Antenatal card

The short definition

The antenatal card is the pregnancy-appointment paperwork, and it is one of the documents named on the list of things to take to hospital.

What it actually means

• "Antenatal" means during pregnancy. It means the time from conception and during pregnancy. It is often used for pregnancy care, as in "antenatal appointments" or "antenatal classes". So an antenatal card is a card to do with pregnancy care.
• It is on the hospital list by that name. The hospital bag checklist names the paperwork to take. A Medicare card, hospital paperwork, the antenatal card, the birth plan if there is one, and insurance details.
• What it is called, and what is on it, is a question for the hospital. This page does not describe the contents, because that is the hospital's to set and not ours. Check with the hospital or birthing centre what you need to bring.
• What that means for Dadda. This is a thing to ask about, not a thing to work out. At the next appointment, ask: what do we bring, and is the antenatal card one of them? It is a 20-second question. It removes a whole category of panic from the bag.

Where Dadda will hear it

On a hospital bag checklist, in a list of five other documents, with no explanation of any of them. Also from the midwife, who will refer to it as if everyone knows what it is.

Not to be confused with

• The Medicare card. A separate card, separately listed, and the one Dadda will need again in the weeks after the birth.
• The birth plan. The birth plan is what the parents want to happen. The antenatal card is clinical paperwork from pregnancy care. Both go in the same bag.
• Hospital paperwork. The hospital bag checklist names "hospital paperwork" and "antenatal card" as two separate items, so they are not the same thing.

Also look at

• The full item: hospital bag
• What a birth plan is
• What "obs" means