1st check-up – 12 weeks The mother-to-be officially starts her 1st check-up at the 12th week of pregnancy. The hospital will usually give the mother a “maternity health handbook”. 2nd check-up – 13-16 weeks The mother-to-be will have her 2nd check-up. In addition to the basic routine checkups, the mother-to-be can have her blood drawn for Down’s syndrome screening at 16 weeks or more and see the blood draw report of the 1st checkup. 16-20 weeks amniocentesis will be performed to see if the fetus has chromosomal abnormalities. The 3rd checkup – 17-20 weeks The fetus’ head circumference, abdominal circumference, look at the thigh bone length and check the spine for congenital anomalies. The 4th check-up – 21-24 weeks The mother-to-be will have her 4th check-up. Most screening tests for gestational diabetes are done in the 24th week of pregnancy. If the mother-to-be has gestational diabetes, in terms of treatment, dietary adjustment should be taken. If the postprandial blood sugar cannot be controlled in the ideal range after dietary adjustment, it should be controlled by insulin injection, and oral hypoglycemic drugs should not be used for treatment during pregnancy to avoid fetal malformation. The 5th maternity checkup – 25-28 weeks The mother-to-be will have her 5th maternity checkup. The most important thing at this stage is to take a blood test for hepatitis B. The purpose is to check whether the mother-to-be is carrying the hepatitis B virus. The 6th check-up – 29-32 weeks The mother-to-be will have her 6th check-up. The doctor will check the mother-to-be for edema one after another. Since most of the patients with pre-eclampsia will develop after the 28th week of pregnancy, the mother-to-be should pay more attention if her blood pressure is found to be high, and she has proteinuria and generalized edema. In addition, before 37 weeks, mothers-to-be should take special precautions against preterm labor. If the labor pains exceed 30 minutes and continue to increase, combined with vaginal bleeding or watering, they must be sent to the hospital immediately for examination. If the fetus is found to be underweight, the mother-to-be should take more nutrients; if the fetus is found to be overweight, the mother-to-be should control her diet a little to avoid the need for a cesarean section or difficult delivery during the delivery process. The 8th checkup–36 weeks From 36 weeks onwards, the mother-to-be is getting closer to the delivery date. At this time, the checkups should be done once a week and the fetus should be monitored continuously. The 9th checkup – 37 weeks The 9th checkup will take place at 37 weeks. As the fetal movement becomes more frequent, the mother-to-be should pay attention to the fetus and herself at all times to prevent the fetus from being born early. The 10th checkup – 38 weeks From 38 weeks, the fetal position starts to be fixed, the fetal head has come down and stuck in the pelvic cavity, at this time the mother-to-be should be ready to give birth. Some mothers-to-be still have no signs of labor after 41 weeks, so they should consider asking their doctors to use oxytocin.
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