Pregnancy comes with a schedule nobody hands you in one piece. You get a date for a booking appointment, then a letter about a scan, then a form about blood tests, and somewhere around 24 weeks a drink of glucose you were not expecting. Each piece arrives on its own, which makes the whole thing feel more improvised than it is.
It is not improvised. The antenatal timetable is a sequence of checks, each placed at the week it works best, and most of them are looking for something specific and treatable. This page lays the whole sequence out in order — which week, which test, what it is actually looking for, and which results mean another appointment rather than bad news.
The short answer: a routine pregnancy in the UK includes at least 10 antenatal appointments for a first baby (7 if you have given birth before) and two ultrasound scans — one between 11 and 14 weeks and the anomaly scan between 18 and 21 weeks. Blood tests are taken at booking, around 28 weeks, and at any point a symptom calls for them. A glucose tolerance test is offered between 24 and 28 weeks to anyone with a risk factor for gestational diabetes. Every appointment, without exception, includes a blood pressure reading and a urine test.
The whole schedule on one page
Week ranges below follow the NHS antenatal pathway, which is the most explicitly published of the national schedules. Your own dates will shift by a week or two around them, and a country with a different programme will differ more; the sequence and the reasoning behind it are the same nearly everywhere.
For the international floor rather than one country's version, the WHO's 2016 model recommends a minimum of eight antenatal contacts — the first within the first 12 weeks, then at 20, 26, 30, 34, 36, 38 and 40 weeks. That replaced a four-visit minimum, and the change was made because eight contacts reduce perinatal deaths by up to 8 per 1,000 births compared with four.
| Week | Appointment | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 8–12 | Booking appointment | The long one, around an hour. History, height and weight, blood pressure, urine, and the first round of blood tests. Screening is explained and you decide what to accept. |
| Before 10 | Sickle cell and thalassaemia screening | A blood test, ideally done before 10 weeks so there is time to test the baby's father if yours is positive. |
| 11–14 | First scan + combined screening | Dates the pregnancy, counts the babies, checks the heartbeat. With a blood sample it becomes the combined test for Down's, Edwards' and Patau's syndromes. |
| 14–20 | Quadruple test | Only offered if the combined test could not be done in time — a blood test that screens for Down's syndrome alone. |
| 16 | Midwife appointment | Blood pressure, urine, and the results of the booking bloods and first-trimester screening are discussed. |
| 16–32 | Whooping cough vaccine | Usually given at 20 weeks, available from 16. Antibodies cross the placenta and protect the baby for the first weeks of life. |
| 18–21 | Anomaly scan | The detailed one. The baby's brain, heart, spine, kidneys, limbs and abdomen are examined, and the placenta's position is checked. |
| 24 | Fundal height measured from here | Your bump is measured with a tape from the pubic bone and plotted on a growth chart at every subsequent visit. |
| 24–28 | Glucose tolerance test | Offered if you have a risk factor for gestational diabetes. Fasting blood sample, a glucose drink, a second sample two hours later. |
| 25 | Midwife appointment | First baby only. Blood pressure, urine, fundal height. |
| 28 | Second round of bloods + anti-D | Full blood count for anaemia and antibody screening. If you are RhD negative, anti-D immunoglobulin is offered from 28 weeks. |
| 31 | Midwife appointment | First baby only. The usual checks plus results from the 28-week bloods. |
| 34 | Midwife appointment | The usual checks, plus the conversation about labour, pain relief and your birth preferences. |
| 36 | Position check | The baby's position is felt for. If the baby is breech, a scan confirms it and turning the baby is discussed. |
| 38, 40, 41 | Late appointments | The usual checks. At 41 weeks, induction is discussed and a membrane sweep is usually offered. |
If you want the version with what to ask at each one, our guide to the antenatal appointment schedule goes visit by visit. To see where you are in the sequence right now, the due date calculator converts a date into a gestational week, and the week-by-week guide covers what is happening at each of them.
Screening or diagnosis? The distinction that matters most
Almost every test offered routinely in pregnancy is a screening test, and screening does something narrower than most people expect. It estimates a probability. It sorts pregnancies into a higher-chance group and a lower-chance group, and it is wrong in both directions a predictable proportion of the time.
