Archives: Timeline Stories

– Dr Duncan does an early postnatal check at 2 weeks, and a further check at 6 weeks.

– Induction of labour if required

– Delivery by caesarean section, whether by choice or due to medical necessity, happens around 39 weeks’ gestation.

– Repeat growth scans and maternal wellbeing checks

– Repeat growth scan
– If you are planning a vaginal delivery, you will screen for Group B Strep.
FUN FACT: At 36 weeks Baby’s lungs are fully formed and ready to breathe on their own.

– Repeat growth scan
– The RSV vaccine will be offered.
– If your thyroid function was previously impaired, you will have repeat screening.

– Repeat growth scan
– If you have not yet developed your birth plan, Dr Duncan will discuss this with you.

– Repeat growth scan
– Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT) or random glucose test
– Repeat screening for anaemia/antibodies and screening for Gestational Diabetes
– If Mum and Baby do not share the same Rhesus factor (the presence, or absence, of a red blood cell protein) then Mum will be offered Anti-D immunoglobulin.
– The Portland Midwives will invite you in for your ‘booking’ appointment.
– The Whooping Cough vaccine will be offered.
FUN FACT: A crucial substance ‘surfactant’, which helps keep the air sacs in Baby’s lungs open, begins to be produced in significant amounts around 26 to 28 weeks.

– Growth scan, with uterine artery Dopplers – Growth scans monitor Baby’s weight and measurements, and when performed regularly also show the rate of growth. This can be used an indicator of fetal or maternal complications. The arterial Dopplers measure the flow of blood, from Mum to Baby.
– If your thyroid function was previously impaired, you will have repeat screening.
FUN FACT: From 22 weeks you can feel Baby’s kicks, known as ‘the quickening’.

– Anomaly/anatomy scan – this scan assesses Baby’s developing anatomy in detail.
FUN FACT: Baby now has recognisable eyes and eyebrows.