This one is for all my ladies who are planning on starting a family or trying to conceive! It’s so important that you take good care of yourself and your baby from the very beginning. One crucial step towards ensuring a healthy pregnancy is scheduling a preconception visit with your healthcare provider. As an OBGYN, it’s honestly one of my favorite visits to have with patients!
The goal of this visit is to assess your health and identify any potential risk factors that could affect your pregnancy. After all, the ultimate goal here is to keep both you and your little one healthy throughout the entire pregnancy journey! So, let’s dive in and explore why a preconception visit is so important and what you can expect during this visit.
What to expect at your visit:
This is really going to be a deep dive into YOU! I want to know everything about you! Your medical history, your family’s history, your partner’s history. Your OB history, have you been pregnant before, what was it like? Your lifestyle, diet, exercise—literally EVERYTHING! We’ll also review the medications you are taking and which ones to stop taking before attempting to conceive. There are several medications that are not recommended in pregnancy—so this one is really important.
Expect to also discuss lifestyle changes. Do you smoke? Let’s come up with a plan to quit as we know smoking can have negative effects on pregnancy. Do you drink? How much? What’s your exercise routine? Can we make diet changes? Do we need to discuss weight loss or gaining weight before conceiving?
We’ll even go over your job, is it safe during pregnancy? Do you use/work with strong chemicals or radiation? Sounds crazy, but some of these substances can put you and your future baby at risk.
This visit is also very important because all the fetus’s major organs develop in the 1st trimester. These significant organ symptoms actually start to develop BEFORE a woman knows she’s even pregnant! This is why we want to discuss your history and lifestyle so we can prepare and make adjustments if needed.
Lastly, I want to make sure you’re safe! I’m going to discuss intimate partner violence with you. Are you in a safe relationship? Do you want to become pregnant, or is it being forced? Are you verbally or physically abused? This is extremely important to discuss and I strive always to create a safe space for the women that come to my office.
I’m very passionate about the preconception visit, if you couldn’t tell! I hope you found this blog post helpful and for even MORE in-depth information please watch my full YouTube video HERE!
