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Day 68 of 280 · 9 weeks + 5 days

Who comes to the visit

Last reviewed · 3 min read · 8 sources · Plain-text version

Nine weeks and five days. The booking visit is long and full of questions. Today you decide who comes with you, who holds the list, and what happens if only one of you can go.

Size this week
about the size of a strawberry
Length this week
around 22 mm from head to bottom
A Black couple in a clinic waiting room, she in a loose cardigan with a notebook open on her knee, he reading the list over her shoulder, soft overhead light.

Nine weeks and five days. If you haven't booked your first proper appointment, this week's NHS page says to do it now. If you have, today is about who walks in with you.

Your baby

A single ripe strawberry with its green cap on a plain pale wooden table, soft window light.

Around 22mm from head to bottom, with the face forming, along with the hands and feet (NHS). The visit you're planning is mostly about you; the NHS's dating scan, where you see the baby, comes between weeks 8 and 14 (NHS).

Your body

The NHS's to-do for this week is to book an antenatal appointment with a midwife or GP (NHS); the booking appointment usually falls between weeks 8 and 12 and takes about an hour, covering your pregnancy and birth options and the screening on offer (NHS).

In the US, a typical prenatal visit includes a physical exam, a weight check and a urine sample, with blood tests and ultrasound depending on the stage (NICHD). The first visit is the big one: a full physical exam, blood tests and the due date calculation, with screening for blood type and Rh factor, anemia, several infections, and immunity to rubella and chickenpox (OWH). That is a lot to hear on your own.

Try today

  1. The plus-one plan

    Time: 10 minutes, together

    1. Decide who comes to the booking visit: your partner, a friend, your mum, or nobody. Any answer is fine, but make it a decision.

    2. Decide who holds the question list and who listens. One person can't do both well.

    3. Split the questions: the ones you want to ask yourself, and the ones you'd rather someone else raised.

    4. Agree what happens if only one of you can go: the list goes anyway, and the answers get written down in the room, not from memory afterwards.

    5. Put the date and the plan in both calendars.

    Make it work:

    Ask the office in advance whether a second person is welcome and whether there's a limit on how many; policies vary, and it's an easier question on the phone than at the door.

Watch for

  • Normal

    up to 1 in 4 women have some vaginal bleeding at some point in pregnancy, and it is more common in the first 3 months (MedlinePlus).

    Call your provider right away

    about any bleeding in the first 3 months, because it may indicate miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy (MedlinePlus).

  • Normal

    spotting, meaning a few drops not enough to cover a panty liner, as opposed to bleeding that needs a liner or pad (MedlinePlus).

    Go to the ER

    if you can't reach your provider for heavy bleeding, or bleeding with pain or cramping (MedlinePlus).

  • Normal

    a little more milky discharge than before (NHS).

    Call your provider

    for increased or foul-smelling discharge (MedlinePlus).

For you

If you're the partner: ask whether you can attend, and then arrange to. The booking appointment is around an hour and covers your options for the pregnancy and the birth (NHS); the two of you will remember different halves of it. Your job in the room is to write, and to ask the one question she's decided she doesn't want to ask herself.

If you're going alone, by choice or by rota, that's fine too. The list and the notebook do most of what a second person would.

Sources

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

Get each day’s note the morning it applies

Add your due date to a free Chorevia household, and every morning until the birth the day's note arrives in the app and by email: what's forming, what your body is doing, one thing to try, what to watch for, and a word for you.

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