A diagnostic test answers the question outright, because it samples the pregnancy itself — placental tissue in a chorionic villus sampling, amniotic fluid in an amniocentesis. That certainty costs something: both are invasive procedures carrying a small risk of miscarriage, so neither is offered out of curiosity.
"Higher chance" is not a diagnosis. A screening result of 1 in 150 means 149 out of 150 pregnancies with that result do not have the condition. It is a reason to be offered a further test, and it is the point at which you should be given time, written information and a conversation with someone who does this every day — not a decision to make in the corridor.
What happens at every single appointment
Underneath the tests that vary by week, three checks repeat at every visit, and they exist to catch the complications that develop quietly.
🩺 The three constants
- Blood pressure — the main screen for pre-eclampsia, which usually produces no symptoms until it is advanced.
- Urine dip — protein in urine alongside raised blood pressure is what turns a suspicion into a diagnosis; it also catches urine infections, which need treating promptly in pregnancy.
- Fundal height, from 24 weeks — a tape measure from the pubic bone to the top of the uterus, plotted over time. A curve that flattens triggers a growth scan.
From around 24 weeks you will also be asked about your baby's movements at every appointment. That question is not small talk — a change in the pattern is one of the few warnings a baby can give, and our guide to kick counts and baby movements covers what to watch for between visits.
The blood tests, and what they are looking for
The booking bloods look like a lot of vials for one appointment. They are testing for several unrelated things at once, all of which are easier to manage the earlier they are found.
- Blood group and rhesus status — if you are RhD negative and your baby is RhD positive, anti-D immunoglobulin prevents your immune system reacting in this and future pregnancies.
- Full blood count — anaemia is common in pregnancy and treatable with iron; it is rechecked at 28 weeks.
- Hepatitis B, HIV and syphilis — all three can be passed to the baby, and all three have treatments that dramatically reduce that risk. This is why the screening is offered to everyone rather than by risk.
- Rubella immunity — still part of booking bloods in many countries, though England stopped routine antenatal rubella screening on 1 April 2016, because MMR coverage made exposure during pregnancy very unlikely. Where it is still done, it changes nothing during the pregnancy; it tells you whether to be vaccinated afterwards.
- Sickle cell and thalassaemia — inherited conditions, screened before 10 weeks so there is time to test the baby's father if needed.
Read the one that applies to you
Each of these goes deeper than a row in a table can: what the test measures, what the numbers on the report mean, and what happens if a result comes back outside the expected range.
Getting more out of an appointment
Antenatal appointments are short, and the useful ones are usually the ones you arrived at prepared for. Three things make a measurable difference:
Write the questions down before you go. Every midwife has had the conversation where the important question surfaces as the patient is putting their coat on. A note on your phone costs nothing and changes what gets covered.
Bring your own numbers. If you have been taking your blood pressure at home, or tracking symptoms, or you have a scan report from a private clinic, bring the record rather than the recollection. A series of readings tells a midwife something a single measurement cannot.
Ask what a result means for the next appointment. "Is this being rechecked, and when?" turns an ambiguous number into a plan. Most borderline results in pregnancy are managed by repeating the test, and knowing that in advance removes most of the worry attached to the word "borderline".
When not to wait for the next appointment
Call your midwife or maternity unit the same day if: you have vaginal bleeding, a gush or steady trickle of fluid, severe or one-sided abdominal pain, a severe headache with visual disturbance or sudden swelling of the face and hands, a fever, or — after 24 weeks — if your baby's movements have slowed or changed. Do not wait for a scheduled appointment and do not wait until morning.
The schedule on this page is designed for a pregnancy that is going normally. It has deliberate gaps — four weeks between appointments in the second trimester — and those gaps assume you will ring if something changes. Maternity units are staffed around the clock precisely for this, and nobody there considers a call that turns out to be nothing a waste of their time.
- Reduced or changed movements after 24 weeks — same day, every time. Never wait until morning and never try to "wake the baby up" first.
- Severe headache, flashing lights or sudden swelling — possible pre-eclampsia, which can develop between appointments.
- Any vaginal bleeding — always assessed, however light.
- Fluid leaking from the vagina — possible ruptured membranes, which matters most before 37 weeks.
- Persistent vomiting, or burning when you pass urine — infections and dehydration are treated quickly and easily, and slowly and unpleasantly.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many scans do you get during pregnancy?
