Pregnancy Health Issues

The recent years have seen a growing awareness in people, about the importance of planning for pregnancy. Couples now realize that the steps and precautions they take not just during pregnancy but before pregnancy as well can have a big impact on the health of the mother and child. Let us clue you in on some of the health issues that you need to keep in mind if you and your partner are planning for pregnancy.

1.    If you are planning on getting pregnant, you should schedule a visit to your OB/GYN. Your doctor will conduct a complete checkup to understand if there are any risk factors that could affect conception or the baby. For example, if the mother has a health problem such as diabetes, epilepsy or hypertension, it becomes important that the pregnancy be monitored more carefully than say in a healthy mother. If these risk factors become known during pregnancy planning, the mother is made aware of them before her pregnancy and the doctor too will be in a better position to help her take adequate precautions during pregnancy.
2.    Specific problems like diabetes and high blood pressure give rise to various complications. For example, a diabetic mother is more at a risk of having miscarriages, having stillbirths or of delivering a baby with birth defects. All these however can be avoided to a very large extent if the risk factors are known beforehand so that the mother can be monitored carefully before pregnancy and during pregnancy. Similarly a woman with very high blood pressure may have placental problems; there is also a risk of growth retardation of the unborn baby. Again, these problems can be avoided or overcome to a large extent by careful monitoring the mother before she becomes pregnant and during her pregnancy.
3.    The pre-pregnancy stage is also a good time to get yourself weighed and see if you are in the recommended weight range for your height. Both overweight and underweight women may have problems in getting pregnant. Further, they are more at risk of developing complications during pregnancy. It is best to use the pre-pregnancy period to understand what your optimum weight should be and work towards it.
4.    Couples planning to get pregnant will be asked to completely quit smoking and avoid excess alcohol consumption.
5.    Some couples may have genetic disorders that they may pass on to their children and may have to consider some kind of genetic counseling to understand the full implications of these disorders.
6.    It is also important that couples hoping to get pregnant should be as stress-free and anxiety-free as possible. These are factors that have long-term effects not just on conception but on the health of the mother and of the unborn baby as well.
7.    You will be advised to start paying closer attention to what you eat and drink. It is important for the woman to start having regular, healthy meals even before pregnancy. If you have not already started on an exercise regimen, start now so that you stay fit and healthy even during and after pregnancy.