During your first visit to establish care for your pregnancy at Cary OB/GYN, you’ll have an ultrasound to verify the pregnancy and to establish your due date. This is usually at 7 to 8 weeks of pregnancy. It is difficult to see anything sooner on ultrasound. You’ll also get to hear your baby’s heartbeat for the first time, and you will have a detailed visit with one of our physicians, midwives or nurse practitioners to go over early pregnancy education.

During a typical pregnancy, your next ultrasound will be at 20 weeks to assess your baby’s anatomy. This is a detailed ultrasound that looks at your baby’s major organs and assesses for any fetal anomalies. We will also look at your placenta and the fluid around your baby. You can also learn the baby's gender during this ultrasound, if desired! We can also provide the gender in an envelope to give to a loved one if you would like to plan a surprise reveal.

You may have one or several growth ultrasounds during the remainder of your pregnancy depending on if you have any high-risk conditions.  We also monitor your baby's growth using fundal height at each visit, and if we're concerned about the baby growing too small or too big, we will recommend an ultrasound.  You may also have ultrasounds such as the Biophysical Profile (BPP) to check on fetal well-being when needed.

During your first visit at Cary OB/GYN, your provider will discuss all necessary and optional tests we offer. We will recommend blood work for a prenatal panel to determine your baseline health and if you have immunity to certain illnesses that can affect pregnancy. We may also need to perform a PAP smear to assess the health of your cervix and urine testing. We will also discuss genetic testing options, including carrier screening and NIPT chromosomal testing (see section on genetic testing).

At 28 weeks of pregnancy, you will have a gestational diabetes screening using the Glucola test, and we will also check your blood work again for anemia and infection exposure. If your blood type is Rh negative, we will also check your blood for exposure to any antigens, and you will receive the Rhogam shot to prevent pregnancy complications for the baby related to your blood type.  

At 36 weeks of pregnancy, we will perform a vaginal/rectal swab for Group Beta Strep, which is a common bacterium that lives normally in these areas for a woman; however, it can affect the baby as they pass through the birth canal.  We will let you know if your test is positive and will plan to use antibiotics for treatment during labor.

https://www.acog.org/womens-health/faqs/routine-tests-during-pregnancy 

We will discuss your vaccination history at your first visit to determine whether there are any vaccinations you have not received yet that would be beneficial during pregnancy.  We will also do blood testing to check your immunity to Varicella, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, and Hepatitis.

We recommend you are up to date on your annual flu vaccine, RSV vaccine (given only during pregnancy between 32-36 weeks), Tdap vaccine for whooping cough protection (we will offer it to you in the office one-time between 28-36 weeks), and COVID vaccine.

Safe vaccines in pregnancy:

• Tdap (Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Pertussis)
• Influenza
• RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus)
• COVID-19 (initial vaccine and any boosters)
• Hepatitis B

NOT safe in pregnancy, can be given postpartum:

• MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella)
• Varicella
• Travel Vaccines such as Typhoid, Yellow Fever, Malaria

At Cary OB/GYN, our highly skilled team of dedicated, compassionate, board-certified OB/GYN physicians is ready and excited to help bring your little one safely into the world! We are also fortunate to have a growing team of Certified Nurse Midwives who are ready to partner with you and our physicians to provide exceptional labor support and perform normal vaginal deliveries. Our midwives are especially skilled at managing contraction pain, positions during labor and pushing, and vaginal deliveries on their own, and we are grateful to offer this service to women in the Triangle region.  

The on-call physician or midwife will deliver you, and we encourage you to schedule a prenatal visit with each of our providers to meet them before delivery.  At Cary OB/GYN, we do NOT share call with any other OB/GYN practices, so you will already know your dedicated team ahead of delivery, and we will always be there to care for our patients.

Cary OB/GYN physicians and midwives deliver exclusively at WakeMed Cary Hospital, where you'll receive exceptional labor, delivery, and postpartum care in a family-centered environment. WakeMed Cary is an award-winning hospital with magnet status for superb nursing care and is often regarded as Wake County's premier delivery hospital.

Explore the maternity services, childbirth classes, hospital tours, and patient information available at WakeMed Cary Hospital to help you prepare for your baby's exciting arrival.