In the UK, two are offered routinely: a scan between 11 and 14 weeks and the anomaly scan between 18 and 21 weeks. More are arranged when there is a reason — twins, a low-lying placenta, bleeding, a growth concern, or a previous complication. Private clinics sell additional scans, but extra images do not improve outcomes in an uncomplicated pregnancy and are not part of any national programme.
How many antenatal appointments will I have?
The NHS offers at least 10 appointments if this is your first baby and at least 7 if you have given birth before. The traditional US schedule runs to 12–14 visits, though ACOG's 2025 clinical consensus moved away from a fixed number and towards a schedule matched to each pregnancy. Either way, appointments cluster towards the end: fortnightly from 28 weeks, weekly from 36.
What is the difference between a screening test and a diagnostic test?
A screening test estimates a probability. It sorts pregnancies into higher and lower chance and can be wrong in both directions, so a "higher chance" result is not a diagnosis. A diagnostic test — CVS or amniocentesis — samples the pregnancy itself and gives a definite answer, at the cost of a small procedure-related miscarriage risk. Almost everything offered routinely is screening.
Which prenatal tests are compulsory?
None of them. Every antenatal test is offered, not imposed, and you can accept some and decline others — most people accept the infection screening and the scans while thinking harder about chromosomal screening. Declining a test is recorded and does not affect the rest of your care. What is worth avoiding is deciding by default: a test you did not think about is harder to interpret when the result arrives.
What happens at every antenatal appointment?
Blood pressure and a urine dip at all of them, because together they are the main screen for pre-eclampsia. From 24 weeks your bump is measured from the pubic bone to the top of the uterus and plotted on a growth chart. From around 24 weeks you will be asked about the baby's movements at each visit, and later in pregnancy the baby's position is checked by hand.
When is the glucose tolerance test done?
Between 24 and 28 weeks, which is when placental hormones peak and gestational diabetes becomes detectable. If you have had gestational diabetes before, testing is usually offered much earlier — often soon after booking — and repeated at 24–28 weeks if the first result was normal.
Can I bring someone to my scans?
Usually yes, though hospitals set their own limits on how many people and whether children can come. The anomaly scan is a detailed clinical examination and the sonographer will go quiet while concentrating, which is normal and not a signal that something is wrong. If you would rather not have company for that one, that is also a reasonable choice.
What should I take to an antenatal appointment?
Your maternity notes or app, a urine sample if your clinic asks for one, a list of your current medicines and supplements, and the questions you thought of at 3am and will otherwise forget. If you monitor your blood pressure at home, bring the readings — a record over several weeks is far more useful to a midwife than one number taken in a waiting room.
Prenatal tests and scans — at a glance
A routine pregnancy involves around ten appointments, two scans and three or four rounds of blood tests, spread across nine months and clustered towards the end. The first scan between 11 and 14 weeks confirms dates and, with a blood sample, becomes the combined screening test. The anomaly scan between 18 and 21 weeks examines the baby's anatomy in detail. Booking bloods cover blood group, anaemia and three infections that are treatable in pregnancy, and they are repeated at 28 weeks. A glucose tolerance test at 24–28 weeks looks for gestational diabetes. Underneath all of it, blood pressure and urine are checked at every visit, because pre-eclampsia gives almost no warning of its own. Everything is offered rather than required, and almost everything is screening rather than diagnosis.
Inside Baby Novum: the calendar marks ultrasound appointments, doctor's visits and lab tests with push reminders, the ultrasound log stores each scan's measurements and a photo of the report and plots them against WHO and INTERGROWTH-21st percentile bands, and the blood pressure and lab result journals keep the series a midwife actually wants to see. Everything stays on your phone — there is no account and no server.
Sources
- NHS — Your antenatal appointments
- NHS — Screening tests in pregnancy
- ACOG Clinical Consensus No. 8, 2025 — Tailored Prenatal Care Delivery for Pregnant Individuals
- WHO 2016 — Recommendations on antenatal care for a positive pregnancy experience
- WHO 2016 — Eight antenatal contacts: the recommended schedule
- NHS — Whooping cough vaccination in pregnancy
- NICE TA156 — Routine antenatal anti-D prophylaxis for women who are rhesus D negative
- UK National Screening Committee, 2016 — Rubella susceptibility screening in pregnancy ends