How to Prepare Your Body for Pregnancy

Pregnancy is such a beautiful thing! Even though often uncomfortable and quite exhausting, being pregnant is such a sweet time! But it’s also a time of great change! Having to care for both yourself and your growing baby involves a lot, and depending on your current lifestyle and habits, it can require even more changes once you see that positive pregnancy test. What if you could start making some of those changes now, and in the process, improve your chances of having a healthy pregnancy and growing a healthy baby? Well, I have good news for you, you absolutely can! And you should : )

What is Preconception Care?

Have you ever heard the term preconception care? Though not a very popular topic, it’s one of great importance, and it’s exactly what I just described! Preconception care just means getting as healthy as possible before pregnancy. It involves individualized care, education, and interventions to help minimize maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality, and aims to promote optimal health for both mother and baby during pregnancy and birth. You can even set up a specific appointment with a midwife or physician completely focused on preconception care! If you do make an appointment, encourage your partner to join you, as many topics that will be covered are also important for our men.

A preconception visit is very similar to an annual wellness exam. You should expect to complete a detailed health form that includes your demographic information, your social history, medical history, family history, menstrual and contraception history, birth history, and a list of current medications and supplements. You should also expect a head to toe physical exam if you have not had one within the last year, and likely a blood draw to look for any preexisting conditions, such as anemia or thyroid disorders.

A detailed medical and family history, head to toe exam, and a lab draw will help paint an overall picture of health and determine any health problems that should be treated or managed prior to pregnancy. It will also help identify any risk for development of disease in the future for mom or baby, as many diseases have a genetic component. If health problems or concerns arise, your provider can help you treat or manage the condition prior to pregnancy, as well as during pregnancy to promote optimal outcomes.

Vitamins To Take Before Getting Pregnant

It’s important to start taking a prenatal vitamin at least 3 months before trying to achieve pregnancy. Be sure your vitamins contain:

• 27g of iron to prevent anemia, which almost a quarter of women experience during pregnancy

• At least 400 mcg of folic acid, which is shown to help prevent neural tube defects. The neural tube, which eventually becomes the baby’s brain, skull, spinal cord and spine, forms and closes between 4 and 6 weeks after a woman’s last menstrual period. This means that the neural tube is forming right about the same time that a woman’s misses her first period, and often before a woman even knows she is pregnant. This is why it’s so important for women to be taking folic acid before trying to conceive, if possible.

• Peppermint and/or ginger to help prevent morning sickness. I highly recommend this! And wish I would’ve known about this with my pregnancies - puking for 9 months is not much fun : )

Medications and Supplements When Trying to Conceive

Many medications and supplements are not safe in pregnancy and can lead to poor outcomes. Be sure to bring in your complete medication and supplement list to your preconception visit to have your provider look over. Sometimes the dosing needs to be adjusted in pregnancy; other times a medication needs to be changed or discontinued for part or all of the pregnancy, and your provider can work with you to help determine the best way to manage your medications and your symptoms.

Ideal Weight Before Getting Pregnant

Aiming for a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 is ideal when trying to get pregnant. A BMI higher or lower than this can cause difficulty getting pregnant, or cause health issues during pregnancy. Lowering your BMI by even 1 or 2 points before pregnancy can make a big difference. Exercising regularly and eating a balanced diet can help you reach your target BMI. Aim for 30 minutes of exercise 5 days a week. Some recommendations for exercise include walking, jogging, swimming, Pilates, and strength training. If you are new to exercise, consider reaching out to a personal trainer to help find a good workout plan for your lifestyle, learn proper form to prevent injury, and grow in endurance and strength without hurting yourself. My key to being consistent with exercise - find something you enjoy, and phone a friend! Have a buddy to keep you company while you exercise, encourage you, and hold you accountable. If you’re anything like me, your inner competitiveness will come out, and you will find yourself working even harder when that friend next to you is in high gear! And please, choose something you like! If exercising is consistently miserable for you, it’s very likely you won’t stick with it for long. If you hate running, then don’t run! Choose to bike or swim instead. If you like dancing around the living room, put on your favorite jams and do it! Dancing is great cardio and one of my go-to workouts!

