Being a first time mother-to-be, you sure have thousands of questions to be thrown to your gynae or some none at all. Some mother-to-be only listen to their gynecologist advise. Not that I say it's not good. But a little knowledge from reading could be good for you. To prepare you on what to expect throughout your pregnancy journey. In my case, I asked a lot. Sometimes I think too much.
Some mothers could be telling you scary stories about labor that it could make you shit or even cancel your plan of becoming a mother *oh, you can't cancel once you're pregnant -__- *. I chose not to think too much on that part. I was like 'We'll see what it's like when my turn comes'. Too much of reading can be harmful sometimes. So you just need to go with the flow. Be average.
So when I was at my early stage of pregnancy, I've been reading about what pregnancy is all about. The do's and don'ts. I even downloaded the app to monitor my weight, kick tracker and a contraction timer (this is important). The app comes with a daily blog too where it provides you daily information on almost anything you need to know from pregnancy diet, baby's movement, baby's progress, etc. That's how kiasu I was. I was also obsess with my weight. I wanted to make sure that I don't increase my weight by 20kg in a span of 9 months, like some friends I know. It takes hell to lose those pounds. Perhaps it was also my gene that my family are mostly 'small bones'.
Through readings, I asked my gynae for confirmation every time during my check ups. Because some information are not verified by professionals. I ask the basics, not too much and not too little. It's a 2 way communication with your gynae. It's important to build confidence and relationship with your own doctor. This is also important so that when the real day comes, you know what to do and that your gynae has the confident in you too and you don't go panic and haywire.
There were few questions that I asked my gynae throughout my visit:
1. How will I know if my baby has down-syndrome?
2. Can I request for music during my labor, either through cesarean or normal birth
3. Should I call you when I have contractions or should I just come to the hospital?
4. How does contraction feels?
5. Is the baby having ideal weight and is my weight okay too?
6. Can you detect cleft lips through scan?
During scanning, doctors will normally show you how your baby looks like in your womb. The arm, heart, spine, etc. If you can't see clearly, get your gynae to explain what is he actually showing. I do that most of the time :-)
As I mentioned earlier, asking too much or getting too much info can be harmful for you too sometimes. When you know too much, you'll end up giving yourself unnecessary stress and worries.