You have just received one of the most important news that you will experience in your life, you are pregnant. The first thing you should do after telling all your family and friends is to contact your health center and communicate your new status. The family doctor will receive you at the health center and prepare a report to give you your first appointment with the midwife. Don't you know what this first date consists of? Do not worry that we are going to tell you what is necessary.
Depending on your health center, your autonomous community and the population, the waiting time will be different. The average time is usually between a week and ten days to get your first appointment with the midwife. One note is that midwives generally should make an appointment before the 8th week of pregnancy. There is a schedule of visits that every pregnant woman must follow. All these things and more are explained below.
How can a midwife help you?
The best time to contact a midwife is at the beginning of a pregnancy. Not only will he monitor your pregnancy process, but he is also a support figure to whom you can explain any type of doubt regarding the pregnancy.
You will be able to solve your doubts, but also talk about your fears, about those uncertainties that you feel during these 9 months. It will also give you instructions on food, on how to sleep better, the changes that are going to appear in your body, etc.
Not only this, but once you have your little one with you, during the breastfeeding process, the figure of the midwife is also fundamental since, it will give you a series of guidelines for you to learn and practice. The advice and guidelines of the midwives are very important to have a correct start of breastfeeding.
First appointment with the midwife: what is evaluated
In case your GP has not created a clinical history about your pregnancy, this task has to be done by the midwife. It does not matter the number of pregnancy, the first, second or fifth, for each pregnancy a clinical history is created.
This clinical history that we're talking about, They will give you a printout and you must go with you to all the appointments you have throughout your pregnancy., no matter what specialist you are, keep that in mind.
During this first visit, One of the data that is most anxiously expected to know is the probable date of delivery. To get to know it, it will ask you questions about your last period, with it it will make certain calculations and in a matter of seconds you will know that important date and at the same time you will never forget it.
Especially, In this first visit to the midwife you will be asked many questions, questions that you may or may not believe are important but that all of them must be answered. This information will be saved in the computer file, so that in case any problem occurs, it will be at hand. Also, it will give you a series of instructions on what routine to follow during these first months and, you will leave the consultation with some flyers to make an appointment for an analysis and ultrasound.
Recommended visits during pregnancy
We must point out that the frequency with which medical personnel are visited during pregnancy will depend on each professional and center. As a general scheme, the following visits could be indicated.
- First visit to the midwife, between weeks 5 and 8 of pregnancy
- Second visit to the midwife, doctor or gynecologist, at week 12
- Third visit to the midwife, between weeks 16 and 18
- Fourth visit to the midwife or gynaecologist, between weeks 20 and 22
- Fifth visit to the midwife, weeks 24 and 28 of pregnancy
- Sixth visit to the gynecologist or midwife, at week 32 or 34
From this last visit and seeing how the pregnancy progresses, the midwives may find it convenient to organize more or fewer appointments until the end of the pregnancy.
It is essential that you comply with each and every one of the visits that you mark, in order to carry out a correct monitoring of the pregnancy. We know that asking you to be calm can become an impossible mission, but if we want you to understand that the figure of the midwife is essential and that she is there for you, so do not hesitate to tell her any little doubt, no matter how silly you think it may be. Go ahead, everything will be fine.