How Important is Maintaining Health in Preparing for Pregnancy?

Giving birth to a healthy baby without any defects is generally the most desirable moment for all parents. Making a decision to get pregnant is something big. There are many things to be done, not only preparing mental and financial condition, but also maintaining the health, even before pregnancy. 

Maintaining health needs to be carried out anytime, not only during pregnancy period. This period is an important period for women so be extra careful and particular in maintaining health.

In fact, the health of mothers and babies are not only important during pregnancy and child birth, even before pregnancy, including the husband’s health. Therefore, to maintain health when planning for a pregnancy is obviously important. Moreover, if the couple didn’t use to apply a healthy lifestyle and tend to have a messy lifestyle in terms of not giving attention to the nutritional content of the food/drink consumed and neglecting sports, now it’s the time to maintain health before pregnancy (preconception or conception) and make it as a priority.

Lifestyle Changes

Women undergo hormonal cycle changes significantly during pregnancy, so pregnancy preparation must be done in order not to feel the disruption and inconvenience during pregnancy. In addition, maintaining health before pregnancy preparation may aim at preventing the possible abnormalities in pregnancy and birth process which ultimately have an adverse influence on the mother and baby.

So, if you have bad habits which may have a negative effect on health, especially during pregnancy in the future, you must stop them. Changing the habits to implement a healthy lifestyle is the key.

Healthy lifestyles, for example, getting up early to breathe the fresh morning air, 8-hour night sleep, not going to bed too late, and doing exercises regularly. Exercises will keep the body's metabolism and cell performance better and prepare the muscles to face the labor process as well as prevent the mother from health disorders which may cause pregnancy complications, in addition to provide more chances for the fetus to grow in a better and healthier condition in the womb. 

Changes in Diet

Besides, it is also necessary to maintain a healthy diet during pregnancy preparation by arranging the healthy food intake. Consume foods with balanced composition, which have protein content (from meat, eggs, nuts), carbohydrates (from rice, potatoes, noodles, bread, etc.), fiber, vitamins, and minerals (from fruits and vegetables).

Consume special milk for pregnant women in order to meet the nutrition and vitamin and balance the hormones. Quit smoking and don’t drink too much alcoholic beverages. All of those could be done to support the special diets, for reducing weight or gaining weight, which are recommended by the doctor if the mother and father haven’t got the ideal body mass index.