So you're ready to start a very exciting journey. Congratulations! Now it is more important than ever to focus on your own health and wellness. Here are some things that you need to start to do now (before you are pregnant). Why now? A baby's organs begin to form in the first four weeks of pregnancy, before many women even know they are pregnant. So it is important that women are healthy before they become pregnant.
Click on the headings below to read about some things you can do to get ready:
Get into healthy habits today
Being healthy can help keep your baby from being born too small, too soon or with birth defects. Also, you can be pregnant for a few weeks and not even know it. That’s why it’s so important to get into healthy habits for life. Here are some tips:
- Eat smart. Choose healthy foods like whole-grain breads, cereal, rice and pasta; cheese and yogurt; low-fat meat and chicken; and lots of fruits and vegetables.
- Drink a lot of fluids such as low-fat milk, water and juice every day.
- Prepare meat, chicken and seafood properly. Make sure you follow directions when cooking them.
- Move more. Check with your health care provider to learn how much and which kinds of exercise are best for you.
- Don’t drink alcohol, smoke or use street drugs. These can harm a baby growing inside you. Stopping bad health habits can be very hard to do. But you will never have a better reason to quit! So try to stop. If you’re having trouble quitting, get help—and keep trying.
- Protect yourself from AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Only have sex with one person who doesn’t have any other sex partners or use a condom when having sex.
- Stay away from chemicals that can hurt an unborn baby. Examples of chemicals at home include: paint, paint thinner, insect and weed killers, and cat litter. Examples of chemicals at work include: lead that is used to make paint, cable or plastics; liquids with strong smells; and radiation from X-rays or other sources if you work in medicine, dentistry, mining, electronics or in a power plant.
- Take a multivitamin with 400 micrograms of folic acid every day. Folic acid is a special vitamin that can help prevent birth defects of the brain and spinal cord. The health problems caused by these defects can be severe and, in some cases, even fatal. It’s essential that you get all the folic acid you need every day.
Get a checkup before you get pregnant
Visit your health care provider for a check up to make sure you are in good health.
- Be sure you have all your shots for illnesses like rubella (German measles) and chickenpox. If you get these illnesses while you are pregnant, they can lead to birth defects in your baby.
- Talk to your provider about any recurring health problems in your family. If they are hereditary, they could be passed on to your baby.
- Tell your provider about any medicines you are currently taking. Certain medicines can adversely affect babies while they are still in the womb.
- Get treated for problems like diabetes and high blood pressure. They could pose a potential threat to your baby or get worse during your pregnancy.
- Get tested for HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Left untreated, STIs can endanger your baby’s health as well as your own.
- Get help for depression. Talk to someone you trust such as your provider, partner, family member or good friend about how to get help.
- If your partner hits you, yells at you or abuses you in any way, get help now. Don’t wait until you are pregnant. Talk to your provider, a member of the clergy, a family member or a good friend about how to get help.
Some content provided by the March of Dimes Foundation. The publication, "Are you ready for a baby?", can be found at www.marchofdimes.com/catalog or by calling 800-367-6630. This is item #09-2385-08.