Pregnancy Planning: Things to do before getting pregnant

Parenthood is a wonderful expedition which requires no special tutoring or a special guide to scouting of your talent! It is an innate character to become a good parent. But if you ask me is there anything you need to know before becoming a parent. I would definitely say YES. You have to plan for pregnancy that makes easy striding through the path of parenting. This would lessen the hardship and make the journey a pleasurable experience.

So, all to be mummies and dads, excited about your new role, I guess your minds are bombarded with lots of questions about pregnancy. To find answers, read on this post on ParentsTalks Magazine! This will give you enough insight into the things you have to do before getting pregnant. The Mommies, who are already in the family way, can also read to have a healthy pregnancy and a safe delivery!

Things to do:

1. Fix an appointment with a doctor: The first thing you have to do is to find out the best gynaecologist near your house. The gynaecologist will give you full information on the birthing subject. She will do it after going through the family history of both the husband and wife. The medical practitioner will take into consideration any medication you or your wife is taking now. Some of them should be stopped as it can hamper your attempt to become a parent.  Your doctor will advise you to quit smoking or any other habits you have. She may also recommend you to follow the strict dietary prescription to melt off or take additional pills for extra vitamin needs of your body. The health care provider may recommend a Pap smear test or pelvic investigation to rule out any STD before getting pregnant. The health giver may also recommend you to take some immunizations to protect you and your baby’s health before pregnancy.

2. Genetic carrier screening test: It is quite common that you or your partner might be at risk of having sickle cell disease or cystic fibroids. These are inherited diseases if you don’t check it and get treated, there is a faint chance that it will pass on to your baby as well. All you need to do is to give your saliva or blood sample to check whether you have any anomalies, Common pregnancy complications This will help you give birth to a healthy baby. Do you have a health insurance plan? You don’t have to spend even a penny. Most of the plans cover screening test expenses.
3. Reduce caffeine intake: Are you a person who consumes more than 200 ml of caffeine every day? Then, you have to reduce it. This would sometimes lead to miscarriage. There is no complete consensus among the researchers regarding the intake of caffeine leads to miscarriage. But, drinking coffee or tea too many times in a day can be obnoxious.
4. Take a prenatal supplement pill: 400 grams of folic acid would keep you and your baby healthy during pregnancy. You can start having this while preparing to get pregnant. This will reduce the risk of your baby contracting prenatal anomalies like neural tube defect. So fill your medicine cabinet with folic acid or any other supplement which your doctor advises you to take. Folic acid pills will give a sufficient Vitamin B to check the brain or spine defect in your baby.

There are many other things to do, leave health only aside. What are they?

1. Have an open chat with your spouse: Almost the majority of you reading this would agree with me if I say that discussing parenting tasks would help you to have a comfortable parenting journey, throughout. Both the would-be mom and dad should mull over the topics like sharing the parental duties, whether to circumcise your son, Etc. You can also decide on whether to go to work or a stay at home parent to take good care of your baby. This will help you to avoid differences of opinion on these matters, later on.
2. Avoid partying: If you are a moderate social drinker, then it is fine. But gulping down 4-5 glasses of cocktails or whiskey can put you at a greater risk of miscarriage. It is not advisable for men too as it reduces the sperm count of men, significantly. You will become infertile if you are in the habit of downing 5-6 glasses of alcohol, regularly. If you are a regular smoker, quit that habit too. The American Society for Reproductive medicine, says that a majority of people become infertile due to the excess consumption tobacco.
3. Have a piggy bank for pregnancy: Katina Z Jones, who has authored ” Everything Get ready for baby book” says that you have to have a piggy bank to store enough money to pay your bills, diapers and related stuff. She adds that if you don’t stash in any money, even pregnancy and delivery can be burdensome.
4. Have enough shut-eye: When you are pregnant, you will feel like sleeping more. Once your baby is born, you will not get enough time to sleep. So while pregnancy, sleep as much as you can with your partner. You can chat sweet things with your spouse while trying to get sleep. It is natural that you will get the irritating feeling of peeing every now and then. Never mind, try to doze for a longer time.

In short, the journey of parenting has been never easy or is a burden. If you do some things before you get pregnant, it would be easy for you to handle many things, later on. It is always advisable to seek words of wisdom from your mom, who has a better understanding of things.