How to Prepare Your Body for Pregnancy
Preparing for pregnancy can be exciting and overwhelming for women who hope to carry a baby. If you are preparing to become pregnant naturally or preparing to start fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), there are steps you can take to help ensure a smooth transition into a healthy pregnancy.
Staying in communication with your fertility specialist or general practitioner about how you are feeling along the way is important, and there may be specific changes to your diet or routine to make based on your body’s needs. It is also important for women to get to know their ovulation cycles, to help determine when their fertility levels are prime for conceiving.
Continue reading to learn about what fertility doctors want their patients to know, including pregnancy preparation best practices, and how to get your body ready for infertility treatments.
Pregnancy Tips: Make At-Home Changes Toward a Healthy Pregnancy
There are plenty of ways you can take further control of your health in order to obtain the highest chance of conceiving naturally or with infertility treatments. It is best to discuss the specific changes you intend on making with your doctor, so he or she can help guide you to the right choices for your fertility goals.
Eat a Healthy Diet for Pregnancy
Eating a nutritious variety of foods is recommended for most people, whether they are going through a fertility journey or not. However, there are specific foods that have fertility-enhancing vitamins and minerals, such as omega-3 rich salmon and vitamin C-filled citrus fruits. Learn more about these foods that can help boost fertility for men and women. from our blog, here.
Take Prenatal Vitamins
You may think prenatal vitamins are only helpful for women who are already pregnant, but they can be helpful for women who are trying to conceive as well. Prenatal vitamins specifically contain folic acid, iron and calcium which can fill in the vitamin gaps needed for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.
Maintain a Healthy Weight for Your Body
If you are underweight or overweight for your individual body type, this can reduce your chances of conceiving.
Stop Smoking, Drinking Alcohol and Using Recreational Drugs
Each of these substances can be very harmful to one’s general health, which means they can hinder fertility and be extremely harmful for the health of a fetus throughout pregnancy.
Avoid Traveling to Risky Areas
Some regions around the world may put you at risk of exposure to Zika or other infectious diseases, which could delay infertility treatment.
Reduce Your Caffeine Intake
Studies show that as long as you drink no more than 200mg of caffeine daily, which is equivalent to about two cups of coffee, your fertility levels should not be impacted.
How to Physically Prepare for IVF Treatments
The process of IVF treatment can be stressful both mentally and physically on a woman’s body. There are ways to help eliminate some of the physical stress by physical preparation. Some ways to help prepare your body physically for IVF include:
Yoga:
Yoga for infertility improves both female and male infertility by minimizing stress, which consecutively balances the hormones of the body with improvement in mental health; thereby increasing a couple's ability to conceive.
Acupuncture:
Acupuncture as a treatment for infertility shows great results both in men and women by improving the sperm quality and ovaries function and balancing the endocrine system and hormones.
Exercise:
30 minutes of daily, moderate or intense exercise can help improve fertility.
What Types of Fertility Tests Should You and Your Partner Get?
Thanks to the medical advancements in hormonal and fertility testing, getting to know your body’s fertility needs is more seamless than ever before.
Semen Analysis
The first test men should take is a semen analysis test, which evaluates the sperm count, sperm motility, sperm morphology and other parameters like volume, PH, viscosity, viability, and agglutination.
For women, a major advancement in fertility is the accessibility to at-home fertility tests, such as the Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) test.
Anti Mullerian Hormone (AMH) Fertility Test
The AMH test is used to check a woman's ovarian egg reserve, which determines her ability to produce eggs that are viable to be fertilized for pregnancy. The number of eggs a woman has in her ovarian reserve declines as she ages, so understanding how many eggs you have that are viable for potential fertilization is important.
Read our blog about How to Read the Test to learn more.
Know Your Body with At-Home Testing from Innovative Health Diagnostics
IHD offers a variety of at-home tests such as the AMH test, which focuses on infertility, COVID-19, general health biometric screening, and both molecular and antibody STDs. With IHDs accurate and affordable at-home testing kits, individuals have privacy and convenience of knowing their bodies even more in the comfort of their own home.
Contact IHD today to better prepare yourself for pregnancy with at-home infertility testing.