When you're pregnant, it can sometimes feel like you spend your entire life in the doctor's office. Whether you are getting a shot, withdrawing blood for testing, waving a wand on your belly, drinking gross juice, or answering a million questions, it really can start to feel totally, insanely invasive.

But take heart! These tests actually DO serve a purpose and, in most cases, serve to make your baby (and you) much healthier in the long run. So just how many tests are required? In a healthy pregnancy, there are many tests that need to (or should) be done prior to the birth. We consulted Dr. Erica Song, a partner at Englewood OB-GYN Women's Group, and Dr. Mary Jane Minkin, an OB-GYN at Yale and First Response spokesperson.

These are the 7 tests and why we take them, so listen up! See below:

Testing during pregnancy -- it becomes such an issue full of questions and doubts. There are sonograms, and of course more invasive procedures like amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS), which could supply very helpful information or fill your head with worry. The issue with amnio and CVS is when performed there is a risk of miscarriage. A risk, even if slight, is too great for some to agree to. Each year, about 200,000 women have an amnio, with a miscarriage rate between 1 in 400 and 1 in 200. CVS not only has a rate between 1 in 200 and 1 in 100, but there is risk of infection, and very, very rarely birth defects. No one thinks of these things when trying to conceive.

There's a new test and all it requires is having some blood taken to scan for the three most common chromosomal disorders. 

No one wants their child to grow up to be obese, and I doubt there are many people who think their children will be fat when they dream of their futures. Yet here we are with a nation full of dangerously overweight people. So a new tool that can help parents predict their child's risk for obesity from the minute they're born may be the wakeup call many need.

It's a simple formula that takes into account just six things -- the baby's birth weight, the mother and father's BMI's, whether the mother smoked, the number of people living in the home, the mother's professional status, and the baby's birth weight. Once the baby's born, parents can plug the information in an online calculator and get the predicted possibility that their child will be obese. Just like that.

Recently DNA testing trucks have taken to the streets of New York City, causing many people to raise an eyebrow at the appropriateness of their existence. The "Who’s Your Daddy" vehicles closely resemble trendy food trucks, but instead of delicious lobster rolls or Korean street tacos, they’re peddling paternity tests.

That’s right, they’ll roll right up, and you can walk right up, and find out exactly which man in your life contributed half of your little bundle of joy’s DNA. Or if you’re the dad, find out if it’s you or some other dude that should be making those child-support payments. 

What we all worry about during pregnancy is that our baby is healthy and doing well in our womb. And if there is something wrong, you hope for a miracle. That's exactly what Marci Barney hoped for when she learned the baby in her belly had Spina Bifida.

Spina Bifida is when the fetus' spinal cord doesn't close all the way during development. It can cause paralysis and learning disabilities, and in severe cases lead to hydrocephalus, a build-up of fluid on the brain, which can be fatal.

But there is a radical open-fetal surgery that can be performed while baby is still in the womb -- it used to be only done right after birth. Marcy and her husband Tracy decided on this procedure while the baby in her belly was 24 weeks gestation with hopes to repair the spine. Most pregnant women who undergo open-fetal surgery go into labor 10 weeks later, but Marci didn't make it that far.

When I was pregnant with my first son, I was just starting to hear about 3D/4D ultrasounds and I couldn't wait to try it out. For those who aren't familiar, a 3D ultrasound uses fancy computer technology to render 2D into a 3D image, so in theory, you get a more comprehensive view of your growing fetus than those black and white Skeletor pictures. The 4th dimension is time, which means ... uh, let's see, I think it means the machine tunnels a wormhole into space and risks the very fabric of the universe via the classic time traveler's paradox.Or it means motion is captured too. Something like that.Anyway, I was so so SO excited to see what my baby looked like, and, well, here are the images:

If you could find out the gender of your baby while you were still in your first trimester, would you? Apparently, you can: A recent study found that a certain type of prenatal blood test is highly accurate at determining fetal sex as early as seven weeks into the pregnancy. That's weeks before other, riskier tests, like ultrasounds and amniocentesis, can make the distinction between boy or girl.

I think this is great news, despite concerns that the availability of this test will lead to an uptick in the practice of prenatal sex selection -- which, for the record, I DO NOT SUPPORT or approve of in any way, shape, or form.

The reason why I think this is a positive development is because finding out the gender of your baby early could be the key to good prenatal care ...

For some pregnant women, the potential risks of getting an amniocentesis (about 1 in every 200 to 400 cause a miscarriage) outweigh the benefits: Detecting possible birth defects like spina bifida, Down syndrome, and cystic fibrosis. Having known someone who had a post-amnio miscarriage, I was too scared to get the test done during either of my pregnancies.

But now that I know getting an amnio could be more beneficial than I thought, I might do things differently if I were to get pregnant again. Especially considering that the test could end up saving my child's life years down the road.