To ensure a healthy pregnancy, you must attend your antenatal check-ups regularly. Although most pregnancies proceed normally, these visits and investigations are vital to monitor your progress and spot problems before any harm is done.

Women at high risk, and those women with an existing condition such as diabetes or having a Rhesus negative blood group, are carefully monitored so that the baby’s welfare is never in jeopardy.

You will attend an antenatal clinic at either the hospital where you will have your baby or at your doctor’s surgery. Most of the women attend once a month or so up until 7 months of pregnancy, every two weeks up to 9 months of pregnancy, and then once a week for the last month.

You will need to attend mo/e frequently if any complications develop, such as your expecting more than one baby, if you have a pre-existing medical condition, or if you are at risk.

Attending an antenatal clinic in a hospital can be intimidating and frustrating: there may be a large number of staff coming and going, and you may be kept waiting for some time. Many women describe it as a cattle market. Negative feelings can be made much worse by the discontinuity of care — it’s quite possible to see different nurses and doctors at every visit. Much of this can be avoided if you opt for shared care, a GP unit, or the “domino” system where you mainly see your doctor or your midwife for check-ups, with occasional visits to the hospital antenatal clinic.

When you go, try to make the best of your time at the antenatal clinic by taking along something to read or to do, and some food and drink just in case the food trolley doesn’t come by while you are there. Take a friend or your partner with you for company and moral support.

Ideally, your partner should attend at least one antenatal clinic with you so that he is familiar with what you go through and can sympathize. He can also have his questions answered and, most importantly, give you moral support. If you already have young children, arrange for them to be looked after if at all possible because they can be quite a handful in a confined space with little to interest them.

On your first visit to the antenatal clinic, you will be asked various questions on the following subjects:

- Your personal details and circumstances including age, marital status, next of kin and religion.

- Childhood illnesses or serious illnesses you have had.

- Serious illnesses that run in your family or in your partners family

- Whether there are twins in your family

- What symptoms of pregnancy you have, and the state of your general health.

- Details of previous births, pregnancies or problems in conceiving.

- Whether you are taking any prescription medication or whether you suffer from any allergies.

- your menstrual history — when you started, how long your average cycle is, how many days you bleed, and the date of your last menstrual period (IMP).

- From the above information, your estimated delivery date (EDD) will be calculated.