Pregnancy Tips
- Get a preconception checkup. Your OB/GYN will help you know how best to stop your current birth control and will evaluate your overall well-being, including offering genetic counseling, to ensure that you have the healthiest pregnancy possible.
- Eat a healthy diet and maintain a healthy body weight. Eating foods rich in vitamins and minerals makes for a healthier mom and baby, and being over- or under-weight can also impair fertility.
- If you smoke, stop. Smoking not only inhibits fertility, but it also damages the unborn baby and is dangerous for newborns as well. Just quit now.
- Avoid alcohol. A good rule of thumb: If you wouldn’t give it directly to your baby, don’t put it in your body either!
- Take prenatal vitamins. Experts recommend taking prenatal vitamins three months before conception (and all during your pregnancy) to provide the extra folic acid your body needs to protect your unborn baby from some birth defects. There may be a cost benefit to getting a prescription for your prenatal vitamins, so check with your insurer and talk to your May-Grant provider.
- Stay active. Being physically active before and during pregnancy many benefits, including helping maintain a healthy weight and being fit for delivery. Talk to your provider about how to incorporate exercise if you are not currently active.
- Get to know your cycle. Knowing your menstrual cycle (what is “normal” for you) will aid in conception, and help you know right away when it may be time to take that pregnancy test! Clue is an app approved by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and can help you track your period and fertility window each month.
- Know when you ovulate. If you monitor when you ovulate, you can time intercourse to maximize your chances of conception.
- Have sex right before you ovulate and wait 15 minutes after sex before getting up. But, certain sexual positions don’t increase your chances, so just do whatever is most comfortable!
- Try to keep stress level low. Trying to conceive can be stressful, but pregnancy is more likely to occur when couples are relaxed, and less likely during months when the couples felt tense or depressed. Taking time for yourself every day, exercising, journaling, getting massages, talking with your partner, and getting enough sleep can make it easier to unwind.
