Importance of Pregnancy Planning

Pregnancy is one of the most exciting and important events in each woman's life involving many factors that should be considered in advance such as changes in diet, habits and lifestyle that may be worked out with your doctor before, during and after the pregnancy.

Starting to plan for the pregnancy is an early planning process, which main goal is to decide the proper moment to get pregnant and then the medical care for both the baby and the mother-to-be modifying whatever is needed to create a healthy environment preventing stress, nutrients deficiency, birth defects or any other pregnancy problem.

Usually a pregnancy plan includes a program addressing the unique needs of the mother-to-be such as her nutrition status, weight, age, vitamin intake, exercise needed, treatment of any condition before getting pregnant and the possible avoidance of alcohol or any drug, including previous medications, as they can be a risk factor for genetic disorders of the fetus.

With so many women getting pregnant every year just wanting motherhood without planning, you may think that planning prior to pregnancy is not important, but this is an incorrect thought. In fact, it is estimated that 40% of pregnancies in the United States are not planned, but those women who have a pregnancy plan undoubtedly improve their chance of living smoothly through their pregnancies and giving birth healthy babies.

Improvements in public education programs are required. Women sometimes ignore that babies' organs begin developing as early as the fist two weeks after becoming pregnant and not following a pregnancy plan can increase the risk in causing harm to the baby.