Summary:
▸Smoking and drinking are important factors that cause miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy.
▸Foods such as green vegetables, lentils, roselle, sweet corn, oranges and bananas are rich in folic acid, which helps prevent babies from being born with spinal diseases.
▸Pet cats and other animals may carry Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that can cause disabilities in newborns.
▸Prenatal genetic screening can help identify up to 400 defective genes and genetic diseases with an accuracy rate of up to 95%. (https://tinyurl.com/mak3wzc7)
In today's society, deciding to have a child is a major decision. Couples must think carefully and make long-term plans before making a decision, taking into account the new technologies and medical advances available. For those who decide to have a child, the most important consideration is the safety, physical health and mental health of the child. Therefore, it is crucial to be fully prepared before welcoming the arrival of a newborn, and such preparation should begin about three months before pregnancy. Proper preparation will ensure that the success rate of pregnancy is maximized and that neither the mother nor the baby is at risk.
1. Smoking and drinking
In addition to affecting the overall health of the expectant mother, smoking and drinking can also have an adverse effect on the child's development and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease in the newborn. More importantly, these two factors increase the risk of miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy.
2. Nutrition and exercise
Preparing for pregnancy should first allow the expectant mother to eat a healthy and balanced diet, keep her weight within the normal range, and avoid high-fat and high-sugar foods. Caffeine intake should also be reduced, and a varied diet should be adhered to, including more fruits and vegetables. Certain types of fruits and vegetables, such as green vegetables, lentils, roselle, sweet corn, oranges, and bananas are rich in folic acid, which helps prevent spinal diseases in newborns. Moderate consumption of high-quality carbohydrates such as brown rice and whole-wheat bread is the best choice, and every meal should include protein such as fish and beans.
When preparing for pregnancy, exercise is absolutely not to be ignored. Start exercising as much as possible, try to reduce stress, and stay calm.
3. Analyze your regular medications
Certain medications may reduce your chances of pregnancy and may even have a negative impact on the health of your fetus. Expectant mothers should bring their regular medications to their doctor for advice and guidance in case they cannot stop taking medications.
4. Environmental Adjustments
Check your surroundings to see if there are items that could endanger your pregnancy. These hazards include pesticides, asbestos, lead, and radioactive materials. In addition, if you have a pet cat, you should have a blood test to assess for the presence of Toxoplasma infection, as this parasite in cat feces can cause toxoplasmosis, a factor that causes babies to be born with disabilities. If mothers are not immune to the disease, they should take precautions when in contact with cats.
5. Choose a prenatal care facility
Be sure to check out the prenatal care facilities at your local hospital to make sure you find a place that is right for you and your baby. When making your decision, consider location, travel time, and cost. Alternatively, when making your decision, you may want to focus on the availability and capabilities of medical staff, including midwives and nursing staff. Whatever factors you decide to focus on, make sure you are happy with the level of care provided before making your final choice.
6. Vaccinations
Another important thing that women who are planning to get pregnant should pay close attention to is vaccinations. You need to carefully study which vaccines should be taken and which vaccines should be avoided, both before and during pregnancy. Vaccinations are not limited to children, but should be used for adults as well. This is because adults are at risk of infections that may lead to serious health problems, and these conditions may lead to subsequent complications. With this in mind, the vaccines that mothers should receive are as follows:
▸Measles, mumps and rubella vaccines: This type of vaccine is extremely important for women who are planning to get pregnant and should be given three months before conception.
▸Flu vaccine: Everyone should get the flu vaccine, and booster shots should be given every year. For pregnant women who have never been vaccinated, if the pregnancy is during a period when the flu virus is spreading rapidly, they should be vaccinated during pregnancy to reduce any serious complications that may arise from contracting the flu.
▸Diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus vaccines: A set of vaccines can be injected once, and booster shots are required every ten years thereafter. The vaccine should be injected at 27 weeks after pregnancy to ensure that immunity can be transferred to the fetus.
▸ Cervical cancer vaccination: This vaccine is generally recommended for women aged 9-46 years and requires three consecutive injections. It is usually not recommended for pregnant women. If the first injection is given before pregnancy, the remaining injections must be given after the baby is born.
▸ Hepatitis A and B vaccination: The hepatitis virus can be transmitted from mother to child, so pregnant women should be screened to assess whether they need this vaccine.
