There is a saying that you never really get ready for motherhood even though you try all you can until it hits you. However, if your plan this new year is to get pregnant, there are some necessary changes you need to put in place in order to make that happen.
There are a few steps to take in order to prepare your body for motherhood. These steps are considered very important because it prepares your body to deal with pre-motherhood as well as helps your body adjust once your body comes.
1. You must change your mindset
The very first thing you must change when you intend to get pregnant is your mindset. Here is what you must understand. Your mindset can either help you or limit your chances. Your mindset has the power to encourage you or discourage you from your goals.
According to Hehe Stewart of Tranquility by HeHe, a concierge birthing and Douala Service found in Boston Area says that it is time to reframe the “wiring” in your brain. She went on to explain that it is time to approach this from a place of acceptance, gratitude and confidence.
Acceptance of the situation includes the fact that you can actually birth forth children. It is within your capacity to birth children. You don’t need to go around thinking you are barren or unable to give birth to children. It is in you.
Another thing you need to change is your confidence level. You have to be confident in yourself and also in your abilities. You also need to have confidence in your body and even in your baby though you are yet to have them. If you believe in God, you need to have faith in him as well. If you don’t believe in God, whatever you believe in, you must have faith in it as well.
You must refresh your mindset that whatever has been stated to be meant for you will not pass you by. Remove all negative thoughts and sad feelings away from your mind and heart.
You need to continually believe in yourself and have faith that what has been given to you will come to pass no matter how long it takes.
2. Ensure you pay attention to your gut health
Every mother and intending mother must have this vital information. Your gut health is very important to your baby, and even if you are still expecting, it is also essential in order to prepare you for motherhood.
According to Dr Stewart, your gut health is very vital to your baby in every way ranging from his or her immune health to their dental health to their sleep and all other activities in their body.
As an intending mother, it is very important for you to visit a nutritionist in order to know and learn the type of foods that are supportive of your gut health as well as your goal to get pregnant. It is also very important to discuss with your doctor concerning repair.
Here is what I mean. You never can tell how far damaged your gut health really is and the best way to know that is to visit your doctor. Should in case your gut health has been impaired, then there is a need for probiotics as that helps in gut repair. This will help your gut health recover pretty well before your kid gets here.
Once you already have a kid, it is likewise very good to discuss with your child’s paediatrician concerning which probiotic is best for him or her. In case if you were thinking probiotics ate only good for adults, you need to think again and change that mindset. Probiotics are also good for your children including teens and infants.
You need to be intentional about protecting your microbiome as well as that of your baby’s. Here is a better time to start even when you are still trying. Protecting your child’s gut health begins with you protecting your own.
3. Be mindful of your deodorant
This may seem random and out of place, however, according to Dr Stewart, it is a very vital to know it. According to him, deodorants are one of the most ickiest products that can be found in the markets.
The reason is not far fetched. This is because they always mostly contain hormone disruptors and they are usually filled with all sorts of antiperspirants which contain metallic materials that are designed to block your sweat pores and make you stop sweating.
When these products block your sweat pores from producing sweat, they become clogged, and this will constitute a full germ zone. This is not what you want when you are trying to grow a baby withing you. You want a perfect environment that is germ-free and clean for your baby to grow.
Do you see why you should use natural deodorants instead? One of the numerous beneficiaries of natural deodorants is that it helps you balance your fertility hormones and this puts you in a better position to conceive. Asides this, it also helps in unclog going your sweat pores keeping it fresh and germ-free.
What you may not know is this. Your deodorant might be contributing to your infertility. Any skin care product, body spray or perfume that contains fragrance or parfum will most likely be causing an alteration in your hormonal system. Hence, it is time to check those labels and watch them carefully. They just might be your hindrance.
4. Alcohol and smoking have to go
I’m sure this doesn’t sound like news to your ears. But guess what Alcohol and smoking are one of the most dangerous things that can cause infertility in women. The nicotine present in that cigarette stick alongside the fumes it gives to your body prevents the circulation of oxygen in your blood.
Your body needs oxygen. Your tissues and organs need oxygen to function well. When they don’t get the required amount of oxygen they need, they tend to misbehave and malfunction. Your ovaries and uterus are part of your body organs as well.
So in depriving your blood of oxygen, you are denying your uterus, and other fertility organs of oxygen as well and it will undoubtedly lead to one thing which is the malfunctioning of these organs hence lack of conception and infertility.
According to OBGYN Dr Burton Brodsky who is a Sylvania OH-based Promedica physician, another fact that we must know about smoking is that it can also lead to miscarriages and increase the rate of childhood problems. Your child may even begin to develop signs if addiction even from his or her infancy.
