Tests Done at First Major OB Visit

[Anonymous]

I'm probably being paranoid, so I apologize in advance for looking for a little piece of mind. I saw my doctor last week for my first major visit- ultrasound, exam, congrats, that kind of stuff. he also drew some blood and I had to do the ever so humble walk to the washroom with the cup. I didn't think anything of it because he said everything looked good- that I walked in with a 1 in 4 chance of miscarrying and left with less than a 3% chance. Yesterday I received a message from the nurse calling with test results. She called at the end of the day and they were closed by the time I got the message. Today before I had a chance to call, she left two more messages- home and work- asking me to call back regarding test results. We've now spent most of the day playing phone tag. I wish she would leave some indication what it's about because I didn't know there would be any test results to get back at this point. Does anyone remember what type of tests they run during your first visit? Just trying to get an idea. Thank you and sorry for the long post.

[Anonymous]

I think they do a complete blood work-up and check hormone levels (hCG, progesterone, maybe others). Maybe you're anemic or something like that and they want you go get on supplements right away (that happened to me). You mention that they did an ultrasound, presumably you saw the gestational sac and the heartbeat? Hopefully that was reassuring. I have heard that once they do see a heartbeat, the risk of miscarriage significantly drops, to something like 5%. Good luck to you and have a healthy pregnancy.