Part of planning for pregnancy — including attempts at conceiving—is preparing your body for the changes that lie ahead. You’re about to put your body under a whole lot of stress, from checking your monthly cycles to regular sexual activity to nine months of stretching and squeezing. The hormonal ups and downs don’t help, either. Is your system ready for it?
If you’re seriously considering pregnancy, it should be. True, you can just let nature do its job, have sex regularly and wait until you hit a fertile day. However, most doctors agree that conditioning your body for pregnancy will increase your chances of conception, even before you start trying. Here are some ways you can prepare for pregnancy early on.
Get to know your body
It’s more than just counting the days of your menstrual cycle and timing sex on days that you’re fertile. It’s also about knowing whether you’re in good enough health to handle pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and motherhood. And often, that requires a good long look at your body. You can find out the ultimate way of how to get pregnant by checking out this pregnancy miracle guide!
Schedule a general checkup with your family doctor or a pre-pregnancy specialist. You’ll want to know the state of your reproductive organs, breasts, heart, lungs, and hormones. Take into account all existing conditions, from asthma and diabetes to the occasional skin rash—they can all play a role in your chances of getting pregnant. You may also need to get certain immunizations up to date. When your body knows it’s ready for pregnancy, the rest can simply follow suit.
When to go off birth control
One of the first things you’ll want to do is stop using birth control. If you’re using natural family planning or barrier methods such as condoms, you can usually get pregnant as soon as you stop. However, in most cases women only have a one-in-five chance of getting pregnant immediately. Most birth control methods may take a while to lose their effects. Many contraceptive pills remain active for a few days or weeks; some brands even take months. Intra-uterine devices (IUDs) have to be removed beforehand. Consult a pre-pregnancy specialist to determine when the best time is to stop, and to get a better idea of when you’re fertile again.
Reach a healthy weight
Women who are underweight, overweight, or on the borderline are much less likely to get pregnant than those in the healthy range. Aim for the midpoint between the minimum and maximum body mass index (BMI) for your age and height. Better yet, incorporate long-term changes in your diet that you can keep up during and after your pregnancy. You’ll need the extra nutrients to help your baby’s development and to produce healthy breast milk when it’s time to feed.
Make lifestyle changes
Your everyday habits play an important role in getting pregnant. It’s a known fact that women with healthy, stress-free lifestyles are more predisposed to pregnancy. So now’s the perfect time to make a few changes for the better—getting up earlier, cutting down on the coffee, quitting smoking, taking the occasional day off to put your feet up and relax.
You want to flush out the toxins from your body so your baby will have a clean, safe environment to develop in. Lifestyle changes will not only help you conceive; they will also help the transition into a healthier lifestyle once you’re pregnant and after you have your baby.
Preparing for pregnancy is not just a temporary adaptation. When you prepare for conception, you’re also preparing for motherhood. When you’re comfortable with the idea of being a mother, incorporating the changes you need to get pregnant will become second nature.
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