So if you do want to get pregnant this year, it is time to dump the cigarette and ditch the alcohol. We know it might seem somehow challenging to get out of since it may already have become a habit, but if you can do it for 30days non-stop, you can do it forever.
5. Your body needs exercise
There are so many benefits of exercises that we tend not to see especially we don’t just like it for any reason. Exercise is good for blood circulation. It helps your heart to pump blood faster and vigorously hence your body organs receive a good amount of blood flow, and this improves their ability to work properly.
Another importance of exercise we must consider is that it helps to cut back on the excess weight and this is good because being overweight can cause fertility problems. In fact, when you are overweight, it disrupts your hormonal system, and this can cause infertility in women.
According to Dr Brodsky, get moving. Do any form of exercise you can do. It mustn’t necessarily be running or jogging, but you can do any other exercise that can increase your blood circulation and also help to boost your mental health.
In general, exercise is good for the body and to conceive, and you need it a lot. Hence, get off your butt and start working out if you intend to get pregnant.
6. Stop stressing yourself and mind over being able to conceive
We understand that the pressure can be much on you especially from your husband’s family or from your parents or even from the mere fact of your age. However, giving yourself mental stress isn’t helping g the situation. Instead, it is increasing your problems. We understand that it is easier said than done, but you must do it anyways.
According to Dr Brodsky, women who have an increased stress level always find it difficult to conceive. They usually have a harder time conceiving because when you get stressed as a woman, some specific level of hormones such as cortisol increases and it has been seen that the higher the stress level rates, the lower your chances to conceive.
Learn to go to bed without any worries so you can have a good night sleep. According to Dr Brodsky, go to bed and let the anxiety get off your mind. If you allow your fears to interfere with your sleep, you can cause disruptions in your hormonal levels causing it to fluctuate, and this is not in your favour.
When there are fluctuations in your hormonal system, it causes problems in your ovulation cycle as well as your reproduction. When you get a good night rest frequently, it helps boost your chances of fertility as well as generally improve your health and wellbeing.
7. Start taking prenatal vitamins
According to Dr Weather Harl, who is a ProMedica Physicians gynaecologist, he says you should start taking prenatal vitamins. Wondering why? Well, according to him, he says that it helps you conceive as it mostly contains folic acid which is an essential vitamin for fertility.
According to the Centre of Disease and Control (CDC), you are encouraged to take about 400mcg of Folic acid every day for at least 30 days as this will help prevent congenital disabilities when you eventually conceive.
If you know as a woman you have certain health conditions or you have been placed on specific drug prescriptions, it is safer to discuss this with your doctor as you may either need high doses of Folic acid or you might need a different prescription of drugs.
8. Stop taking birth control pills
If you are trying to get pregnant, then you don’t need to go on any birth control. If you have been on the pill before, then you need to stop right away and allow your body to adjust to it. It might take a while for your hormonal levels to balance up and your fertility cycle might be difficult to determine at the beginning.
However, it is recommended for women to ditch those birth control pills two months before they think of starting any fertility plan. This is because this period will help your monthly flow to regularise as well as you may actually conceive during this period.
If you decide to let go of your birth control pills, during this period, your hormones become normal, and you can become pregnant during your ovulation which by the way is the time when a woman is most fertile.
9. Your body weight must be controlled
Your body mass index which is also known as your BMI is an essential calculation which you must know if you want to regularise it. Your BMI is your body weight in kilograms over your overall surface area in meters squared.
Usually, the appropriate range for a person’s BMI is between 19-24.9kg/m2. Now anything below 19kg/m2 is considered to be overweight, and anything above 24.9kg/m2 is considered to be overweight.
Here is what I’m saying in essence, for you to be able to regularise your weight, you must make sure to be between the range of the healthy BMI. If you are underweight, it will affect your hormonal production as well as your hormonal levels, and the same thing goes for you being overweight.
Obesity occurs when you are above 30kg/m2. According to Dr Wahl, for women who are overweight or obese, it is essential they try to cut it down. If you are able to cut back on your weight, losing about 5%-10% of your body weight just before attempting to conceive, it can increase your chances of fertility.
10. Never neglect your doctor’s appointment
It has always been a norm that once fertility is mentioned, only the woman is pointed at. Well, infertility doesn’t just happen to women. It also affects men as well. So even as a man and you know you are struggling with infertility issues, consider your doctor’s appointment as very important.
According to Dr Wahl, he says that if as a woman, you are 35 years and above, you should consider going for a fertility evaluation if you don’t conceive after six months of regular and unprotected sexual intercourse.
Also, have it at the back of your mind that your most fertile period as a woman is your ovulation period and having sex during this time increases your chances of getting pregnant by a whopping 25%. Hence this is undoubtedly your best time to have sex with your partner.
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