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What to do when you find out you’re pregnant
Have you just found out that you’re expecting?
Pregnancy can sometimes be very overwhelming, especially when social media and the internet are telling you a hundred different things.
Here is a simple guide on what to do when you find out you’re pregnant:
1. First things first – Visit your General Practitioner
Whether you’ve been trying for a while, or your little one has come as a surprise, the initial steps of motherhood are the same. Your first port of call will be to check in with your GP. Your GP will assist you in making important decisions about your pregnancy, like which hospital you want to deliver in and who you would like on your care team (if you haven’t already chosen). Your doctor will likely do a pregnancy urine or blood test, discuss any concerns you may have including your general health, and advise you on the substances and foods that are recommended you avoid. They will also give you a referral for your all-important first dating scan.
2. Start taking prenatal vitamins
Following your doctor’s appointment, you should hopefully have a better sense of what to expect during your pregnancy. There are a lot of dos and don’ts out there, but the next thing on our to-do list, if you aren’t already doing it, is to start taking prenatal vitamins. Prenatal vitamins are a supplement designed specifically for expectant mothers. Formulated with ingredients like iron, folic acid and vitamin D, prenatal vitamins ensure the mother-to-be gets all the vitamins and minerals required to support a healthy pregnancy. You can take prenatal vitamins from as early as when you start trying to get pregnant, but if you have any concerns, talk to your doctor about them at that first appointment.
3. Book your scans
Now that you’ve seen your doctor and started taking your prenatal vitamins, it’s time to book your dating scan! A dating scan is an ultrasound that can be done from as early as 7 weeks, giving you that first glimpse at your baby and providing an accurate due date.
Once you’ve had your dating scan, you can create a pregnancy plan using your accurate due date. This will allow you to book into your hospital of choice and be able to plan for things like maternity leave, subsequent scans and prenatal testing.
Your doctor will likely want to see you after your scan to confirm all your test results and to check up on you and your developing baby. Together with your doctor, you’ll be able to decide if you want a referral for a NIPT (Non-Invasive Prenatal Test) available from 10 weeks gestation. NIPT is a blood test that screens for common genetic conditions, and you’ll have another morphology scan to book at 18-20 weeks. If you like, you can also find out the sex of your baby from 10 weeks, too, with a NIPT test.
Bundles to make your scans easier and cheaper!
We have bundled our Obstetric Ultrasound and NIPT packages to help make the costs of these scans less expensive and more convenient for you. Our bundles are competitively priced, giving you the highest levels of care at the cost of what can sometimes be a single ultrasound at other clinics.
Bundle one includes:
- Dating scan (from 7 weeks)
- NIPT blood collection and genetic testing (from 10 weeks)
- Early anatomy scan (13-15 weeks)
Cost: $565 (out of pocket after Medicare rebate)
Bundle two includes:
- Dating scan (from 7 weeks)
- NIPT blood collection and genetic testing (from 10 weeks)
- Early anatomy scan (13-15 weeks)
- Morphology scan (18-20 weeks)
Cost: $715 (out of pocket after Medicare rebate)
Once you’ve got a referral from your doctor, contact us to book your ultrasound bundle!