Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Get Baby Ready

Both of you are ready for the next step in the relationship: having a baby. Now’s a time to start the prepping your body and mind for a new life growing inside you. Here are your the dos and don’t(s) of getting baby ready.
Do(s)
Getting things checked
Not just you, but getting your partner involved is vital too. It ensures that you both don’t possess any other underlying medical issues (diabetes, thyroid problems) that affect your chances of being pregnant. Problems like having irregular periods can diminish your chances and an obstetrician (ob-gyn) can have that sorted it out for you. Planning an early pre-conception health check up with your obstetrician is recommended, simply because they are able to advise you on how to proceed with your plans.
They are also able to highlight and examine any deterrent factors like family medical history, drug intakes and even your psychosocial issues. Numerous exams like pelvic exams for identifying sexually transmitted disease, ultrasound scans and/or Pap smear for overall reproductive health might be performed. Also, they are more qualified to answer any queries you have. Getting a pre conception screen will assist you in having an uncomplicated pregnancy, in turn a healthy baby.
Eat right
While visiting the obstetrician or gynaecologist, they would offer the same advise to you as well: eating clean. For those always keeping scores of your diet, great! Keep that up. For the rest of us, now is a good time to start. Slowly begin to eliminate unhealthy food from your diet and replace them healthier substitutes. It may take quite some time getting used to, which is why the earlier the better.
The weather gets the better of you sometimes and you slurped up more servings of ice-kachang or iced lemon tea than expected. It is good to keep your diet in check using a food diary, or a food journaling app. Be especially conscious of what you put in your body. Thus, when you are pregnant you are already used to your diet and it would be less of a dread when coupled with potential pregnancy symptoms.
Additionally, you can start stocking up on folic acid supplements or pre-natal vitamins. Daily intake of at least 400mg of folic acid prevents serious birth defects of the brain (anencephaly) and spine (spina bifida) by up to 70 percent.  These defects are a result of neural tube defects, when the end of the neural tube fails to close up. This occurs in the very early stages of pregnancy, even before many women know that they are pregnant.
Being active
We all know our sedentary lifestyle isn’t the best for our health, no less for a baby. Reason like having a hectic lifestyle, just cannot cut it anymore, especially when it comes to your baby’s health. Exercise does not necessarily mean lifting heavy weights and intense cardio. Pilates and yoga are a great start, because you can actually continue to do so during pregnancy. Pilates strengthens your core muscles that support your pelvic and tummy muscles.
Whereas yoga relaxes your body and mind while keeping you toned. Stress can wreck havoc on your body (like irregular periods), so practicing yoga can keep your stress levels in check too. Again, starting incorporating such exercises into your lifestyle only serves to make your pregnancy easier. Once pregnant, you can take it slower. For yoga, it is ideal that you pause the lessons until you are in your second trimester. For convenience’s sake, do check with the centres whether if they offer pre-natal lessons. So that even after you are pregnant, you can continue your lessons there.
Don’t(s)
Birth control
This is an obvious one. Cutting the contraceptive before you try to conceive is a no brainer. Depending on the type of contraception, it will affect your ovulation period. For oral intakes like pills, some of you may immediately start ovulating again, which means you are fertile again. However, some of you may take months to start ovulating again, especially if you have been using it for quite some time. If it is three months since you last stopped the pill and still no period in sight, do check in with your doctor or gynaecologist. If you gave an Intrauterine Device (IUD), do get it removed. Once removed, your menstrual cycle will resume as well. Contraceptive injections like Depo Provera have effects that last up to three months, so you just have to wait till it wears off. For those using barrier methods (e.g. condoms), just ditch them!
Toxins and endocrine disruptors
There are loads of environmental toxins that are surrounding us. With air pollution like the haze situation running amok, it can be hard to avoid these toxins. But it doesn’t mean that we can’t try our best to avoid them, particularly those endocrine disruptors. They have the ability to disrupt our endocrine system, which regulates our hormones. Like Bisphenol A (BPA) for example, it has been linked to breasts, reproductive and hormonal problems. Pesticides, too contains such disruptors, so its best you wash your fruits and vegetables thoroughly. A research paper published in the US National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information reveals that such industrial contaminants like pesticides and plasticisers and naturally occurring phytoestrogens (found in soy) have effects on wildlife animals’ lactation and breast growth.
Kicking bad habits
Bad habits like smoking, excessive alcohol and coffee intake takes time to change. Precisely why, it is high time you kick these bad habits away anyway. Something as innocuously as caffeine, in high dosages can delay conception. However, there are conflicting research evidence in regards to such notion. But experts do advise you to err on the side of caution. The Fertility Society of Australia recommends limiting your coffee intake to one to two cups per day for women trying to conceive.
Similarly, evidence against alcohol consumption are unclear and with limited studies. Nevertheless, it still poses as a health risk as maternal alcohol consumption is dangerous to the unborn child. Spread this message to your partner too as alcohol can reduce libido, affect sperm quality and causing impotence. When combined, male and female alcohol consumption can increase the risk of miscarriages.
Last but not least, smoking is also known to cause damage on a micro-cellular level in human sperm cells. That certainly doesn’t bode well when you are trying for a baby. Furthermore, it decreases your fertility as well as causing egg depletion. Tobacco is also associated with increased health risk for the baby like increase chances of childhood leukaemia and heart problems. Exposure to second-hand smoke can also suffer all these risks. Thus it is vital that you and your partner are committed to stave off those cigarettes.
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