If any preexisting conditions are known or determined at a preconception visit, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, ask your provider for a referral to a dietician, who can help you personalize your diet to help improve your health. If you are generally healthy, work on a well-balanced diet, focusing on lean proteins, eating a variety of vegetables and fruits, and incorporating whole grains. Limit foods with simple and refined sugars, fried foods, and unhealthy fats like margarine and vegetable oil. Making diet changes is difficult, so don’t feel bad if you can’t make all of the changes at once! In fact, I encourage you to focus on 1 or 2 things to start. Maybe your goal for the first month is to eat a protein packed breakfast instead of a chocolate chip granola bar. Great! Once you are consistent with that, try adding some leafy green veggies into your lunch or dinner every day, and so on. Small changes, with consistency, lead to far greater accomplishment and stability in the future!

*Note: Being underweight or malnourished is equally, if not more, detrimental to the health of both mother and baby during pregnancy. So, if that’s you, please don’t overlook this section. You may need to make diet adjustments to increase calorie and protein intake in order to create a healthy, nutrient-rich environment for a baby to thrive in.

Stopping Contraception Before Getting Pregnant

An important part of the preconception visit is to have a conversation about when a woman would like to be pregnant, or try for pregnancy. This will also help determine when contraception should be changed or discontinued. For example, an IUD, when removed, stops giving hormones, and the effects are immediately reversed (though I do recommend a hormone detox). Meaning, a woman could get pregnant within a couple of weeks of having an IUD removed. However, not all contraceptives are like this. Depo-Provera, the progesterone shot, stays in your system for up to 15 weeks. However, if a woman has used this method for an extended amount of time, it is possible, and even likely, that she could not ovulate for 6 to 12 months after discontinuing this method.

Alcohol, Smoking, and Other Substances

Though new studies are coming out, there is currently no evidence that suggests any amount of alcohol is safe in pregnancy, and cutting out all alcohol while trying to achieve pregnancy erases the risk of having a baby with fetal alcohol syndrome, a disorder that causes brain damage and growth problems. Smoking cigarettes, marijuana, or using any other drugs, including prescription opioids, all can cause serious problems to a baby’s development, and should be stopped prior to conception when possible. If using prescription pain medication, it’s important to have a conversation with the provider who prescribed it to you, in order to find a new regimen that is both safe in pregnancy and will help manage your pain. If you’re struggling with the idea of quitting smoking or drinking, ask your provider for local resources to help you quit. Like any big change, it’s so much easier when you have others to support you!

Limiting Exposure to Harmful Substances

Think about your work environment and that of your partner - is there exposure to radiation or other toxic substances? These are important things to think about as they can affect both sperm quality and count, as well as during pregnancy, affect maternal health and fetal development.

What about your home environment? Do you use a lot of cleaning products heavy with chemicals? Consider switching to a more natural regimen. How about the actual building you live in? Buildings built before 1978 have a higher likelihood of being painted with a lead-based paint. Generally, if the paint is in good condition, it’s not a problem, but if it is breaking or peeling, it poses a problem that should be dealt with immediately. Elevated levels of lead have been shown to cause severe problems during pregnancy, including gestational hypertension, spontaneous miscarriage, low birth weight and impaired neurodevelopment (ACOG Committee Opinion Nu. 533, 2012). For more information on keeping your family safe from lead exposure, click HERE.

Our physical health, environment, social practices and family and medical history all play a large role in our overall health. As is life, sometimes things are just out of our control, but we can play a large role in the health of ourselves and our future children by taking small steps prior to pregnancy. We can eat well, exercise well, get on the right medication regimen, get started on a daily prenatal vitamin, quit smoking, and make efforts to decrease exposure to harmful substances in our environment - all of which go a long way in promoting a healthy mom and a healthy baby. Take your first step today toward a healthy future pregnancy by scheduling a preconception visit now, and downloading my fertility boost guidelines below. Make sure to read to the end, so you don't miss out on my special offer!