Managing Your Health While Pregnant

September 29th, 2009

While it is always important to pay attention to your health, it is rarely more important than when you are pregnant. That’s because the steps you take toward managing your own health have the potential to directly affect the growing human life inside you. A healthy pregnancy means you will be making more trips to the doctor, paying more attention to what you eat and the vitamins and medications you take, and making sure you get regular exercise.

As early as possible in your first trimester (first three months of pregnancy), make an appointment with an OB/GYN to kick off your prenatal care. Your physician will educate you on what you need to do to take care of yourself and your growing baby, as well as set up a schedule for regular visits at key milestones during your pregnancy. During this first visit, your doctor will examine you for any abnormalities, order blood tests, discuss your lifestyle habits, including exercise and nutrition habits, and answer any questions you have about your pregnancy.

As difficult as it sounds, it is important to cease smoking and drinking alcohol during your pregnancy for the health of the baby. Some studies have shown that light alcohol consumption does not negatively affect a pregnancy, but is it wise to increase the risk of birth defects? Perhaps not. And smoking cigarettes has been proven consistently to increase the risk of serious complications like low birth weight and even stillbirth and premature delivery.

It is also important to begin taking a pre-natal vitamin daily. A good multi-vitamin can also work, but pre-natal vitamins are tailored for the needs of pregnant women and will provide your body with plenty of folic acid, which plays a role in helping to prevent certain birth defects of the brain and spine, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. As for your general eating habits, be sure to eat about 300 additional calories each day. After all, you are eating for more than one.

Unless your doctor tells you otherwise, you will still need to get plenty of exercise while pregnant. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that pregnant women get 30 minutes of exercise most, if not all, days of the week. Obviously you will not want to be jump-roping while pregnant, but there are a variety of low-impact exercises that can get your blood moving, like brisk walking, swimming and low-impact aerobics and yoga.

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