12 Ways to Prepare Yourself for Pregnancy & Why You Should Consider Genetic Screening

Today I am officially 32-weeks pregnant! It is weird to me to say that I am eight months pregnant. I haven’t had the easiest pregnancy, but at the same time, it does seem like the time is just flying by.

I will be 37-years-old when I give birth. This is my first pregnancy and although I waited to have kids until I was older, I actually put in a lot of pre-pregnancy work to make sure that I had as much of a healthy pregnancy and baby as I could. I did a lot of things to prepare for this pregnancy and I think it is important for all to-be mothers of all ages to check out. And especially important for us mothers that get pregnant after 35-years-old.

Here are things you can do to prepare yourself and your body for pregnancy:

1. Schedule a preconception visit. Your practitioner will likely discuss diet (avoid these 4 diet mistakes), weight, exercise, and any unhealthy habits you may have (such as smoking, drinking, and taking drugs); recommend a multivitamin and discuss any medical conditions you need to get controlled before you get pregnant.
2. Take folic acid/pre-natal vitamin (watch out for too much vitamin A.)
3. Give up any drinking, smoking, and drugs.
4. Stock your fridge with healthy foods.
5. Give those cups of joe the heave-ho, or lower your caffeine consumption.
6. Get your weight in check.
7. Create and follow an exercise program.
8. See your dentist. Check out a post I wrote on flossing and how it can affect your fertility.
9. Consider genetic carrier screening. (This can also be done after you are pregnant like I did.)
10. Consider your money matters.
11. Figure out when you ovulate.
12. Toss your birth control.

I had the Horizon Natera carrier screen blood test completed when I was 9-weeks pregnant. It was important to me to make sure everything was healthy with my baby genetically. I also found out the sex of our baby this early too through their DNA testing. You can see my gender reveal post here.

I received some important news from my genetic testing. I was told that I was a carrier for Cystic Fibrosis. Obviously this was very concerning to me. However, both myself and my husband had to be carriers of this for my child to have a 25% chance of having Cystic Fibrosis. My husband got tested, and we found out that he was not a carrier which meant that my baby would not have Cystic Fibrosis, but could also possibly be a carrier for the disease.

For me, I wanted to get tested for any genetic diseases so I would be prepared no matter what the results were. I didn’t want to find out the day I delivered my daughter if there was anything wrong. I am also a huge planner, so if there was something found, I would have wanted to feel prepared with my research for the best doctors and any planning ahead I would need to know about, rather than dealing with all that stress while caring for my newborn baby.

Everything else in my genetic testing came back normal, and that really did relieve any stress I may have had, especially considering my age.

It’s actually pretty common for people to be carriers of 4-5 genetic conditions and not even know it. They may not realize they are a carrier until they have an affected child. Some of these conditions aren’t detectable at birth and are not discovered until the child is older.

I chose Horizon Natera genetic carrier screen because they screen up to 274 autosomal recessive and X-linked genetic conditions.

Tests such as Horizon allows parents to know about any child they may have with a genetic disease earlier. This allows for diagnosis in the newborn period, prenatally and even pre-conception. Early carrier detection helps couples make informed reproductive decisions and ensure that babies affected by these diseases get the best care possible including early therapy and intervention.

Check out the info graphic below with more info on genetic testing and what can be in your family tree.