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

By the time you hitting the third trimester (28 weeks through the end of pregnancy), you're probably anxious for the baby to arrive and want to get some much-needed rest while you can.

The good news is you lot'll meet with your doctor more frequently to check on the growth and evolution of your baby, then you'll accept a ameliorate sense of when it might be "go" fourth dimension. In the third trimester, y'all'll accept a prenatal appointment every two weeks from 28 to 36 weeks, and then y'all'll accept a prenatal visit once a week during the last month until you deliver.

In some practices where multiple practitioners share the on-call pool, yous may brand your rounds to go to know everyone as your due appointment draws nearly. After all, there's a chance your md won't be bachelor when you give birth.

What happens at your tertiary trimester appointments?

Similar your previous prenatal appointments, you tin expect to get your blood pressure and weight checked. Some practices have you provide a urine sample to screen for protein, carbohydrate, and infection. Your dr. will also evaluate the babe's heartbeat using a Doppler and measure out the fundal tiptop (the altitude between your pubic os and the top of your uterus). At this stage, the measurement should lucifer the number of weeks you're pregnant. So, if you're 37 weeks, your fundal peak should be effectually 37 centimeters.

If your baby is measuring too minor or too big, your physician may society a third trimester ultrasound to evaluate her growth and your amniotic fluid levels. And if you have a high-chance pregnancy, such equally living with gestational diabetes, your medico may also order a third trimester ultrasound to do a biophysical profile (BPP) test, where your doc will examine the baby'south motion and fluid level.

Your doctor may also gild an ultrasound if she isn't sure about the infant's position from an abdominal exam. If it turns out the baby is breech, you may exist offered an external cephalic version, which are maneuvers done to endeavour to plough the baby into a vertex (head-down) position.

Past your due appointment? Your doctor may check your neck to come across if it'southward softening, effacing (thinning out), and dilating (opening). The cervical exam may give an idea of what method of consecration of labor to employ if information technology is indicated. (If you lot do accept a pelvic exam tardily in pregnancy, you lot might have a picayune spotting afterward.) Generally, practitioners won't do cervical checks unless they feel information technology's necessary, so if you're not comfortable, you lot tin reject them.

Moreover, you were screened to check whether y'all're Rh-negative during your showtime trimester. If information technology turns out you are Rh-negative, yous will be given an injection of Rh immune globulin (sometimes called RhIg or RhoGAM) to prevent your body from producing antibodies for the concluding part of your pregnancy.

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

Some questions you lot can look from your practitioner are:

  • How are y'all feeling?
  • Do you lot feel whatever unusual hurting and aches?
  • Are you experiencing Braxton-Hicks contractions, which are fake labor pains?
  • Are you having contractions?
  • How often practice y'all feel your baby move?
  • Do y'all have any sudden swelling?
  • How is your mood?
  • Are you getting enough sleep at night?
  • How is your diet?

Whether or not she asks, let your doctor know virtually any symptoms you're having, even if they seem like the usual fatigue, moodiness, or aches and pains.

Be sure to also let your dr. know if yous notice your baby is less active than usual (she'll ask you lot to count baby'due south movements for a set period of time each day).

Inside pregnancy: Weeks 28 to 37

A 3D blithe look at a babe in the third trimester of pregnancy.

Third 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 group B strep. If your test is positive, you'll be given antibiotics during labor to help go on you from passing information technology on to your baby.

(If yous've had a group B strep urinary tract infection during this pregnancy, you won't need this test considering fifty-fifty though the infection was treated, you'll automatically get antibiotics during labor. Likewise, you'll be automatically treated during labor if you've previously had a infant infected with group B strep.)

Gestational diabetes

If yous were diagnosed with gestational diabetes. , your doctor will proceed to monitor your blood glucose levels and ensure that you're following a healthy diet and exercise routine. Your md may also order a third trimester ultrasound to cheque your baby'due south growth and development.

