During your pregnancy you will need to have several check-ups to monitor the progress of you and your baby.

During your pregnancy you will need to have several check-ups to monitor the progress of you and your baby. There will be about an average of 14 check-ups per pregnancy, but then again each pregnancy can differ. The first check-up is a 'getting to know you' visit and this will take about 50 minutes, the follow up visits around 10 minutes. If and when needed additional check-ups will be scheduled.

The admissions interview (intake appointment)
Be prepared for a lot of questions and information when you have your first appointment with your midwife. We prefer, if possible, both parents to be present for this appointment. Besides the obvious questions about your personal health and family health history, living conditions etc. we also do an external examination of your abdomen, we will listen to the baby's heartbeat and if possible we will perform an ultrasound. Furthermore, we will inform you about maternity care, prenatal screenings or testing , make an appointment for a dating scan and give you a lab form for additional blood work.

Additional information is available to you on the ‘Zwanger!’ brochure handed out to you. This brochure is translated into several languages and can also be found at this website: www.deverloskundige.nl

Dating scan (termijnecho) and blood work
The first ultrasound is very important for diagnostic imaging and to determine the actual due date. This ultrasound will be administered around ten to eleven weeks and prior to any prenatal integrated screening. The ultrasound will be administered at our practice by the ultrasound technician or at the Haagse Hof Echocentrum. Besides the ultrasound it is also very important to be aware of the basic elements of your blood (type). We will run a generic blood test to determine blood type, rhesus factors, your iron and glucose levels and locate any antibodies against infectious diseases such as HIV, Hep. B, Lues and Rubella.

Prenatal screening
When interested we will give information about the NIPT and the 13 weeks anomaly scan (as of september 1st 2021).

Follow up appointments
We will measure your blood pressure during every appointment. We will also determine your baby's growth through an external examination and listen to the heartbeat. You can ask your OB about possible discomforts, the delivery, maternity care, breastfeeding versus bottle feeding and more.
Please know that we are there for any of your questions. When you have reached 36 weeks of pregnancy we will discuss what we refer to as the 'delivery talk'. Your ideas and expectations about the delivery are open to discussion. An important subject to keep in mind is 'When do you call your OB?'. For any further information please read the PDF “Your delivery: How to prepare?” - you can find this on the 'Links' page on our website.

Structural Ultrasound Screening
Halfway through your pregnancy (twenty weeks) you are entitled to have a structural ultrasound session and you will be given a referral from us. For any additional information about this ultrasound please locate the 'prenatal examination' section on our website.
As of september 1st 2021 this anomaly scan is also conducted at 13 weeks, but via a scientific study in which you can participate. We will explain further when you come in office.

Additional ultrasounds
When medically necessary we can refer you for additional ultrasounds to monitor your baby's growth or to locate the placenta. Generally speaking these will be administered at the Haagse Hof Echocentrum.