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Prepregnancy Checklist
You may not be pregnant yet, but there's plenty you can do now to make yourself as healthy as possible for a growing baby. Consider this your preconception to- do list.
1. Make an appointment with your doctor.
True, you'll be seeing them plenty after you conceive, but it's a good idea to book a visit ahead of time, too, even if you've been pregnant before. If you have any health issues that could affect your chances of conceiving or that could make a pregnancy more risky, it's important to get those under control now.
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Your doctor will want to start a prepregnancy checkup by getting a full medical history from both you and your partner. They may also want to run a number of tests -- such as blood tests and a Pap smear -- to make sure that neither of you have any medical conditions that could affect pregnancy or your chances of conceiving. Your doctor might test for illnesses such as:
- Rubella, or German measles immunity
- Chickenpox immunity HIV
- Hepatitis B immunity
- Herpes
- Other STDs (such as chlamydia, syphilis, and gonorrhea)
- Thyroid problems (with a TSH test)
- Other conditions, such as toxoplasmosis and parvovirus B19 (also called fifth disease)
Finally, depending on your ethnicity, your doctor may recommend genetic tests for:
- Sickle cell anemia
- Thalassemia (an inherited form of anemia)
- Genetic diseases common in the Ashkenazi Jewish population, such as Tay-Sachs disease
If it's time for you to update your vaccines, it's important to do so before you are pregnant. A few specific vaccinations, such as the MMR (measles-mumps- rubella), varicella (the virus that causes chickenpox), or hepatitis A vaccines increase the risk of birth defects. Experts advise that you wait at least 28 days after receiving some of these vaccinations before trying to conceive.
Talk to your doctor about the vaccines you need now and which ones you'll need later. Doctors give some shots during pregnancy, like the Tdap vaccine for whooping cough, so your baby can also benefit from the protection.
If diseases like cystic fibrosis or sickle cell disease run in your or your partner's family, you might also want to see a genetic counselor or do preconception screening tests.