The Importance of a Preconception Checkup (Pre-pregnancy Checkup) By Michele Meyer for Your Baby Today
Why should you head to your obstetrician's office as soon as you plan to become
pregnant? "Most women don't even realize they're pregnant until after the first
crucial weeks have passed, when the baby's organs have started to form," says Nancy
Eriksen, M.D., associate professor of maternal fetal medicine at the University of Texas,
in Houston. "A preconception checkup is absolutely vital for a person with a personal
history of birth defects or an underlying medical condition."
Your OB/GYN can:
Discuss what precautions you should take if you have high blood pressure or diabetes,
the latter of which can put your baby at up to triple the risk of birth defects. Other
conditions you'll need to monitor include heart disease, asthma, lupus, and epilepsy.
Let you know if any prescription drugs you're taking may harm your baby, such as
antibiotics (tetracycline), blood thinners, antiseizure drugs (Dilantin), acne-preventives
(Accutane), and blood-pressure reducers (ACE inhibitors). Other drugs that may hurt the
baby include aspirin, antihistamines, and diet drugs.
Determine if your child is at risk for seizures, mental disabilities, or birth defects
such as cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, hemophilia, sickle cell anemia, or Tay-Sachs
disease.
Give you a prescription for prenatal vitamins that contain 400 micrograms of folic acid,
a supplement essential to helping prevent the birth defect spina bifida. If taken within
four weeks of conception, the vitamin thwarts this defect, occurring in one of 1,000
births, in which the spinal column does not properly close.
Provide you, if needed, with a measles, mumps, tetanus, polio, rubella, or hepatitis B
vaccine at least three months before you get pregnant, to protect the baby.
Give you guidelines on how to reduce your weight if you're more than 20 pounds
overweight, which may put you and the baby at greater risk.
Offer nutrition and exercise guidelines.
The content on these pages is provided as general information only and
should not be substituted for the advice of your physician.
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