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Planning on trying to conceive? Before you attempt to turn that minus sign into a plus sign on a pregnancy test, you may want to take some time to ensure that you are ready, both physically and mentally, for both pregnancy and parenthood.
Preconception health changes allow you to prepare your body for a healthy pregnancy — and some steps can even increase your odds of getting pregnant more quickly. What do you need to know?
Preparing Your Body for Pregnancy
There are several important things that you should do before becoming pregnant to ensure a healthy pregnancy:
Optimize your weight. Being either too heavy or underweight can decrease your chances of becoming pregnant and/or lead to complications during pregnancy. If you are planning to become pregnant, you may want to try to shed those extra pounds (or gain a little if you are underweight). You want to enter a pregnancy as healthy as you can be. If you are struggling with your weight, consider talking to your doctor or a nutritionist before you try to conceive.
Eat a healthy diet. You boost your chances of becoming pregnant when you are healthy, and a balanced diet is an essential component of good health. You will also be laying the groundwork for a healthy pregnancy (and a healthy baby) by eating properly before you get pregnant. Enlist your spouse or partner's assistance — after all, he, too, has a vested interest in helping you to eat well and healthily. And you will both need to be in peak physical condition for those long sleepless nights to come!
Quit smoking. Smoking can lead to fertility problems, low birth weight babies, premature labor and a host of other problems for both mother and baby. If you are planning to become pregnant, throw those cigarettes away now, before you find yourself staring at that positive pregnancy test. Ask your doctor for help with quitting smoking if needed, because it can be hard. Remember to also avoid second hand smoke, which can be just as harmful. Ask others not to smoke around you. If your spouse or partner smokes, he should also join you in your effort to quit. Cigarette smoking can also affect male fertility, and it's better to quit now, before you have a baby in the home.
Start prenatal vitamins. You can start taking prenatal vitamins before you are pregnant. Folic acid and iron are two things that your body will need in larger quantities when you become pregnant, so you can start ahead of time to ensure that you are getting enough of these by supplementing. Ask your physician about starting on a maternal vitamin regimen while you are trying to conceive. In addition, taking a folic acid supplement reduces your risk of certain birth defects.
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