How many prenatal visits? What happens during prenatal visits?

How many prenatal visits will I need during my pregnancy? What kind of exams and tests are preformed during prenatal visits?

Patients are usually seen every four weeks early in the pregnancy, later every 2 weeks and at the end weekly.  Sometimes more visits are necessary depending on problems and complications.  Most testing is done early in the pregnancy starting with the routine prenatal testing for blood type, anemia and blood tests for multiple types of infections that you might have or have had in the past.  Several blood tests are also recommended for evaluation of possible genetic abnormalities.  Also, most patients undergo early ultrasound evaluation to obtain reliable dating for the pregnancy and later ultrasound evaluation to predict appropriate fetal growth as well as evaluate the placenta and intrauterine fluid.