First pregnancy exams

When my wife was pregnant with our first child, I wasn't able to go with her to the appointments because of my work. She told me that at every appointment, the doctor she had examined her and yet for our second child, i was able to goto all of them, she had a better doctor and he only examined her a handful of times. Is this normal to be examined at every appointment?

What do you mean by “examining”?

What is the point of going to a pregnancy monitoring appointment if the doctor does not carry out an examination?

When I went with my wife for our first it was a full exam breasts and pelvic

In Quebec, you don't normally get a pelvic exam at every appointment. Usually about 4 times during your pregnancy. I know the one time i went with my wife to this doctor, it was just for a regular check up and while she was on the table, he told her to lower her pants, bend her knees and spread her legs so he can examine her. She pants where only up around her knees, so he legs weren't really opened. almost looked like he was coping a feel since his hand was resting oh her pelvic area and not just with two fingers inside of her.

I've never seen a breast and pelvic exam when my wife was pregnant. The doctor said that since she's not breast feeding, there was no need. I've never gone again with her after she gave birth. I've asked to go with her and she said that there is no need since she's not pregnant.

In the Netherlands at the first appointment they her the heart of the child…. And the doctor talks about how it will be the next40 weeks with some appointments. No examinations are done. Maybe between the 8rh week and the 15th a first ultrasone. Rarely a vaginal ultrasone

When my wife went for her first Pre-natal exam she saw her primary Ob/Gyn doctor in the group practice. All five are of course male. She has been going there since her mother dragged her there for a virginity check. The doctor that examined her told mom there was no indication of sexual activity. She always said she was safe as long as she wasn’t taken to a dentist. Back to her first Ob exam. She said she got the works. Wile she was still in the stirrups and nude from the waist down he called in the current low man on the food chain and the one most of the deliveries were given to. Even when the pelvic was done she had to get out of the stirrups and he adjusted the table to make it easier for him to give her the most complete rectal exam she ever had. She got the standard weight and measurements along with her breasts and at the start of her second trimester she was back in the stirrups again. This time by the one who was set up for deliveries. She was on the table when that doctor took a call and forgot she was still on the table and in the stirrups. A nurse finally came in and found her. She helped her clean up, dress and leave. Start of the third trimester an other pretty complete with a breast, pelvic and rectal now with a third doctor. He at least didn’t leave her on the table to take a call. The hospital was a disaster. I think every male in the hospital examined her at some point. Even the electrician when they lost power in the labor room

I'm now pregnant with child nr 2. Both first exams was a full exam, breast, pelvic, rectal, blood work, urine, weight hight, and so on. But the other was just BP, feel the belly, meassure the pubic to fundus, urine sample, and that's it.

First appointment is a complete physical with a

Pap. Then it’s just weight, urine, BP, fetal heart rate and fundal height each month after. Week 36 is a vaginal and rectal swab, then weekly after that is cervical checks.

Nothing anywhere near as interesting in the UK as the appointments elsewhere in the world.

My partner and I have had 2 kids in the last 4 years and it's filling in a questionnaire about medication, preexisting conditions etc then it's height, weight, BP, ultrasound and fundal height measurement. She had a couple of transvaginals in the second pregnancy because the baby was never in the right position.

It's all so very British

"I'm just putting this cover (condom, we can all see what it is) on the probe"

"Would you like him to leave the room?"

"Nah, it's not like he hasn't already seen it!"

It might all depend on what risk factors are involved. For the first two kids there was an exam each month and then one a week until delivery. With our last child the risk factors were way different and we went every two weeks and in the last month it was at least twice a week and at the end it was almost ever other day.

I am fairly certain they wanted to be xtra careful with that last one. There are too many sue happy people in the USA

I was not prepared for the first visit during pregnancy, not how it happened. The public hospital has no privacy at all, in Italy! I was with my husband, we enter the examination room, there are 4 people: an older doctor and 3 interns (two women and a man). It is a university hospital, so it can happen to find interns. Little empathy, a lot of haste on the part of the doctor. The time comes to undress. I have to undress right there at the desk, there is no divider, nothing. So naked from the waist down, after a striptease in front of everyone, I go to the bed. All 4 examine me and then all 4 do the internal ultrasound. And all this in front of my husband! It was very embarrassing for me, after this fact I did the visits in private, only at the end I returned to the hospital!

I did ask my sister what happens during pregnancy exams. She had to go every month for medical reasons.

The first few months, the ultrasounds are done vaginally. Later, they were done on the stomach.

They only do a complete pelvic exam when the last one wasn't recent. So only the first few months she had to undress and one time where the doctor had to do a vaginal swab.