PREPARATION BEFORE PREGNANCY

healthydailymail.com You've decided to take the plunge into parenthood. But wait just a second – or even a month or more. To give yourself the best chance for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby, there are some important things you need to do before you head down the road to conception.

1. Schedule a preconception visit

You don't have to have a doctor or midwife lined up to deliver your baby yet, but call your ob-gyn, midwife, or family practice doctor now for a preconception checkup. Your practitioner will review your personal and family medical history, your present health, and any medications or supplements you're taking. Certain medications and supplements are unsafe during pregnancy, and some may need to be switched before you even try to conceive because they're stored in your body's fat and can linger there.

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Your practitioner will likely discuss diet, weight, exercise, and any unhealthy habits you may have (such as smoking, drinking, and taking drugs); recommend a multivitamin; make sure you're up to date on your immunizations; test you for immunity to childhood diseases such as chicken pox and rubella; and answer any questions you have. In addition, you may be referred to a specialist if you have certain medical conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, or high blood pressure, that need to be controlled before you get pregnant.

If it's been at least a year since you had a checkup, you can also expect to have a pelvic exam and a Pap smear, and to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases if you're at risk.

2. Consider genetic carrier screening

Depending on your ethnic background and family history, your practitioner may encourage you to get genetic carrier screening before you start trying to conceive to see whether you or your partner is a carrier for serious inherited illnesses such as cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease, and others. If both you and your partner are carriers, your child will have a 1 in 4 chance of having the disease.

You can meet with a genetic counselor who will be able to tell you more about the condition and help you sort out your reproductive choices. This may be the single most important thing you can do to help ensure a healthy baby, and all it requires is a saliva or blood sample from each of you. It's even covered by most health insurance policies.

3. Take folic acid (and watch out for vitamin A)

Taking a folic acid supplement is crucial. By taking 400 micrograms (mcg) of folic acid a day for at least one month before you conceive and during your first trimester, you can cut your chances of having a baby with neural-tube defects such as spina bifida by 50 to 70 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Taking folic acid helps prevent some other birth defects as well.

You can buy folic acid supplements at the drugstore, or you can take a prenatal or regular multivitamin. Check the label on multivitamins to make sure they contain the 400 mcg of folic acid you need.

Also check to make sure that your multivitamin doesn't contain more than the recommended daily allowance of 770 mcg RAE (2,565 IU) of vitamin A, unless most of it's in a form called beta-carotene. Getting too much of a different kind of vitamin A can cause birth defects.

If you're unsure about what to take, ask your healthcare provider to recommend a supplement.