing and counseling — If you're at a higher-than-normal risk of carrying certain diseases, genetic testing can screen your baby for certain congenital conditions.
• Amniocentesis — This test uses a long needle to take a sample of amniotic fluid from the womb. This test poses a small risk to your baby. Therefore, doctors only suggest it when blood and ultrasound tests reveal a possible problem.
• Chorionic villus sampling—This test takes a small sample of the placenta. Compared to amniocentesis, this test poses slightly higher risks to your baby, but it can be more accurate for some conditions.

Ultrasound exams

Most people need at least two ultrasounds during their pregnancy. You may have more ultrasounds if your doctor or midwife has concerns about your pregnancy.

• Early or dating ultrasound – To determine your due date, ensure there aren't signs of problems with the placenta, monitor the baby's growth, and more.
• First-trimester screen (or nuchal translucency scan) — Combines an ultrasound with a blood test to screen for trisomy 21 (Down syndrome), trisomy 18 (Edward syndrome), and other genetic disorders.
• Anatomy scan — This is usually the longest ultrasound, done around 20 weeks. The test assesses the baby's organs and growth and also looks for problems with the placenta and amniotic fluid.
• Growth ultrasound — Your doctor may suggest a growth ultrasound if they're worried the baby is growing too slowly or quickly. You may need more than one growth ultrasound to track the baby's growth over time.

Treatments you may receive during prenatal care

If we find any signs of problems with your pregnancy, we will provide the following:

• Any medications you may need for your health or your baby's health.
• Extra monitoring, with ultrasounds, blood tests, and checking the baby's heart rate.
• Lifestyle advice to prevent a pregnancy problem from worsening.
• A birth plan to keep you and your baby as safe as possible. This plan could include a labor induction or a scheduled C-section to reduce risks to you or your baby.

If you have another health condition besides pregnancy, your prenatal care provider will work with your other specialists. They will ensure your treatment plan keeps you safe and reduces risks to your baby. Your obstetrician will also provide extra monitoring to ensure your health problem doesn't worsen during pregnancy.

Reasons to Seek Care Between Prenatal Visits

If you have any warning signs of a severe problem with your pregnancy, don't wait until your next prenatal visit. Head to the emergency department.

Warning signs that require immediate care include:

• Chest pain.
• Difficulty breathing.
• Dizziness or fainting.
• Fast heart rate.
• Headache that won't go away with rest or treatment or gets worse over time.
• Extreme swelling of your hands or face.
• Fever of 100.4º F or higher.
• Vaginal fluid leaking during pregnancy. (If you think your water broke and you're near your due date, call your prenatal care provider).
• Reduced or stopped fetal movements.
• Severe cramping.
• Severe nausea and vomiting, such as vomiting that continues for 24 hours.
• Swelling, warmth, and redness in one leg.
• Thoughts about harming yourself or your baby.
• Vaginal bleeding.
• Vision changes.

Why Choose UPMC for Prenatal Care?

UPMC is a nationally recognized Center of Excellence in Women's Health. Our commitment to providing the highest quality of care to all has earned us recognition as a Maternal Care Access Hospital.

You'll feel connected, empowered, and informed through our classes, support groups, and the education we share at each prenatal visit. We'll ask about your preferences, listen to your concerns, and discuss your birth plan. This way, we can tailor our care to you.

Should you or your baby need advanced medical care, we host a wide range of experts and state-of-the-art testing and treatment amenities. UPMC's team includes obstetricians who have extra training in high-risk pregnancies. They can expertly manage health conditions in pregnancy, like diabetes and heart problems, to keep you and your baby safe.

When it's time to give birth at UPMC, you'll be admitted to the labor and delivery unit at your chosen hospital. We'll welcome your care team, including your doula, if you have one.

Your care partner can stay overnight in your postpartum room, and your newborn may "room in" with you in a bassinet if you choose. We also offer breastfeeding support and help you with newborn care in your recovery.

UPMC offers high-level neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) for babies needing medical care. Our NICU teams, including neonatologists, respirologists, and NICU nurses, support parents in being closely involved in their baby's care.

By UPMC Editorial Staff. Last reviewed on 2024-09-05.