Ready for Baby ... Maybe?

Important information before you conceive

Pregnancy is a major life event. If you plan for it, you can make wise choices that will benefit both your health and that of your baby.

Women of childbearing age should take a multivitamin with 400 mcg of folic acid for at least 1-3 months before planning a pregnancy. Adequate intake of folic acid has been found to reduce open neural tube defects such as spina bifida. Folic acid can also be found in foods such as dark, leafy greens and vegetables, whole grain breads and cereals, citrus fruits, dried peas and beans and fortified breakfast cereals.

Good health depends on both a proper diet and exercise. Exercise is encouraged in pregnancy, but this is not a time to begin a new exercise program. Use the time before a pregnancy to become physically fit so that you will be able to continue to exercise during your pregnancy. As dieting is not appropriate for pregnancy, pre-pregnancy is the time for optimizing your weight. An average woman needs 2200 calories per day. When you are pregnant, you need an additional 300 calories. Also, your calcium requirements increase to 1500 mg/day and often requires a supplement to meet that need.

Smoking has been found to cause preterm delivery, premature rupture of membranes and low birth weight. Alcohol and other drugs also adversely affect pregnancy. No amount during pregnancy has been proven safe. For the sake of your own health and your baby, please try to stop smoking and drinking before getting pregnant.

Also, your work environment may expose you to things that might pose a risk to you or your baby. Your employer should be able to provide you with information regarding hazardous materials that you might be exposed to.

Are your immunizations up-to-date? Exposure to rubella in early pregnancy can cause several birth defects in the fetus. We recommend that you have a rubella titer drawn to see if you are immune to German measles. If not, we will give you the vaccine and you will need to wait another month before attempting to get pregnant.

Assessing your family history and your husband’s family history is important. There are some disorders that are inherited or more common in certain ethnic groups. This may include such diseases as cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease, and Tay-Sachs disease. You can be screened prenatally for some of these diseases and also be referred to a genetic counselor for more information to determine your risk.

Some patients will make an appointment to discuss these concerns before attempting to conceive. At that visit, we will try to identify things that might impose a risk to your pregnancy. If this is your first pregnancy, if you have chronic medical problems, or problems with a previous pregnancy, you should come in for a preconception counseling appointment.