Health Topic

Prenatal Care

Getting the right prenatal care is important for a healthy pregnancy. Learn what exams or tests you need so you can the most out of your appointments.

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Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.

About Prenatal Care

Prenatal care is the health care you get while you are pregnant. It includes your checkups and prenatal testing. Typically, a health care provider specializing in the delivery of babies and the care of pregnant women, such as an obstetrician or a midwife, provides prenatal care.

Prenatal care can help keep you and your fetus healthy until you're ready to deliver your baby. It lets your provider spot health problems early. Early treatment can cure many problems and prevent others from developing.

Every prenatal visit offers you the chance to ask questions about having a healthy pregnancy and preparing for delivery. Talk to your provider about childbirth education classes for you and your partner to help you prepare for the birth of your baby.

Your provider will give you a schedule for your prenatal visits. Usually, visits during your pregnancy occur:

  • Once a month for weeks 4 through 28
  • Twice a month for weeks 28 through 36
  • Weekly for week 36 until your baby is born

If you are over 35 years old or your pregnancy is high risk because of health problems like diabetes or high blood pressure, your provider will probably want to see you more often. You can also expect to see your provider more often as your due date gets closer.

During prenatal visits, your provider will check your health and carefully monitor your pregnancy until you deliver your baby.

Your first prenatal visit may take a little longer. Your provider will most likely:

  • Ask about your health history, including prior pregnancies
  • Ask about your family's health history
  • Discuss any health conditions and risk factors that could affect you or your fetus
  • Do a complete physical exam, including a pelvic exam and Pap test
  • Review blood, urine, or other routine prenatal lab tests
  • Check your blood pressure, height, and weight
  • Discuss a healthy amount of weight gain, healthy eating, and prenatal vitamins
  • Figure out your due date (when you are 40 weeks pregnant)

During most visits, your provider will most likely:

  • Check your blood pressure and weight gain
  • Measure your abdomen (belly) to check fetal growth once you begin to show
  • Check the fetal heart rate
  • Check your hands and feet for swelling
  • Do routine prenatal tests

Depending on the stage of your pregnancy, you may have additional tests.

Always talk to your provider before you start or stop any medicine. Some medicines can harm your fetus. To help keep yourself and your fetus healthy, avoid substances that could be harmful, such as tobacco, alcohol, and drugs.

Dept. of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health

It sits within Women, Pregnancy and Reproduction and Female Reproductive System.

The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.

Research on Prenatal Care

975 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.

What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.

Research currently under way

Research already completed

Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.

Where to read more

Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.

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Related Issues

Statistics and Research

Clinical Trials

Medical subject headings

Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Prenatal Care. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.

This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Prenatal Care, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.