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StorkNet's Week By Week Guide to Pregnancy | | |
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Preconception:
- The Pre, During and Post Pregnancy Prescription for Fitness
Pregnancy puts a great deal of stress on the body, but there are ways to prepare for the best possible pregnancy in advance. Exercise is one of those pre-conception preparations that should be strongly considered.
- Are You Ready to Get Pregnant? Take this quiz.
Examine your health and lifestyle in this pre-pregnancy quiz reprinted from "Eating Expectantly" by Bridget Swinney.
- Are You Ready to Have a Baby? ~ What does it take to prepare yourself to be a parent? You might not realize it but there are emotional, physical and financial things to consider BEFORE you get pregnant. Writer Jennifer Newton Reents shares some tips on how to prepare yourself for one of the biggest -- and best -- changes of your life.
- How do we know if we're ready to have another baby?
Deciding whether to expand your family by one more - whether this would be your second child or your sixth - is one of the most significant decisions you will make in your lifetime. There is no crystal ball to show the consequences of your decision in the future. A great number of variables come into play here, and the answer to the question, "How many children?" is vastly different for every family. Author Elizabeth Pantley shares her wisdom with StorkNet.
- Folic Acid Now: Before You Know You're Pregnant
The U.S. Public Health Service recommends that all women who could become pregnant get 400 micrograms (0.4 mg) of folic acid every day. This could prevent up to 70 percent of some types of serious birth defects. But to do this, women need folic acid a month before they get pregnant through the first few weeks the baby is growing. That's why you should always get enough folic acid everyday . . .even if you're not planning a baby until next month, next year, or later.
- A Woman's Reproductive System ~ Every month, during the childbearing years, a woman's body prepares an egg for possible fertilization.
- A Man's Reproductive System ~ Learn how a man's body manufactures sperm and how it fertilizes a woman's egg for conception to occur
- Increasing Odds For A Healthy Pregnancy ~ It's never too soon to take good care of your baby's first home, you! Here are some steps you can take now to prepare for a healthy pregnancy.
- Nutritional Health During Reproductive Years
While balanced nutrition, regular exercise and a healthy weight range should be a priority for all women, this advice takes on new importance for women who wish to become mothers.
- Feeling Frisky? Herbs for Fertility by author Susun S. Weed
For thousands of years knowledge of the herbs and wild plants that could increase fertility were the secrets of the village wise women. Many common plants can be used to influence fertility, including red clover, partridge berry, liferoot, wild carrot, and wild yam. Some of these grow wild, others are easy to cultivate, and, with the exception of wild carrot, all are also readily available at health food stores. Learn more in this very informative article.
- Declining fertility with age--Not just a female issue
While the increased risks of infertility and birth defects are known in older women, the increase in male infertility caused by age-related factors is not well known. Learn what recent studies have discovered about the aging male reproductive tract and sperm quality.
- Fertility After Forty by Susun S. Weed
More and more women are waiting until their late thirties, early forties, even late forties, to have children. Is this too late? Are these destined to have high-risk pregnancies? The answer to these questions - and others like them - is "no!" for wise women who enlist the help of green allies to increase fertility, ensure conception, prevent birth defects, and promote a healthy pregnancy and an easy delivery.
- Decreasing the Chance of Birth Defects ~ an excellent article from the FDA discussing what you can do BEFORE you conceive to lower your risk of birth defects.
- Preventing Neural Tube Birth Defects: Folic Acid
Folic acid in a vitamin supplement, when taken one month before conception and throughout the first trimester, has been proven to reduce the risk for an NTD-affected pregnancy by 50 percent to 70 percent.
- Anorexia May Inhibit Fertility
When a woman's eating disorder reaches an advanced state, one of the most common symptoms is the cessation of menstruation, which can lead to infertility if the body remains in this state for a prolonged period of time.
- Child Spacing
Experts have their own opinions on optimal spacing between children. We asked our StorkNet members to tell us THEIR opinions on how they decided the time was right for a new baby. Here's what they said.
- Parenting Starts Before Pregnancy
Good parenting starts before getting pregnant, with learning how to take loving care of yourself. If you have a desire to be a good parent, here are steps you can take before getting pregnant.
- Questions & Answers from our experts:
Trying to Conceive (TTC):
Think You Might Be Pregnant?:
Infertility:
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