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Prenatal care is extremely important when it comes to the health of yourself and your baby when you are pregnant. When you are pregnant, you will see an obstetrician (OB). They will help to monitor your health throughout the pregnancy, as well as the health of your baby. You can learn more about some of the important reasons for making sure you make it to your appointments throughout your pregnancy by reading this blog.

Your Due Date Will Be Determined

One of the things that will be done when you go to one of your early appointments is that you will learn the due date of your baby. While your baby can still come early or late, knowing the due date is important. It gives you a date to plan for but more importantly is that it gives the OB something to compare your baby's progress by. Once they know how far along you are, they will be able to monitor the baby to make sure the pregnancy is progressing and the baby is developing as expected. 

Your Health Will Be Monitored 

Throughout your pregnancy, your health will be monitored and this can help the OB to see that you are having something going on with your own health that will need to be addressed or closely monitored throughout the pregnancy. For example, they will monitor your blood pressure. 

Should you begin to have issues with your blood pressure then this can indicate that you have a serious condition known as preeclampsia which may require you to be put on bed rest and may result in the need for your child to be delivered early. 

Your Baby Will Be Monitored

Your baby will be monitored in different ways as it develops. At first, the heartbeat will be located and listened to. In some cases, problems can be determined early on by listening to the heartbeat because the OB may hear that there is something going on with the heartbeat that is concerning. However, in most cases listening to the heartbeat in those first days of pregnancy will be an exciting thing. 

As the baby develops, there will be an ultrasound done and this allows the OB to see the baby. They will be able to spot certain issues that let them know there may be a problem with the baby. In some cases, this information can be used to correct a problem before the baby is even born. In Other situations, it can let them know that special precautions will need to be taken during labor and delivery. Also, the ultrasound can be where you learn the gender of your baby if this is something that you wanted to know ahead of time.