Conception Countdown (continued)

THREE MONTHS AHEAD OF TIME

6. Lifestyle makeover. If your idea of vigorous exercise involves wrestling with your partner for the TV remote, there’s no time like the present to start being more physically active. Not only will you strengthen your heart and lungs—two organs that get a considerable workout during pregnancy—you’ll also be better psychologically equipped to weather the emotional highs and lows of pregnancy. And if you’re carrying around a few extra pounds, this is the perfect time to deal with that problem, too, and reduce your risks of experiencing certain types of fertility problems and pregnancy complications. (Studies have shown that women who are significantly over- or underweight face an increased risk of infertility, and, according to obstetrician Edward Hughes, M.D., of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, overweight women face an increased risk of requiring a caesarean delivery or experiencing other pregnancy-related complications).

7. Nutrient check. Your baby needs a whole cocktail of nutrients in order to grow and develop—nutrients that you may have a hard time serving up if you end up battling morning sickness during your first trimester. That’s why it’s important to try to “stockpile” as many as these nutrients as possible prior to pregnancy. At the top of your nutrient wish list should be folic acid—a “miracle nutrient” that has been shown to dramatically reduce the incidence of such neural tube defects as anencephaly and spina bifida if taken in the months leading up to and during the first trimester of pregnancy. How much folic acid you need will depend on your individual and family health history: if you’ve previously given birth to a baby with a neural tube defect or if you have epilepsy, anemia, insulin-dependent diabetes, or certain other health conditions, you will require more than the standard 0.4 mg that is generally recommended.

WHEN YOU’RE READY TO START TRYING TO CONCEIVE

8. Kick any remaining bad habits. You don’t have to be a saint to be a candidate for motherhood, but it doesn’t hurt to have a few saintly habits. Since no safe level of alcohol consumption has been established for pregnancy, most doctors suggest that you abstain entirely rather than flirting with the possibility of giving birth to a baby with serious developmental and behavioural problems and other anomalies. Ditto for street drugs: they’re just plain bad news for babies and mothers-to-be. And as for smoking: well it shouldn’t be news to you that smoking’s a no-no, too. Not only has smoking been linked to premature birth and low-birthweight babies: it can also increase your newborn baby’s susceptibility to SIDS and other health problems. If you’ve got to hold on to one vice, make it that occasional cup of coffee. According to Hughes, it’s okay to indulge in the odd fix of java: just don’t make it an hourly occurrence. If you’re a hard-core caffeine addict, try cutting out one cup a day at a time suggests Toronto mother Janet Bolton, 33, who recently gave birth to her first baby. “It’s less traumatic that way.”

9. Slam the medicine cabinet shut. Don’t pop any medication in your mouth—prescription or over-the-counter—without checking with your doctor to ensure that it’s safe to use once you start trying to conceive. (He may want to fiddle with your prescription meds a little—perhaps changing you to a less harmful drug or taking you off medications altogether for the foreseeable future.) Bear in mind that even “natural” herbal products can pose a significant risk to a developing baby, particularly since many of these products have not been tested on pregnant women and their babies, notes Vancouver family physician Colleen Kirkham.