Your First Steps After Finding Out You're Pregnant
Confirming Your Pregnancy
When you first suspect you might be pregnant, the initial step is to confirm it. You can do this with a home pregnancy test. These tests are available at most pharmacies and are easy to use. They detect the presence of the hormone hCG in your urine.
Contacting your local GP
Whether you are a private or a public patient you may wish to have your first pregnancy appointment with your local GP.
There are many reasons for this, you may feel more comfortable seeing your own doctor to begin with, you may want your doctor to advise you about your maternity care options, it might be more affordable to see your GP in the first instance or it may be a number of weeks before you can get an appointment with your preferred provider or carer.
Your local doctor (GP) can do early routine visits and organise your first tests and investigations.
A GP can:
- do a pregnancy urine or blood test
- talk with you about any concerns you might have about your pregnancy or general health
- discuss and organise early tests and ultrasounds
- talk with you about diet and exercise
- help you to give up smoking and discuss alcohol and drug issues if necessary
- make sure any medications you are taking are safe in pregnancy, including any natural or alternative medicines
- talk with you about your pregnancy care options.
Your GP can order blood tests to check the following:
- blood group and iron levels
- immunity to rubella (German measles)
- whether you have been exposed to hepatitis (a disease of the liver)
- sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis and HIV (this test is offered with pre and post-test counselling)
- Thalassaemia (an inherited disorder that affects the production of haemoglobin).
- your risk for having a baby with Down syndrome and other genetic disorders
- vitamin D (deficiency that can occur from lack of exposure to sunlight)
- hepatitis C.
- Urine test - to check for infection.
- Cervical Screening Test - if you are due, this can be done safely in pregnancy.
- Genetic tests
- Ultrasound – which can look for a number of problems in your baby like spina bifida, heart and limb defects and to check your due date.
Week 1 - Week 13 of Pregnancy with your GP:
Finding out how When you find out that you are pregnant, you should be on your 3rd-5th week of your pregnancy. Your GP is able to determine how many weeks you are pregnant by calculating your last day of ovulation. If your period is irregular, it will be harder to determine how many weeks you are pregnant. If this is the case, you could determine how many weeks you are pregnant with an ultrasound scan, which you can do around the 6th weeks of your pregnancy. There are two types of ultrasound scans available. The Abdominal Scan is free in most cases under medicare and there is the Transvaginal Ultrasound is more accurate but may incur a fees.
Contacting Your Local Hospital
Once the test are done with your GP, your GP will advice you to contact your local hospital to book in your 13th week scan at the hospital. If you decide to go with the public medicare system, the scans and checks with your local hospital are covered by medicare.
The pregnancy and birth care options available in Victoria vary according to where you live, the models of care available at the services in your area, your medical history and risk factors such as weight, age and experience during previous pregnancies.
Where resources are available, you are able to choose who will care for you during your pregnancy – midwives, GP, an obstetrician, or a combination of health professionals.
In some cases you may also be able to opt for a home birth.