How many appointments should I have during pregnancy?

Throughout your pregnancy, you will have several appointments, and it is natural to wonder how many are necessary. The answer is that there is no single number that is right for every woman. In a low-risk pregnancy, there is a guiding schedule, but your care should adapt to your health history, the progress of your pregnancy, and also the needs you experience throughout these months.

In Portugal

The National Programme for the Surveillance of Low-Risk Pregnancy recommends that the first appointment takes place as early as possible, ideally by 12 weeks. After that, appointments tend to become progressively more frequent: approximately every 4 to 6 weeks until 30 weeks, every 2 to 3 weeks between 30 and 36 weeks, and every 1 to 2 weeks after 36 weeks until birth.

The Portuguese Order of Nurses has more recently proposed a care model with 14 antenatal appointments, in-person or via telehealth, which include promoting adaptation to pregnancy and monitoring its progress, preparing for birth, promoting and adapting to parenthood, and finally, postpartum recovery. Here, too, there is a very important idea: the timing and frequency of appointments must be adjusted to the specific needs of each pregnant woman.

A pregnancy appointment is much more than weighing, measuring blood pressure, ordering tests, or assessing the baby's growth. It is also a moment for you to talk about how you are feeling, clear up any doubts, understand the changes in your body, prepare for the birth, and participate in decisions about your care.

And in high-risk pregnancy?

The risk level of a pregnancy is not a classification made only at the beginning that stays the same until birth. At each appointment, the team reassesses your health and your baby's. As the pregnancy progresses, new information emerges from what you share, observations, blood tests, ultrasounds, and other examinations. If at any point a factor requiring different monitoring is identified, your care plan can be adjusted. It may be necessary, for example, to involve an obstetrician, if they are not the professional who usually monitors your pregnancy, or to refer you to hospital care. This ensures that, at every moment, you have access to the care most suited to your needs and those of your baby.

The most important thing

More important than counting how many appointments you have already had is understanding if the support you are receiving is meeting your needs. There may be times when you need to be seen more frequently, clarify more questions, or simply feel you need more support. Quality monitoring is also built around what you and your family need.