A typical prenatal appointment

If you've never been pregnant, I'll let you in on a little secret: Prenatal appointments are boring. (At least, you hope they are.) At this point, on the third time around the block, my husband doesn't even come to most of the appointments, because honestly, there's no need. I'd probably skip them too if I weren't physically required to be there :)

Anyway. There are 5 things that are typically checked at prenatal appointments:

1. Weight
2. Blood pressure
3. Urine test
4. Baby's heartbeat via doppler or ultrasound
5. Later in pregnancy: fundal height measurement (size of your uterus) and baby's position (vertex vs. breech) via abdominal palpitation

Pretty basic, right? How much variance can there be between providers? Well... a lot.

Let's say I have a prenatal appointment at 2 PM. How would that appointment have gone in each of my three pregnancies?

With Littles
2:05 PM - I arrive at my OB's office. (My dad likes to joke that I was born two weeks late and I've been late ever since. He's right.)

2:15 PM - I'm called back. A nurse directs me to the bathroom to give a urine sample, which I leave at the lab for testing. She then checks my weight and takes my blood pressure.

2:20 PM - I go into the exam room.

2:30 PM - Enjoying a year-old issue of People.

2:45 PM - Since this is 2007, I don't even have a smartphone to use to surf the Internet. Sucks.

2:50 PM - My OB finally arrives. He or she lets me know that my urine test looked good, my blood pressure is excellent, and my weight gain is right on track. I'm asked a few questions, like whether I'm feeling the baby move and whether I'm having any contractions. I'm given the opportunity to ask questions, too. As a first-time mom, I usually try to come up with a couple, at least.

2:55 PM - I hop up on the table and the doctor examines my belly. They don't have ultrasound machines in the exam rooms, like some OBs do, so we listen to Littles' heartbeat on the doppler.

3:00 PM - Appointment done.

With Noob
2:05 PM - I arrive at my midwife's office.

2:10 PM - I'm called back. A nurse directs me to the bathroom to give a urine sample, which I leave at the lab for testing. She then checks my weight and takes my blood pressure.

2:15 PM - I go into the exam room.

2:20 PM - My midwife comes in. She lets me know that urine/blood pressure/weight gain look good, and asks me questions about how I'm feeling. I'm given the opportunity to ask questions, too. Even early on, I usually ask at least a question or two about labor/delivery. It's important to me to make sure my midwives are on the same page as me regarding topics like induction for postdates, eating/drinking during labor, etc.

2:35 PM - I hop up on the table and my midwife examines my belly. No ultrasound machines here, either -- the midwives aren't able to do ultrasounds anyway -- so doppler it is.

2:40 PM - Appointment done.

(As an aside, I wondered if the promptness and the willingness to spend time/answer questions was simply a difference between the practices I saw with Littles vs. Noob, rather than a difference between OBs and midwives. Well, I had one appointment during my pregnancy with Noob where I was required to see an OB in the same practice as my midwives -- office policy. And it went pretty much identically to the OB appointment I described above, with Littles. The OB was about 45 minutes late and then was literally walking out of the room as I was asking a question. Ironically, I ran into my midwife in the hallway afterwards, and spent more time chit-chatting with her than I had spent during my entire appointment with the OB. So I guess it wasn't a difference between practices...)

With Q
2:05 PM - I arrive at C's office. She's there and waiting for me. She hands me a cup and a dipstick to do my own urine test. Littles comes with me.

2:10 PM - Urine test done. Littles is fascinated by all the colors on the dipstick and asks what they're for. I have no clue, so we both ask C when we get back. C patiently goes through each one with us. I knew from my previous pregnancies that she was looking for protein (possible sign of pre-eclampsia) or sugars (possible sign of gestational diabetes) in my urine, but C shows us that there are also tests for illness, healthy diet, etc. I have no idea whether my previous providers did all those same tests. I never asked and they never told me.

Everything looks good, except I do have some sugars in my urine. C notes that that's unusual for me and asks me what I ate today...

Me: I had yogurt and cereal for breakfast, and a cheese sandwich and an orange for lunch. Oh! And some crackers.

C: Hmmmm. I guess the sugars could be from the orange. Well, we'll keep an eye on it. *pause* No soda or candy?

Me: No. Oh wait! Yes. I had some gummi worms at lunch, too.

Busted :)

2:15 PM - C asks me how I'm feeling and then asks about our recent trip to China. "They have toilets you have to squat over!" Littles exclaims.

2:20 PM - Littles regales C with tales of our adventures on the Great Wall of China.

2:25 PM - Somewhere in there, C sneaks in a blood pressure and pulse check, and we also chat quickly about my nutrition.

2:30 PM - Littles entertains both of us with her theory on umbilical cords: "The baby can get ice cream through the umbilical cord, but not the cone. It's too big. It won't fit." C smiles. "That's a new one!"

2:35 PM - I make a coloring book for Littles to take to each appointment, with pictures of various pregnancy- and baby-related things. For today's book, she specifically requested a picture of a uterus. Okay. I found a picture online, so we spend a few minutes talking about the uterus, ovaries, and cervix. "My uterus is empty!" Littles proudly tells C. Thank goodness. I hope to keep it that way for many years to come.

2:40 PM - C directs me to the scale in her closet. I step on and call out the number to her.

2:45 PM - Littles has moved on to discussing the fact that Noob threw up this morning at the dentist's (hence why he wasn't at the appointment) and that she's seen two of her classmates throw up as well. "It's a potty humor kind of day, huh?" C remarks with a smile.

2:50 PM - I hop up on C's exam table. Littles stands right near my head. She told me last night that this is her favorite part. C squeezes blue ultrasound gel on my belly -- all the kids know about C's "blue goo," and so when her supplier stopped carrying it a few months ago, she found another supplier that did. She quickly finds Q's heartbeat, and follows Q for a minute or so as s/he moves around my belly. Littles listens intently, amazed by the sound.

2:55 PM - A little more chit-chat as we schedule my next appointment.

3:00 PM - Appointment done.

In summary
They all did the standard stuff, but...

• My OBs were much more likely to be significantly late.
• My midwives spent more time with me at each appointment. Especially C, my homebirth midwife. I joked that I probably spent more time with C during my pregnancy with Noob (after switching to homebirth less than 4 weeks before his birth) than I did with my previous hospital-based midwives during the first 36 weeks of that pregnancy, and with my OBs over my entire 42-week pregnancy with Littles. Well, it wasn't really a "joke;" I'm pretty sure it's the truth.
• Thanks to all the time spent together and random chit-chat, I have a much more personal connection with C than with any of my previous providers. She even came to Noob's first birthday party :) I know that some women don't want that personal connection -- they want their doctor/patient relationship to be more professional -- and that is totally fine. But it's something that's very important to me.
• Besides just giving me more time to ask my own questions, C also probes me more for information, going beyond standard baby-related questions ("Are you feeling the baby moving?") to ask about nutrition, sleep, stress levels, etc.