Think Ahead! Is There A Baby In Your Future?

If there is a baby in your future, planning for a healthy pregnancy should begin before you conceive. Adopting healthy lifestyles during your childbearing years is important to the health of your child. Consider this: two out of three pregnancies in the Unites Stated are unexpected. Preconception planning can help ensure a healthier pregnancy and a healthier baby. The Upper Chesapeake Family Birthplace offers a Pondering Pregnancy Program for couples interesting in starting a family. For more information on dates/times of the course, call HealthLink at 800-515-0044 or view the online calendar of events.

Staying healthy before you conceive can help prevent birth defects. It is during the early stages of a pregnancy when many of the baby's major organs and systems are forming.

Two to eight weeks after conception, the fetus is the most vulnerable.

• The heart is formed by 6-8 weeks
• The spinal column is the most vulnerable at 2-6 weeks
• Arms and legs develop by week 8
• During weeks 4-8, many other organs are developing and are vulnerable: ears, teeth, genitalia, palate, eyes

Have a medical check-up before you conceive.

• Schedule a preconception visit with your OB/GYN. If you don't have an OB/GYN or Nurse Midwife, contact our HealthLink Physician Referral Service at 800-515-0044, or go to our OB/GYN/Nurse Midwife page on this website.
• Discuss your medical history with your OB/GYN or Nurse Midwife
  
  • Current conditions and medications
  • Reproductive history
  • Special diet practices
  • Family history
  • Social history regarding drugs and alcohol
  • Environmental exposures
• Learn what preconception care involves.
  
  • Identify and discuss any possible risks
  • Discuss genetic concerns
  • Lab tests to screen for conditions
  • Nutritional counseling
  • Discuss social readiness for pregnancy
  • Plan for early and continuous prenatal care
• Learn what prenatal care involves.
  
  • Early and continuous care
  • Screening for blood pressure, diabetes, anemia
  • Assess fetal growth
  • Whether there is a need for ultrasound
  • Monitor weight gain

Your partner's health is equally as important.

• Chronic smoking leads to impotence by age 40 in 40% of men
• High prolonged fever in puberty can potentially limit sperm production
• Immunization status is important as well
• Family history of disease or traits is equally as important as mom's history

Make sure your immunizations are up to date.

• If you are not up to date, plan to have boosters before conceiving, especially Rubella and Hepatitis

Before you get pregnant is the time to achieve your ideal weight.

• Use the BMI chart to determine your weight range
• If you are less than 85% of your ideal weight, you are more at risk for a low birth weight infant
• If you are greater than 135% of your ideal weight, you are more at risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, or a large infant

Know your family history and your partner's history as it may be helpful to your physician in planning a healthy pregnancy and baby.

• Gather information that may be helpful to your physician
• Discuss any traits that seem to run in your family
• Genetic counseling is available pre-conceptually, and you should consider genetic counseling if:
  
  • You have an inherited disease or birth defect
  • You are a woman over 35
  • You have a child with a disease or birth defect
  • You have experienced three or more miscarriages
  • You are concerned about a condition common to your ethnic group
  • You have an AFP or ultrasound that suggests a problem
• Know what genetic counseling involves.
  
  • Taking a family history
  • Having a blood test for AFP at 16 weeks
  • Ultrasound tests 
  • Amniocentesis to examine fetal cells at 15-18 weeks
  • Chorionic Villi sampling at 10 weeks

There are steps you can take before you conceive to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

• Take folic acid
  
  • Significantly decreases incidence of spinal bifida
  • Plays a role in heart disease prevention
  • 400 mcg per day
  • Supplementary vitamin as well as diet
• Do not smoke
• Do not use alcohol or drugs
• Always consult your physician before taking any medications, including over the counter medications
• Eat a balanced diet
  
  • Use the Food Pyramid as a guide
  • Use a food diary or log to assess how you are doing
  • Plan your meals
• Exercise
• Have a Medical Problem Treated
  
  • Diabetes needs to be extremely controlled
  • Hypertension in managed state
  • Asthma should be evaluated
  • Any chronic condition needs to be addressed before pregnancy
  • Ask your parents if you had PKU as a child, or if they had to put you on a special restrictive diet as an infant
• Avoid exposure to toxic substances
  
  • Think of job-related exposures to chemicals
  • Environmental exposure to toxins

• Don't Eat Undercooked Meat or Handle Cat Litter
  
  • This exposure leads to a risk of toxoplasmosis!

An important step in planning a healthy pregnancy is choosing your healthcare provider. When choosing a provider, consider:

• Does the physician/nurse midwife participate in your insurance plan
• Where does the physician deliver
• Do your personal desires for a birth experience mesh with the physician, nurse midwife and the hospital

Investigate your current health insurance coverage.

• How long will you be able to stay in the hospital
• What kind of home health visits will they cover
• Do they cover lactation services
• Do they cover childbirth education

Here are some items to consider when choosing your birth center.

• Take a tour
• Check out their education programs for expectant and new parents
• Ask about rooming in for your partner
• Ask about lactation services
• Discuss practices for pain management

If you and your partner both work, discuss childcare arrangements.

• Do you want to hire a provider or will a family member care for your child
• Learn about the advantages of using a licensed caregiver who is state inspected
• What hours will you need childcare
• Do you have easy access to the provider

As a couple, you need to:

• Discuss openly your plan for how to adapt your lifestyle to include children
• You are a couple now and you will be a couple after your children are grown - protect that relationship
• Remember, Love Doesn't Divide - It Multiplies