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Summary
Prenatal care is the health care you get while you are pregnant. It includes your checkups and prenatal testing. Prenatal care can help keep you and your baby healthy. It lets your health care provider spot health problems early. Early treatment can cure many problems and prevent others.
Your doctor or midwife will give you a schedule for your prenatal visits. If you are over 35 years old or your pregnancy is high risk because of health problems like diabetes or high blood pressure, your doctor or midwife will probably want to see you more often. You can also expect to see your health care provider more often as your due date gets closer.
Dept. of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health
Related Issues
- Pregnancy and Nutrition: MedlinePlus Health Topic (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
Specifics
- Prenatal Care: First Trimester Visits (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- Prenatal Care: Second Trimester Visits (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- Prenatal Care: Third Trimester Visits (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- What Happens during Prenatal Visits? (Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) Also in Spanish
Test Your Knowledge
- Test Your Pregnancy Knowledge (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Statistics and Research
- PeriStats: Perinatal Statistics (March of Dimes Foundation)
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Prenatal Care (National Institutes of Health)
Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)
- Article: Knowledge, Acceptance, and Uptake of Family Planning: A Cluster Randomized Controlled...
- Article: Effect of group antenatal care versus individualized antenatal care on birth...
- Article: Maternal health service utilization in the Jimma Zone, Ethiopia: results from...
- Prenatal Care -- see more articles
Find an Expert
- Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health Also in Spanish
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Also in Spanish
- How to Find Find an Ob-Gyn (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists)
- March of Dimes Foundation Also in Spanish
Patient Handouts
- Pregnancy care (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- Prenatal care in your first trimester (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- Prenatal care in your second trimester (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- Prenatal care in your third trimester (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish