How often will you have prenatal appointments during the third trimester?

By the time yous striking the third trimester (28 weeks through the stop of pregnancy), you're probably anxious for the baby to get in and desire to get some much-needed residual while y'all tin can.

The good news is you'll meet with your md more oft to check on the growth and development of your baby, so you'll accept a amend sense of when it might exist "go" time. In the third trimester, you lot'll accept a prenatal appointment every two weeks from 28 to 36 weeks, then y'all'll accept a prenatal visit in one case a week during the last month until y'all deliver.

In some practices where multiple practitioners share the on-phone call pool, you may make your rounds to become to know everyone every bit your due appointment draws near. Later all, at that place'due south a chance your doctor won't be available when you give birth.

What happens at your third trimester appointments?

Like your previous prenatal appointments, you tin look to get your blood pressure and weight checked. Some practices take you provide a urine sample to screen for protein, sugar, and infection. Your dr. will also evaluate the infant's heartbeat using a Doppler and measure the fundal height (the distance betwixt your pubic os and the top of your uterus). At this stage, the measurement should match the number of weeks you're pregnant. So, if you're 37 weeks, your fundal tiptop should be around 37 centimeters.

If your baby is measuring too pocket-size or also large, your doctor may order a third trimester ultrasound to evaluate her growth and your amniotic fluid levels. And if you have a high-take a chance pregnancy, such as living with gestational diabetes, your dr. may also order a 3rd trimester ultrasound to do a biophysical profile (BPP) exam, where your doctor volition examine the babe's movement and fluid level.

Your doctor may besides society an ultrasound if she isn't sure about the baby'due south position from an abdominal examination. If information technology turns out the baby is breech, y'all may be offered an external cephalic version, which are maneuvers done to try to turn the baby into a vertex (caput-downwards) position.

Past your due date? Your doctor may check your cervix to come across if it'due south softening, effacing (thinning out), and dilating (opening). The cervical exam may requite an idea of what method of consecration of labor to employ if it is indicated. (If you practise have a pelvic examination belatedly in pregnancy, yous might have a little spotting afterward.) Generally, practitioners won't do cervical checks unless they feel it's necessary, so if yous're not comfy, you can decline them.

Moreover, you were screened to check whether you're Rh-negative during your starting time trimester. If information technology turns out you are Rh-negative, you volition be given an injection of Rh allowed globulin (sometimes called RhIg or RhoGAM) to forestall your body from producing antibodies for the last part of your pregnancy.

And as always, your doctor volition too discuss results from previous tests and follow up on issues that were brought up at your last prenatal appointment.

Some questions yous tin expect from your practitioner are:

  • How are yous feeling?
  • Do you feel any unusual pain and aches?
  • Are you lot experiencing Braxton-Hicks contractions, which are false labor pains?
  • Are you having contractions?
  • How often do you experience your infant movement?
  • Do you lot take any sudden swelling?
  • How is your mood?
  • Are y'all getting enough sleep at dark?
  • How is your diet?

Whether or not she asks, let your dr. know nigh any symptoms you lot're having, even if they seem similar the usual fatigue, moodiness, or aches and pains.

Be sure to also let your doctor know if you notice your infant is less active than usual (she'll ask yous to count infant's movements for a gear up flow of time each day).

Inside pregnancy: Weeks 28 to 37

A 3D animated await at a infant in the third trimester of pregnancy.

Tertiary trimester testing

Group B strep

Between 36 and 37 weeks, your practitioner will swab your vagina and rectum to check for a common infection called grouping B strep. If your test is positive, yous'll be given antibiotics during labor to help go along you from passing it on to your baby.

(If yous've had a group B strep urinary tract infection during this pregnancy, y'all won't demand this exam because even though the infection was treated, you'll automatically go antibiotics during labor. Likewise, you'll exist automatically treated during labor if you've previously had a babe infected with group B strep.)

Gestational diabetes

If you were diagnosed with gestational diabetes. , your doctor will proceed to monitor your blood glucose levels and ensure that you're following a salubrious nutrition and exercise routine. Your medico may also guild a tertiary trimester ultrasound to check your baby's growth and development.

Preeclampsia

Preeclampsia (very high blood pressure) normally develops during the tertiary trimester. Some of the signs of preeclampsia are sudden swelling in the face and easily and protein in the urine. Near of the time, patients with preeclampsia accept no symptoms and it is incidentally diagnosed in the part with new onset high blood pressure level. If you lot're past 37 weeks of pregnancy, and so your dr. may desire to deliver your babe. But if you're not at 37 weeks, your physician will society an ultrasound and heart rate monitoring to check your baby'southward well-being. In severe cases, your doctor may desire to admit you to the hospital and consider delivering your baby early.

Twins and College-Order Multiples

Carrying twins, triplets and higher-order multiples is considered a high-risk pregnancy. Because you're at risk for preterm birth, you lot may need more than frequent prenatal appointments, sometimes weekly. You'll also need more than tests, including an ultrasound and/or non-stress test, which tracks your babies' heart rate for a catamenia of time. If y'all're experiencing symptoms of preterm labor, such equally contractions, vaginal spotting, and abdominal cramps, be sure to alert your doctor.

Placenta Previa

If you lot were found to take placenta previa, which is what happens when the placenta partially or totally covers the neck, you lot'll have a third trimester ultrasound to check whether the previa has resolved. If it hasn't, you'll well-nigh probable have a C-section to deliver your baby safely. Some women with placenta previa experience heavy bleeding, and in this case, your doctor may recommend a C-section to deliver your babe before. You'll virtually probable exist given corticosteroids to assist your baby'due south lungs develop faster if your delivery is scheduled earlier 37 weeks.

Additional Tests

Your blood may exist checked again for anemia, particularly if you were anemic earlier in your pregnancy.

If you're at risk for sexually transmitted infections, you'll exist tested again for syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and HIV.

Vaccination

You should go the Tdap vaccine to assist protect you lot and your baby from pertussis (whooping cough). Even if you've been vaccinated earlier, the U.South. Centers for Affliction Command and Prevention (CDC) recommend all significant women become a booster between 27 and 36 weeks.

If influenza season is here or approaching, your practitioner should talk with you about the benefits of getting a influenza shot if you oasis't already had one. Your doctor will besides talk to yous about the COVID-19 vaccine, which helps protect you from the virus and lessens the severity of the affliction if you become sick. Studies testify that antibodies are also passed to the fetus.

Questions to inquire your ob-gyn during your third trimester

Earlier your appointment, information technology'due south a adept idea to write down any questions you may take for your doctor. This is besides a slap-up time to start thinking about your birth plan besides every bit what to look postpartum. Here are some common questions you lot may want to ask:

  • Where can I take childbirth classes?
  • Where should I get if I'm in labor and ready to deliver?
  • What are signs of labor that I should wait out for?
  • What happens if my water breaks or I go into labor in the heart of the dark?
  • What's the departure between my h2o breaking and leaking fluid/having discharge?
  • How do Braxton-Hicks contractions feel, and how are they different from real labor contractions?
  • How should I time my contractions?
  • If my contractions are getting more intense and closer together, should I requite you a telephone call or head straight to the labor and commitment heart?
  • Volition you be there throughout my labor or at my delivery?
  • What exactly happens during delivery?
  • How long should I wait to stay at the hospital?
  • Does the infirmary offer lactation support if I'm breastfeeding?
  • Will the infirmary reach out to my baby'due south pediatrician to transfer records after giving birth?
  • When should I schedule a postpartum appointment?

see-through belly of pregnant woman

A 3D animated await at a baby in the third trimester of pregnancy.

Remember to talk over postpartum considerations

Since you may not exist in whatever shape to brand important decisions right later commitment, now's the fourth dimension to start talking about whether you desire your babe boy circumcised, whether you programme to breastfeed, and what you'd like to practice for contraception after you have your babe. (Of course, you lot can e'er change your mind between now and then.)

And if you oasis't found a doctor for your baby, it'due south fourth dimension to get started. Your practitioner can give yous some names.

Finally, your practitioner may screen you for signs of depression during pregnancy. But don't wait to be asked. If y'all're feeling depressed or anxious, allow your caregiver know. She can refer y'all to someone who can help.

She may also inquire y'all about your support network at home after you've given birth and mention the signs of postpartum depression (PPD). Information technology's helpful to know how to distinguish normal "infant blues" brought on past fatigue and hormones from true postpartum low. If you think you may be suffering from low or anxiety, information technology'due south important to go help immediately.

Acquire more nearly what to expect at your prenatal appointments:

  • What to expect at your prenatal visits
  • Your first prenatal visit
  • 2nd-trimester prenatal visits