Prenatal Care (Print Version)

Prenatal care is more than just health care while you are pregnant. Your health care provider may discuss many issues, such as nutrition and physical activity, what to expect during the birth process and basic skills for caring for your newborn.

Your doctor or midwife will give you a schedule for your prenatal visits. You can expect to see your health care provider more often as your due date gets closer. A typical schedule includes visiting your doctor or midwife

About once each month during your first six months of pregnancy
Every two weeks during the seventh and eighth month of pregnancy
Weekly in the ninth month of pregnancy

If you are over 35 years old or your pregnancy is high risk because you have certain health problems like diabetes or high blood pressure, your doctor or midwife will probably want to see you more often.

Start Here

Medical Care during Pregnancy(Nemours Foundation) - http://kidshealth.org/parent/pregnancy_newborn/pregnancy/medical_care_pregnancy.html
Also available in Spanish http://kidshealth.org/parent/en_espanol/embarazo/medical_care_pregnancy_esp.html
Prenatal Care(National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) - http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/Prenatal_Care.cfm
Taking Care of You and Your Baby While You're Pregnant(American Academy of Family Physicians) - http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/women/pregnancy/basics/053.printerview.html
Also available in Spanish http://familydoctor.org/online/famdoces/home/women/pregnancy/basics/053.printerview.html

Overviews

Care Before and During Pregnancy--Prenatal Care(National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) - http://www.nichd.nih.gov/womenshealth/research/pregbirth/prenatal_care.cfm
Prenatal Care(March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation) - http://www.marchofdimes.com/pnhec/159_513.asp
Also available in Spanish http://www.nacersano.org/centro/9246_9618.asp

Latest News

Prenatal Counseling May Aid Black Women's Health(09/04/2008, Reuters Health) - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_68890.html

Specific Conditions

The First Trimester(National Women's Health Information Center) - http://womenshealth.gov/pregnancy/pregnancy/1st.cfm
The Second Trimester(National Women's Health Information Center) - http://womenshealth.gov/pregnancy/pregnancy/2nd.cfm
The Third Trimester(National Women's Health Information Center) - http://womenshealth.gov/pregnancy/pregnancy/3rd.cfm

Related Issues

Choosing Your Health Care Provider for Pregnancy(Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) - http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/pregnancy/HO00111/METHOD=print
Prenatal Care in a Multiples Pregnancy(American Pregnancy Association) - http://www.americanpregnancy.org/multiples/prenatalcareschedule.htm?link_id=21184
Rh Factor: How It Can Affect Your Pregnancy(American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) - http://www.medem.com/MedLB/article_detaillb.cfm?article_ID=ZZZAM52C67C&sub_cat=2005

Videos

Prenatal Care(Healthy Roads Media) - Requires Flash Player - http://www.healthyroadsmedia.org/english/Files/flv/engprenatal.htm

Anatomy/Physiology

Fetal Development: What Happens during the First Trimester?(Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) - http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/prenatal-care/PR00112/METHOD=print
Fetal Development: What Happens during the Second Trimester?(Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) - http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fetal-development/PR00113/METHOD=print
Fetal Development: What Happens during the Third Trimester?(Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) - http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fetal-development/PR00114/METHOD=print

Clinical Trials

ClinicalTrials.gov: Prenatal Care(National Institutes of Health) - http://clinicaltrials.gov/search/open/term=pregnancy+%5BCONDITION%5D+AND+prenatal+care

Journal Articles

References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

Article: Vitamin D in pregnancy and lactation: maternal, fetal, and neonatal... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=18689394&tool=MedlinePlus
Article: Intake of antioxidant vitamins and trace elements during pregnancy and... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=18689383&tool=MedlinePlus
Article: HIV/AIDS in children: a disaster in the making. - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=18657693&tool=MedlinePlus
Prenatal Care -- see more articles - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=search&db=pubmed&term=(prenatal+care[majr]+OR+prenatal+nutrition+physiology[majr])+AND+humans[mh]+AND+english[la]+AND+(jsubsetk[text]+OR+guideline[pt]+OR+patient+education+handout[pt]+OR+jsubsetaim[text]+OR+jsubsetn[text])+NOT+(letter[pt]+OR+editorial[pt]+OR+case+reports[pt])&doptcmdl=summary&cmd_current=Limits&pmfilter_EDatLimit=last+1+Year&tool=MedlinePlus

Directories

ACOG's Physician Directory(American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) - http://www.acog.org/member-lookup/disclaimer.cfm

Organizations

March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation - http://www.marchofdimes.com/
Also available in Spanish http://www.nacersano.org/
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development - http://www.nichd.nih.gov/
National Women's Health Information Center(Dept. of Health and Human Services) - http://womenshealth.gov/
Also available in Spanish http://womenshealth.gov/espanol/

Statistics

FASTATS: Prenatal Care(National Center for Health Statistics) - http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/prenatal.htm
PeriStats(March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation) - http://www.marchofdimes.com/peristats/

You may also be interested in these MedlinePlus related pages:

Folic Acid - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/folicacid.html
High Risk Pregnancy - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/highriskpregnancy.html
Pregnancy - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/pregnancy.html
Pregnancy and Substance Abuse - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/pregnancyandsubstanceabuse.html
Prenatal Testing - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/prenataltesting.html
Female Reproductive System - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/femalereproductivesystem.html
Pregnancy and Reproduction - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/pregnancyandreproduction.html
Women - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/women.html

The primary NIH organization for research on Prenatal Care is the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development - http://www.nichd.nih.gov/

Prenatal Care - Multiple Languages - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/languages/prenatalcare.html