Pregnancy Timeline & Key Events

Every pregnancy is unique.

The information provided here is a general guideline. If you have questions about the timing of a key event during your pregnancy, your baby’s development, or the changes that you are noticing in your body, please ask!

Vaccinations during and after pregnancy

• Access the CDC's resource page related to vaccinations during pregnancy and the postpartum period. 

Pertinent tests and clinical events

• Up to a year prior to trying to conceive: Schedule an appointment for preconception counseling.  Visit our preconception planning page! 
• Once you know (or think) you are pregnant: Call our office and visit our early pregnancy resource page. 
• 8-10 weeks gestation: Obstetrical history appointment; may include blood tests
• 10-12 weeks gestation: Obstetrical physical appointment
• 11-13 weeks: (Optional) First trimester screen (combines a maternal blood test with a fetal ultrasound to identify risk for specific chromosomal abnormalities. If opting for this test, a quad screen will not be necessary.  
• 14-16 weeks: (Optional) Sign up for childbirth classes.  Many local hospitals offer childbirth classes and other prenatal classes.  Click here for information on the childbirth classes offered at Baystate Medical Center.  
• 16-18 weeks: (Optional) Quad screen (a blood test screening for certain problems with the baby or pregnancy), AFP (alpha feto-protein, a blood test to screen for spina bifida) 
• 19-20 weeks: Baby’s ultrasound!
• 26-28 weeks: Glucose tolerance test (GTT) – a screening test for diabetes in pregnancy
• 26-28 weeks: Expecting mothers who have Rh negative blood type will receive an injection of Rhogam
• 35-37 weeks: Group B strep culture
• 38 weeks: Weekly internal exams to check for dilation
• 41-42 weeks: Non stress test (NST) and/or biophysical profile test (BPP), performed in ultrasound

Baby’s development and maternal changes

From the moment of conception, your baby begins to develop and your body begins to change. Click here to access an in-depth discussion of your baby’s development, month by month, as well as the changes you can expect to see along the way in your own body. (Published by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology)