Planning Stage

Planning before you get pregnant is very important. Simply put, the healthier you are as you are planning your pregnancy, the more likely you are to have a healthy baby. I hope you'll start planning for pregnancy as soon as you begin to have thoughts about having a baby.

A baby's organs begin to form in the first few weeks of pregnancy, before you may know that you are pregnant. As this is a critical phase of development, the more planning you do, the greater the pay off can be in terms of the health of your baby. Unfortunately, there are no foolproof methods for having a healthy baby, but there are many things you can do that may improve your chances of a good outcome.

Planning your pregnancy may help you to:

• Conceive more easily
• Have a healthier pregnancy
• Avoid or minimize pregnancy complications
• Give birth to a healthier baby
• Recover more quickly and easily after giving birth
• Have a more pleasant postpartum (post birthing) experience
• Minimize your child's risk of future adult health problems.
• Take care of your expenditure during pregnancy and there after

By planning your pregnancy, you will know that during this important early stage you were taking the best possible care of yourself and your baby.

We will discuss Planning by dividing it into following topics.:

1. Body awareness
2. Emotions and stress
3. Environment: Home & Work
4. Exercise & Fitness
5. Finances & Insurance
6. Genetic Counseling & Testing
7. Healthy Lifestyle Habits
8. Medications
9. Nutrition
10. Pre-Pregnancy Checkup
11. Relationships
12. Weight
13. Care givers and birth setting
14. Dental Care
15. Drug alcohol and Tobacco