Our next stop on this journey is a visit with a provider who will fill you in about what you can expect from your health care team over the coming months. It's so important to go to your provider regularly and to take good care of yourself when you're pregnant.

In fact, it's been proven that women who receive good prenatal care have healthier babies. Let's visit with some providers to find out more about what you can expect during your prenatal visits.

Over the years I've had the pleasure of working with many expectant moms throughout their pregnancies. Today I'd like to talk to you about what you should expect when you visit your provider.

How often you see your provider will depend on how old you are and if your provider feels that you have some specific risks. If you're healthy and younger than 35 years old, you’ll probably go to your provider about 10 times before you have your baby. The first visit usually takes place when you're 8 to 12 weeks along. Your second visit will usually be between 12 and 16 weeks.

In general, your health care provider will want to see you once a month until the last couple of months of your pregnancy. Then the visits become more frequent as the "big day" gets closer! Each of these visits is very important, and you'll want to be sure not to miss them.

Let's talk about your first prenatal appointment. Expect your first pregnancy visit to last between an hour and an hour-and-a-half. It will include laboratory screening, a questionnaire on you and your family's history, a complete physical exam, and some time to visit with your health care provider afterwards. You should leave with an understanding of how often you should schedule your visits, what labs will be drawn and when, and what childbirth classes are available to you. You should also receive personal instructions on what your provider suggests for exercise, work, safety, and nutrition during your pregnancy.

Several times during your pregnancy, you'll be asked to give blood and urine so that the lab can run some tests. Your urine will be checked to make sure that you don't have any infections and that your kidneys are working well. Your blood will be tested to find out your blood type and to see if you are anemic, which could reduce the amount of oxygen in your bloodstream. The blood test will also make sure that you don't have certain diseases and that you’re not prone to develop conditions like gestational diabetes, preeclampsia or toxemia, and eclampsia.

Many pregnant women experience spotting, or light bleeding, early in their pregnancy. You should know that less than half of them miscarry. If you are soaking a thick pad each hour for two or more hours, you should call your health care provider’s office or go to an emergency room to be checked.

Depending on how far along you are, blood tests, ultrasound, or other screenings may be used to make sure that your baby is growing appropriately.

Most pregnancies that miscarry do so before 14 weeks. If a miscarriage happens, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a genetic problem. In fact, you’ll be glad to know that most miscarriages happen due to other reasons and few women have more than one miscarriage.

Each of us is made up of genes from our parents, and our parents are made up of genes from their parents, and so on. Genes are kind of like the blueprints for what we will look like and how healthy we will be. You'll be glad to know that most parents don't have a very high risk of passing on a "problem" gene. If you're over 35, or if your family has a history of some kind of hereditary problem, your provider will probably schedule genetic counseling and some type of genetic screening so that you can be aware of any potential problems.

The most common genetic test is an amniocentesis, also called an "amnio". Your provider uses a needle to withdraw some of your amniotic fluid, which is the liquid that surrounds your baby. Most women comment that the test sounds worse than it really is. The cells in this fluid contain all of the information your provider needs to check for possible problems like Down Syndrome or spina bifida.

Another genetic test is called CVS, chorionic villus sampling. This test can be done earlier in your pregnancy, and like amniocentesis, looks for genetic problems.