Becoming a mother for the first time changes your life in many ways, and more and more people are doing so later in life. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the mean age for first-time mothers has gone up to 27.3 years, meaning teens and young adults are having fewer children.
Bringing a new life into the world presents many challenges at any age. If you’re about to add to your family, you should do as much preparation as possible, such as prepregnancy planning. Here we can explore what that means for you and how you can prepare for the changes pregnancy brings.
Women in the Las Vegas, Nevada, area preparing to have their first child can get all the help they need from Dr. Staci McHale and her dedicated medical team at WHASN Sunset Valley.
Prepregnancy planning covers all the essential steps by creating a checklist for everything required to ensure a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery for you and your child. Every woman has unique needs based on their medical history and current state of health, so the overall list varies from expectant mother to expectant mother.
Here’s the broad strokes you can expect from your prepregnancy planning process:
Even before you get pregnant, we need to assess your overall state of health and try to assess what problems can arise due to medical history, health factors, and review vaccinations that may be necessary.
We help you review your contraception options to avoid any unplanned pregnancies and have your child when the time is right.
Once you’re ready to get pregnant, we can get you off contraception and manage any infertility issues you or your partner may struggle with.
If either you or your partner has a family history of specific medical issues, getting genetic testing can help us understand the risk of your child having them as well.
Many medical problems can increase the chances of a high-risk pregnancy, which requires making allowances and taking extra steps to keep you and your baby safe.
While all of this is going on, we invest in your emotional and mental well-being and help manage prenatal and postpartum issues as they arise.
Being pregnant means undergoing a range of physical and emotional changes that include a lot more than your reproductive system. Your cardiovascular system, endocrine system, skin, hair, nails, urinary system, musculoskeletal system, respiratory system, and more change a lot during those nine months.
To get your body ready for this to happen, have your family history ready to manage any medical problems as they occur to reduce their impact, get off of any birth control, begin tracking your ovulation cycle, take your prenatal vitamins, and get in some routine exercise. Work on ways to manage your stress to lower the risk of problems like preeclampsia.
Also, be sure to maintain a healthy diet and weight, stop smoking if you do, and lower the amount of caffeine you take in.
Having your first child should be a joyous time for your family, and we’re here to make the transition as safe as possible. Make an appointment with Dr. McHale and the WHASN Sunset Valley team today to start your journey to grow your family.