7. Study your ovulation cycle
Knowing the time and date of your ovulation cycle will help you understand when in a month you are most likely to get pregnant. (https://tinyurl.com/mak3wzc7)
Women generally have a 28-day menstrual cycle, and ovulation usually occurs about two weeks before menstruation, which is around the 14th day of the menstrual cycle. This should help you calculate the exact time of ovulation. However, this calculation method can only be used by women with regular menstrual cycles. For example, if menstruation comes every 28 days, ovulation will occur every 14 days of that cycle (counting the first day of menstruation as the first day of the cycle).
For women whose menstrual cycles are less regular or difficult to calculate, the ovulation day may change, but there are methods to help you calculate your ovulation day. This can be done by recording the length of your menstrual cycles each month for 8-12 months, with each cycle starting from the first day of menstruation and ending the day before the next menstrual period begins. Then analyze these records to find out which cycle is the shortest and which is the longest, then take these data and use them to calculate the following:
▸First fertile day = number of days in the shortest cycle - 18.
▸Last fertile day = number of days in the longest cycle - 11.
Suppose you record your menstrual cycles for 12 months and the results are 26, 24, 25, 28, 26, 27, 28, 27, 29, 30, 28 and 26 days respectively, you will find that the shortest menstrual cycle is 24 days and the longest menstrual cycle is 30 days. Calculating as above, you will find that the first fertile day is 24 - 18 = 6, and the last fertile day is 30 - 11 = 19. Therefore, the best time for sexual intercourse is between the 6th and 19th days of the menstrual cycle. Be sure to calculate according to your own menstrual cycle, not using the date on the calendar.
8. Screening for genetic diseases
Pre-pregnancy genetic screening is an important thing to do when preparing for pregnancy. If the mother or father has a history of a certain genetic disease, such as thalassemia, hemophilia, or diabetes, a doctor should be consulted for targeted genetic screening to determine whether they have the same gene or are carriers of the disease.
The importance of these three months of pre-pregnancy preparation should not be underestimated. However, it does not have to be a difficult process to ensure that you are fully prepared to welcome a healthy new family member into the world and form a complete family. For anyone who hopes to build a strong family in the future, as long as they pay full attention to these 8 key points of preparation, it should be a well-thought-out choice.
Decoding common myths and questions about pregnancy preparation
Q1.What pregnancy-assisting postures are effective? Do raising your feet, doing handstands, or raising your butt really work?
There is currently no research to prove that any specific position can improve pregnancy rates. It is recommended to focus on preparing for pregnancy by adjusting your diet and daily routine, as well as following the doctor's diagnosis and advice after a health check-up. This will be a more proactive and effective direction.
Q2. How long does it usually take to successfully conceive?
If you are able to get pregnant naturally, it takes about 6 months to prepare for pregnancy before the age of 30, and within a year for those over 30.
If the time exceeds the above, it may mean that you cannot conceive naturally and it is not recommended to continue. As you have missed the golden age for pregnancy, it is recommended that you actively seek medical assistance.
Q3. What should men do to prepare for pregnancy?
Men can improve sperm quality by quitting smoking, drinking less, avoiding long-term high temperature environments, adjusting their diet, supplementing with sperm-nourishing health foods, and increasing exercise.
In addition, your wife will undergo more invasive examinations during her pre-pregnancy checkup, such as fallopian tube photography, hysteroscopy, and vaginal ultrasound. She is also prone to physical discomfort during her menstrual and ovulation periods, so we suggest that you be more considerate to your wife.
Q4. What should you pay special attention to when preparing for pregnancy at an advanced age?
When women reach the age of 30, their ovarian function begins to decline year by year. Women over 34 are classified as older mothers, who have higher risks of childbirth and a higher chance of having a baby with Down syndrome.
Therefore, when older pregnant women have prenatal checkups, they need to pay special attention to Down syndrome screening and chromosome screening. If there is a family history of genetic diseases, the National Health Administration currently provides subsidies for "amniocentesis prenatal genetic diagnosis" examinations for older pregnant women, and it is recommended that eligible older pregnant women take advantage of it.
Q5. How do I know if it is easy for me to get pregnant?
If you have sex 2-3 times a week without any contraception for more than a year and still haven't gotten pregnant, even if it's not easy to get pregnant, it's recommended that the couple have infertility tests together to understand the reasons for the difficulty in getting pregnant and actively learn about other treatments that can help with pregnancy.
