PREPARING FOR PREGNANCY – HOW TO GET READY AND REMAIN HEALTHY.
You are preparing for pregnancy! Congratulations for stepping up to make this decision. About 95% of couples will get pregnant within the first year and up to 99% by the end of the second year. However, if you have any of the following conditions you should not wait for ONE year before seeking consultation with a fertility specialist… for example if as a woman you suffer from – pelvic infections, no ovulation, polycystic ovaries, menstrual irregularities, endometriosis or age over 35 years. And as a man, if you suffer from – impotence, no sperm or low sperm count, undescended testes.
Furthermore, even if you do not suffer from any disease that compromises your fertility do not hesitate to see your specialist fertility doctor after a year of an unsuccessful trial to achieve pregnancy.
Here are some steps to take while preparing for pregnancy:
1. Have a discussion with your partner about starting a family, parenting & potential responsibilities of having children to cater for. Do you have the financial & emotional strength to go with it? You neither want to be in financial difficulties or wait to be a billionaire before starting a family.
2. Avoid conflict of interest between you and your partner. It is advisable not to have a feeling of been trapped by one partner into starting a family when the other does not feel ready. Be in emotional harmony with your partner and within your inner self or mind. This will help chart a
healthy stress-free path pre- and during pregnancy; and even after the baby is born.
3. See your Doctor/GP. Maintain optimum health conditions. Oftentimes running a quick fertility test, get counseled about medication to take before or during pregnancy or which medication to stop immediately will facilitate getting pregnant as planned and help you and your unborn baby maintain/enjoy the best of health throughout your pregnancy. For example, some blood pressure medications (ace inhibitors) or some antiepileptic medications like sodium valproate should be stopped outrightly. These and other similar medications can cause stunted growth
or congenital abnormalities in the baby.
4. Your GP might also be able to advise you on which multivitamins, folic acid tablets and which dietary requirements are useful or necessary to maintain normal baby growth and keep you healthy during pregnancy.
5. You will need to eat a well-balanced diet, avoid junks, unclean raw seafood or vegetables and exercise moderately. Maintain a BMI within the normal range of 19-25 prior to pregnancy. It is advisable to avoid extreme weight gain or been overweight prior to, during or after pregnancy. Being overweight prior to pregnancy can have detrimental fertility effects, and during pregnancy can predispose to gestational diabetes, raised blood pressure and increase your chances of having big babies, difficult labor and operative delivery like cesarean section to deliver your baby.
7. Be stress-free and do your best to avoid stressful situations at work and at home. If you have prepared well enough prior to getting pregnant to start a family, it becomes easy to remain stress-free to navigate the pregnancy period, maintain your health and sanity. This clearly underscores the importance of making a joint decision about starting a family with your partner and the meticulous preparation you both need to put this into an endeavor. It might also forestall accusation of lack support directed from one partner to the other because you both deem it necessary that it’s the right time to start a family together. Please note, as soon as or even before you confirm that you are pregnant there may be early pregnancy symptoms to contend with – like vomiting, been feverish, easy fatiguability, urinary symptoms and been bloated. All these initial pregnancy symptoms are often as a result of initial hormonal flush associated with pregnancy, and as you progress during your pregnancy they will abate or stop.
8. Stop cigarette smoking and prevent passive inhalation of cigarette smoke or fumes. Smoking before pregnancy is detrimental to fertility in both females and males. The addictive nicotine and other chemicals in the fumes inhaled from cigarette smoking like carbon monoxide are injuries, not only to our lives but, also to the ovaries, eggs, embryos and the sperm. It also disrupts the smooth metabolic functions of secreted blood hormones. Furthermore, smoking in pregnancy increases the chances of miscarriage, fetal growth restrictions, congenital abnormalities, stillbirths, raised blood pressure and/or preeclampsia and can cause severe respiratory symptoms in the mother and the baby when born.
9. Reduce your coffee, tea, cola, chocolate intake. Caffeine is found in coffee, beverages, and tea. It is a hormone disruptor and it may be associated also with infertility, miscarriages and stunted fetal growth.
