At each visit to your provider, you'll have your blood pressure and weight checked and any swelling assessed. Overall, blood pressure tends to go down in pregnancy because of the increase in blood volume, a more elastic cardiovascular system, and other factors. A normal blood pressure range in pregnancy is around 120 (systolic) over 70 (diastolic). Anything higher than 140 over 90 (written 140/90) is considered high. Your doctor will monitor any sudden elevations in blood pressure carefully, as they can be an early sign of pregnancy-induced hypertension or preeclampsia.

Your belly will be examined. Just how depends on where you are in your pregnancy, but you might expect a regular measurement of your fundal height (the top of your uterus) starting sometime in the second trimester, and an external check of the baby's position in the third trimester.

At your initial visit and again in month 9 when labor approaches, you will have an internal (or pelvic) exam. You're probably familiar with these from your annual gynecological exams, but if you aren't, it's fairly straightforward. If the physician needs to visualize your cervix to perform a pap smear, check for STDs, or check for amniotic fluid, a speculum, a duckbilled instrument, is inserted into your vagina and opened to form a tube through which your provider can view your vagina and cervix. It isn't painful, but you will probably experience some pressure that you may consider uncomfortable. He will also scrape off some cervical cells for a pap smear and take a swab of vaginal fluid to test for sexually transmitted diseases. These also should not hurt.

Toward the very end of pregnancy your doctor or midwife will again do an internal, this time a digital exam to check the cervix for ripening — a sign of approaching labor. (For more on cervical ripening, see Chapter 17.)