Prenatal checks, week by week

Two files, not one

Beijing runs the start of a pregnancy in two steps, and foreign parents often miss the first one. You register at your local 社区卫生服务中心 and receive the 母子健康手册. Only then does the hospital where you plan to give birth open your 建档, the file most people call 建卡.

Registration usually opens once you are six full weeks pregnant, counted as day 43 from your last period. Take passports and residence permits for both parents, a marriage certificate if the center asks for one, and proof of the pregnancy: an early ultrasound, a blood hCG result, or a urine test. Beijing also runs this online, through the 北京妇幼健康服务 WeChat account or the 北京市云上妇幼 mini-program, with a short video call to check your details.

What a center asks a foreign passport holder for varies by district, and some centers see very few foreign parents. Call yours before you cross the city. Once you have the handbook, take it to every appointment.

How many visits to expect

The national guideline sets seven appointment windows: 6 to 13 weeks, 14 to 19, 20 to 24, 25 to 28, 29 to 32, 33 to 36, and 37 to 41. Most pregnancies use 7 to 11 visits in total, and more if anything needs watching. The minimum under the basic public health service is five.

Plan each 产检 as a morning, not an hour. Blood, urine, ultrasound, and the doctor are usually separate windows with separate queues, and the ultrasound is often the longest wait. Book ahead: most Beijing hospitals release appointments through a WeChat account rather than by phone.

First visit, 6 to 13 weeks

The required tests are a blood count, urine, blood type, liver and kidney function, fasting glucose, hepatitis B surface antigen, syphilis, HIV, and an ultrasound confirming the pregnancy is in the uterus. Many Beijing hospitals add thyroid function and an ECG.

The NT scan, which measures fluid at the back of the baby’s neck, is done between 11 weeks and 13 weeks plus six days. That window is fixed. If you miss it, it cannot be repeated later, so book it when you open the file rather than at the next visit.

14 to 20 weeks: the screening choices

Nothing is compulsory in this window, which catches people out. What sits here are decisions. 唐筛, the blood screening for chromosomal conditions, runs from 15 to 20 weeks and is best between 16 and 18. 无创DNA, the non-invasive DNA test, can be done from 12 weeks to 22 weeks plus six days and is more accurate, but you usually pay for it.

Amniocentesis, between 16 and 22 weeks, is the test that gives a definite answer rather than a risk score. It is offered if screening comes back high risk, or if you ask. Ask what each option costs at your hospital before you choose, because the prices differ more than the tests do.

20 to 24 weeks: the anomaly scan

大排畸 is the detailed scan of the baby’s structure, and the guideline pairs it with a measurement of your cervix. Blood and urine are repeated at this visit.

This is the appointment to book earliest. At a busy public hospital the slots fill weeks ahead, and the scan window closes at 24 weeks.

24 to 28 weeks: the glucose test

糖耐 is the test for gestational diabetes. The national guideline places it at the 25 to 28 week visit, and many Beijing hospitals book it from 24 weeks.

You fast overnight, drink a glucose solution at the hospital, and have blood taken across about two hours. You cannot leave between draws, so bring something to do and food for afterwards.

29 to 36 weeks

At 29 to 32 weeks: blood, urine, and an ultrasound for growth, fluid, and the baby’s position. At 33 to 36 weeks the guideline requires only urine, though most hospitals scan again for growth.

Group B strep screening, usually offered at 35 to 37 weeks elsewhere, has no national standard in China. Whether you are offered it depends on the hospital. If you want it, ask for it by name rather than waiting for it to appear on the list.

37 weeks to the birth

Visits become weekly. Expect an ultrasound and 胎心监护, the belt monitor that records the baby’s heartbeat for twenty minutes or more. The guideline schedules it weekly from 37 weeks; many Beijing hospitals start it around 32 to 34.

Use these visits to confirm the ward rules you were told about months earlier, because they change. Whether 陪产 is allowed on the day. Whether 无痛分娩 is available at night as well as in office hours. What happens, and who decides, if a 剖腹产 is advised.

What to take every time

Your 病历 booklet and your 母子健康手册, since staff write in both. Passport and residence permit. A phone with WeChat Pay or Alipay working, because many windows will not take a foreign card. Water and food for after any fasting test.

If the hospital’s English is at the international desk rather than at the bedside, bring a Mandarin speaker to the visits where a decision is expected: the NT scan, the anomaly scan, the glucose result, and any appointment where they discuss how you will give birth.