10. Significantly reduce your intake of alcohol. It is injurious to fertility as well as to the unborn child, increases the risks of miscarriages, premature deliveries, and congenital malformations even in moderate consumption. In excess or chronic consumption, it can cause maternal liver damage and fetal alcohol syndrome comprising of stunted fetal growth, neurological, cardiac and other structural congenital abnormalities in the baby. Even though there is largely no evidence that light consumption is deleterious to infertility but there is no absolute clean bill of health to the aspirant or pregnant mother.
11. Stop taking illicit drugs – like cocaine, heroin cannabis; these are highly injurious to infertility, human health and that of the fetus. Cocaine and heroin especially can cause severe neurological and cardiac congenital anomalies in the baby. Furthermore, it causes severe baby withdrawal
syndrome that needs the baby to be admitted after birth in the neonatal intensive care baby unit to critically look after such babies and wean down the deleterious metabolic effects of chronic fetal exposure to such illicit drugs during pregnancy. Likewise, chronic use of cannabis or any of these illicit drugs in the males is injurious to testicular or sperm functions. Therefore, there use in pregnancy should be totally avoided prenatal, during and even after pregnancy.
12. Ask your parents, siblings, cousins or other close family members especially about their experience during pregnancies and other family disease or health needs. These steps are essential as some pregnancy-related diseases like preeclampsia, raised blood pressure, epilepsy, diabetes, and premature delivery are sometimes inheritable. This will afford you the chance to seek preventive measures and greatly limit their complications before, during and after pregnancy. For example, diabetes during pregnancy can cause stillbirth, fetal macrosomia (big baby syndrome), preeclampsia, polyhydramnios (increased amniotic fluid) and increased risks of premature deliveries and operative deliveries like cesarean section. Preeclampsia, on the other hand, is also associated with similar fetal problems and severe fetal growth restrictions (instead of macrosomia-common in diabetes) and convulsion during or after pregnancy (eclampsia). Knowing these risks prior to pregnancy will afford the all-important clinical steps
to prevent these diseases and significantly reduce their detrimental health effects prenatal, during and after conception, to the mother and the baby.
13. See a dentist when necessary. It is very important to keep healthy teeth and gum prior to and during pregnancy. It is noteworthy, that sometimes-hormonal changes that come with pregnancy predispose some to increased risk of gingivitis, bleeding gums, and toothaches. Therefore, a visit to the dentist prior to pregnancy in those who have teeth or gum diseases is not out of place as you contemplate getting pregnant. Maintain clean and healthy teeth during pregnancy. Use soft toothbrushes, avoid alcoholic mouthwashes, clean your teeth gently after meals and avoid fizzy/sugary beverages.
14. Stop contraception and chart your cycle. It is highly essential to stop immediately any form of contraception one is using prior to getting pregnant. It is significant to note that stopping the majority of these contraceptives – like oral hormonal contraceptives, those placed beneath the skin (Implanon) – or removal of an inserted copper intrauterine coil are mostly not associated with any delay in getting pregnant. Unlike the long-term injectable contraceptives like the 3-monthly Depo-Provera or the 2-monthly Noristerat, that are often associated with a short- or long-term delays in resumption of menstruation or ovulation and therefore, pregnancy. These explanations need to be taken into considerations (in conjunction with your doctor’s advice) when deciding on which contraceptive methods to use when pregnancy is not intended either for a short or prolonged interval. Again, your health status, the time needed to avoid pregnancy, your age and issues concerning availabilities might sometimes influence your choice of contraception. But it is well to note, that most types of contraception are easily affordable and available most times.
15. Once your pregnancy is confirmed, be ready to register as early as possible with your GP for antenatal care. Please note that during the pregnancy period your GP will assess your health regularly by physical examinations, carry out relevant blood tests and ultrasound scans at appropriate antenatal periods. Proper antenatal care, labor/delivery, and postnatal plans can be made and are totally not out of place. Congratulations on your success and safe antenatal care and delivery.
By: Dr. Lateef Akinola MBA, PhD, FRCOG
CONSULTANT OBGYN & IVF Specialist
www.fertilityassyst.com
www.themedisonhospital.com