Key takeaways

Obstetric clearance first. Ask what they want communicated to other providers and write it down.
Call the room with the shortest, calmest drive. Say auto injury, pregnant, how far along, and the crash date.
Bring dated notes, any emergency or obstetric paperwork, and your questions written down.
The visit produces an exam, findings in writing, and a plan. Share all of it with your OB.

There is a version of booking an appointment that is just a phone call. This is not that version. During pregnancy, after a crash, the order of calls is the whole point, and this page keeps it intact: obstetric clearance, then the clinic, then the visit, then the sharing back. None of it is complicated. All of it has to happen in order.

Before you call the clinic

Obstetric clearance first. If your OB or midwife has not evaluated you since the crash, that conversation happens before any other appointment gets made. When they clear you, ask if there is anything they want communicated to other providers, and write their answer down in their words. That sentence is the first thing you will say to the clinic.

If your OB wants you seen by them in person first, you wait. If they tell you to go to the emergency room, you go. The clinic exam is the step after their clearance, never a substitute for it, and the clinic would tell you the same.

Which room to call

Missouri Injury Clinic keeps three rooms. O'Fallon at 2163 West Terra Lane, O'Fallon, MO 63366, (636) 280-0990, is nearest for many of our readers, open Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday 9 to 6 with Wednesday and Friday by appointment. Hazelwood at 14 Village Square Shop Ctr, Hazelwood, MO 63042 is (314) 627-1411, and South County at 11144 Tesson Ferry Road, Suite 200, Saint Louis, MO 63123 is (314) 530-5480, both Monday through Thursday 9 to 6 and Friday 9 to 12. All rooms close 12 to 2. Pick the shortest, calmest drive; the rooms page has each one laid out.

What to say on the phone

Say that it was an auto injury, that you are pregnant, and how far along you are. Give the date of the crash. Read them whatever your OB asked you to pass along. Then ask two questions: what should I bring, and is there anything about being pregnant that changes how you will examine me. Listen to the second answer carefully. A clinic that examines pregnant patients will have a plain answer, and you are allowed to ask it again in the room.

What to bring

Your notes on symptoms, dated, from the evening of the crash forward. The 72 hours page describes the notebook.
Any paperwork from emergency or obstetric visits since the crash, and your OB's instructions in their words.
Your questions, written down, because exam rooms make people forget their questions.
If you already have an attorney, bring their contact so records can be sent where they need to go. That is the only reason this desk mentions one, and it is the last time this page will.
A water bottle and something to eat. You are pregnant and the waiting room does not know that.

A quiet chiropractic exam room with a padded treatment table, fresh paper, and a sheer-curtained window — The room where the visit happens. A history, an exam, findings in writing, a plan. Photograph made for this desk.

What the visit actually is

A history of the crash: what hit what, where you were sitting, where the belt was, what has hurt since and when it started. A physical exam of the back and neck. A diagnosis if the findings support one. A written plan you can repeat out loud. And a straight answer about whether this is the right room, or whether you need imaging, a referral, or a different specialty. The clinic publishes its auto-injury lane as diagnosis and a treatment plan after a crash; that is what the visit is for and that is what it should produce.

Ask the questions plainly: what did you find, what is the plan, how long before we should expect a change, and what would make you send me somewhere else. Ask, specifically, what they will not do because you are pregnant, and what they want your OB to know. A clinician who cannot answer those is not handing you a record worth keeping.

On billing, briefly

Ask the clinic directly how a visit is billed and what they accept. This desk does not publish payment terms for a clinic it does not own, and it will not describe an arrangement it cannot verify. Take the answer from them.

The visit produces an examination, findings in writing, and a treatment plan. Share all of it with your OB. Keep a copy with the rest of your pregnancy paperwork. If anything in the plan is something your OB has a view on, their view wins, and the clinic should hear that you said so. The record page explains why this document matters beyond the visit itself.

The ER bright line

The emergency lineChest pain, a sudden severe headache, weakness or numbness on one side, trouble speaking, a loss of bowel or bladder control, or a head injury with vomiting or worsening confusion is an emergency room trip right now, not a call to a clinic. During pregnancy, add to that list any bleeding, leaking fluid, contractions, abdominal pain, a change in the baby's movement, or a direct blow to the belly: those are immediate calls to your obstetric provider or emergency services, never a clinic booking.

If a clinic hears your symptoms on the phone and sends you to an emergency room or back to your OB instead of booking you, that is the system working, not a wasted call.

What this page isEducational reading, not medical advice and not a diagnosis. Your obstetric provider leads during pregnancy; take every question about what is safe for you and the baby to them first.

Call the room you can drive to this week.

Say auto injury, say pregnant, say how far along. Read them what your OB asked you to pass along.

Get checked this week (636) 280-0990Lake St. Louis (O'Fallon)