Ask an OB-GYN, Series I, Blog 1- What is a pre-pregnancy care checkup?
The goal of a pre-pregnancy checkup is to evaluate and discuss issues that may affect your pregnancy before you conceive. This can increase your chances of a normal healthy pregnancy and baby. During this visit, your OB provider will ask about your diet, lifestyle habits, medications, personal and family health history and about past pregnancy issues you may have had. If you are not up to date on your Papanicolaou test, also called a Pap test or Pap smear, this visit would be a good time to have one. This is a great tool to check for infections that could adversely affect your pregnancy or chances of becoming pregnant. This visit should be scheduled anytime you are planning a pregnancy or have health issues and not preventing pregnancy. Feel free to bring your partner, so their family health history can be discussed as well. –Dr. Douglas Lawson, Board-certified OB-GYN
Dr. Douglas Lawson is a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist practicing at the My Linton Clinic Women’s Health Center. As an OB-GYN, he supports women’s health with innovative approaches to care. Specializing in the woman’s reproductive tract, pregnancy, and childbirth with over 20 years of experience, Dr. Lawson also believes that healthy people build strong communities. He believes that moving toward healthy is easier with knowledge. As a service to the community, he has volunteered to write a series of blogs, “Ask an OB-GYN”, where he answers common OB-GYN questions and shares his expertise in women’s health and wellness to our communities.
Dr. Lawson graduated from Indiana University’s School of Medicine, completed his residency at Providence Hospital and Medical Centers, and is board certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
To make a pre-pregnancy appointment with Dr. Lawson call