Preeclampsia

Preeclampsia (very high blood pressure) usually develops during the third trimester. Some of the signs of preeclampsia are sudden swelling in the face and hands and poly peptide in the urine. Most of the time, patients with preeclampsia have no symptoms and it is incidentally diagnosed in the part with new onset loftier blood pressure. If you lot're by 37 weeks of pregnancy, so your doctor may want to deliver your baby. But if you lot're not at 37 weeks, your dr. will club an ultrasound and middle charge per unit monitoring to check your baby's well-being. In astringent cases, your doctor may want to acknowledge you to the hospital and consider delivering your baby early on.

Twins and College-Guild Multiples

Conveying twins, triplets and higher-club multiples is considered a loftier-hazard pregnancy. Because you're at risk for preterm nascence, you lot may demand more frequent prenatal appointments, sometimes weekly. You'll too need more than tests, including an ultrasound and/or non-stress test, which tracks your babies' heart rate for a period of time. If you're experiencing symptoms of preterm labor, such as contractions, vaginal spotting, and abdominal cramps, be sure to alert your doctor.

Placenta Previa

If you were institute to have placenta previa, which is what happens when the placenta partially or totally covers the cervix, you lot'll have a third trimester ultrasound to bank check whether the previa has resolved. If it hasn't, you'll virtually likely have a C-section to evangelize your baby safely. Some women with placenta previa feel heavy haemorrhage, and in this example, your dr. may recommend a C-department to deliver your babe earlier. You'll near likely be given corticosteroids to help your baby's lungs develop faster if your delivery is scheduled before 37 weeks.

Additional Tests

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

If you're at run a risk for sexually transmitted infections, y'all'll be tested again for syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and HIV.

Vaccination

You should get the Tdap vaccine to assist protect yous and your baby from pertussis (whooping cough). Even if you've been vaccinated before, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend all pregnant women get a booster betwixt 27 and 36 weeks.

If flu season is here or approaching, your practitioner should talk with you well-nigh the benefits of getting a flu shot if y'all oasis't already had one. Your dr. will also talk to you lot about the COVID-19 vaccine, which helps protect you from the virus and lessens the severity of the affliction if you lot go sick. Studies show that antibodies are also passed to the fetus.

Questions to ask your ob-gyn during your third trimester

Before your appointment, it'southward a good idea to write down any questions you may have for your dr.. This is too a great time to start thinking most your birth plan also every bit what to look postpartum. Here are some common questions you may want to ask:

  • Where tin can I take childbirth classes?
  • Where should I go if I'm in labor and fix to deliver?
  • What are signs of labor that I should look out for?
  • What happens if my water breaks or I go into labor in the heart of the night?
  • What's the departure between my water 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 than intense and closer together, should I give you a call or caput straight to the labor and commitment centre?
  • Will you be there throughout my labor or at my delivery?
  • What exactly happens during delivery?
  • How long should I look to stay at the hospital?
  • Does the infirmary offer lactation back up if I'thousand breastfeeding?
  • Will the hospital accomplish out to my infant's pediatrician to transfer records afterward giving nascence?
  • When should I schedule a postpartum date?

see-through belly of pregnant woman

A 3D animated look at a babe in the third trimester of pregnancy.

Recollect to talk over postpartum considerations

Since you may not be in whatever shape to make of import decisions right after commitment, now'due south the fourth dimension to first talking about whether you want your baby male child circumcised, whether y'all programme to breastfeed, and what you'd like to practice for contraception later you accept your baby. (Of form, y'all tin can always alter your heed betwixt now and and so.)

And if you lot haven't establish a physician for your baby, it's time to get started. Your practitioner can give yous some names.

Finally, your practitioner may screen you lot for signs of depression during pregnancy. But don't wait to be asked. If you're feeling depressed or broken-hearted, let your caregiver know. She can refer you to someone who can assistance.

She may also ask you nigh your back up network at dwelling after you lot've given birth and mention the signs of postpartum depression (PPD). Information technology's helpful to know how to distinguish normal "babe blues" brought on by fatigue and hormones from true postpartum depression. If you call back you may be suffering from low or anxiety, it's important to get help immediately.

Learn more almost what to await at your prenatal appointments:

  • What to look at your prenatal visits
  • Your first prenatal visit
  • Second-trimester prenatal visits