Checklist for Your Preconception Checkup

Before trying to get pregnant, talk with your obstetrician/gynecologist (OB/GYN) about the following:

• Your current health. Do you have high blood pressure, heart disease, asthma, lupus, or epilepsy? Your doctor will also discuss diabetes, which could place your baby at up to triple the risk of birth defects.
• Prescription drugs. Are you taking any medications that may harm your baby such as antibiotics (tetracycline), blood thinners, antiseizure drugs (Dilantin), acne preventives (Accutane), and blood pressure reducers (ACE inhibitors)? Other drugs that may hurt the baby include aspirin, antihistamines, and diet drugs.
• Birth defect risk factors. Determine whether your child is at risk for seizures, mental disabilities, or birth defects such as cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, hemophilia, sickle cell anemia, or Tay-Sachs disease.
• Vitamins. Your doctor will give you a prescription for prenatal vitamins that contain 400 micrograms of folic acid, a supplement essential to helping prevent the birth defect spina bifida. If taken within four weeks of conception, the vitamin thwarts this defect, occurring in one of 1,000 births, in which the spinal column doesn’t properly close.
• Vaccine update. If needed, your doctor will protect the baby by giving you a measles, mumps, tetanus, polio, rubella, or hepatitis B vaccine at least three months before you get pregnant.
• Weight gain guidelines. You may need to reduce your weight if you're more than 20 pounds overweight, which may put you and the baby at greater risk.
• Nutrition and exercise guidelines. Find out what foods and exercises will be best for nourishing you and your baby.

Find a doctor you like
Make sure you can talk openly with your obstetrician about any problems or concerns. You’ll be able to tell early on whether this person is the right doctor for you. When you and your doctor work as a team, you and your baby will benefit.

This article brought to you in partnership with Studio One Networks.