Ask yourself the following questions.
- Are you eating healthily
- Are you taking folic acid
- Do you have a long standing medical condition
- Are you on any kind of contraception
- Are you into contact with any kind of risk
- Do you smoke or drink
- Are you well resourced to take care of yourself and the baby
For you to give your pregnancy the best possible start it is very important to think ahead of the pregnancy so you can be prepared and will be your best guarantee of having a normal, healthy baby.
Ideally pregnancy should be planned about three months before you conceive.
A healthy balanced diet will increase your chances of conceiving and of having a healthy baby.
Folate, a B vitamin found in beans, green leafy vegetables and citrus fruits, plays a critical role in a foetus’s development, particularly growth of its nervous system.
Your body also needs iron to make haemoglobin, a molecule in the blood that carries oxygen to cells throughout your body and to your growing baby. Because the volume of blood in your body increases during pregnancy your iron needs also increase significantly. so make a point to eat more of foods that are good sources of iron, These include lean red meats, fish, poultry, dried fruits and iron-fortified cereals.
Calcium also helps to build healthy teeth and bones during pregnancy, Dairy foods are the best sources of calcium.
nausea and vomiting are common during the first 12 to 14 weeks of pregnancy. “Morning sickness” can occur at any time—and strikes most often when your stomach is empty, so very important to eat even if it seems hard to do so.
You should stop smoking and drinking as soon as you want to become pregnant as tobacco and alcohol can affect fertility in men and women and can cause your baby to be too small—and may increase the risk of preterm delivery and miscarriage. It may also affect your baby’s heart and brain.
Pregnancy can be expensive as you will need to eat well to keep healthy and also prepare for your birth which means buying clothes, food and providing shelter for yourself and the baby.
Therefore ensure a reliable source of income to sustain you during pregnancy and when you have the baby.
Having a healthy pregnancy is more than just eating healthy and getting good prenatal care. It’s also important to keep your environment (where you live and work) safe from things that can harm you and your baby like radiation, insecticides, chemicals and some metals.
Harmful substances can get into your body through your skin or when you breathe, eat or drink. Some can be immediately dangerous to you and your baby. With other substances, you have to come in contact with large amounts for a long time for them to cause harm.
It is therefore important to keep yourself safe as well as the unborn child. It is best to avoid abusive relationships which also pose so much emotional stress thus affecting the baby.
Now that you are sure you want to conceive, PricelessMom.Com will take you through all there is to know during pregnancy and even after.
Having a baby opens up a whole new and exciting world most of us know very little about, there is always often an easy way.
We will show you what mothers have found worked best and what makes life easiest through sharing of experiences.
At PricelessMom.Com, you will soon discover that parenthood, for all its responsibilities can be FUN.
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