A time comes in everyone’s life when they want to build their family more than anything. Unfortunately, no one gets the blueprint or plan book for that purpose. You have to figure things out on the way through guessing. You may find lots of conventional advice through online forums or relatives, but they cause more confusion than any good. The perfect way to flip the order of things and to prepare yourself beforehand is preconception counselling.
It includes having hard conversations before planning anything rather than improvising along the way. You can think of it as a site visit before starting the construction. Like any construction project, it’s important to get the report on soil conditions and foundation checks to plan accordingly. Preconception counselling does not work as magic or guarantee a smooth and perfect pregnancy or delivery, but it can stack the odds practically in your favor. We have listed all the benefits of preconception counselling below for your better understanding.
1. Preconception counselling prepares your body before you prepare the nursery
As soon as you plan to conceive, the first thing you do is start imagining and planning about the nursery, the stuff you need to buy for the child, and thinking about baby names. Most people forget about the long and tiresome journey till that point. Preconception counselling gives you a reality check and directs some of that planning energy towards taking care of the couple’s health months before you conceive.
Your healthcare provider will take notes on your weight, blood pressure, and blood nutrient levels to recommend vitamins accordingly. It’s important to know that the neural tube develops even before confirmation of pregnancy. It is practical to give your body a head start as soon as you start trying to conceive.
2. Preconception Counselling Detects Chronic Conditions Before Complications
Some chronic conditions can complicate pregnancy if not managed properly. For example, diabetes, high blood pressure, and thyroid disorders. Preconception counselling gives you and your provider a chance to check and stabilize any disorder before conception. It is easier to deal with these issues before conception rather than tackling them all during pregnancy.
Many women reported that a single decision of preconception counselling helped them much better than anything else for a healthy pregnancy. They find it easier to detect and deal with a condition without being under pressure.
3. It Reviews Genetic History
Many people never had the time or consequences to study their genetic conditions or underlying problems. Preconception counselling includes detailed questioning and mapping out your family history. It helps in ruling out conditions like cystic fibrosis. It is always better to be prepared and well informed instead of panicking at the last minute. Think of this step as a reassurance regarding all risks during pregnancy.
4. Preconception Counselling Sorts Your Diet Plan
Pregnancy prohibits many regular medications, skincare and supplements. It’s better to stop using them as soon as you plan to conceive rather than panicking after pregnancy confirmation. Your provider will help you sort out your current medications and adjust them all to pregnancy-safe alternatives during the preconception counselling visit. It is the same visit when your vaccinations will be reviewed and updated accordingly. Some vaccines are unsafe during pregnancy, like MMR.
5. It Reviews Your Lifestyle Habits
Some of your normal activities need toning down or complete cutting off during pregnancy. It’s better to remove them from your daily life gradually rather than changing everything at once under pressure during pregnancy. For example, smoking, caffeine intake, heavy lifting, and alcohol consumption. It is also important to add some healthy habits to your daily life, like walking, as it helps with exhaustion during pregnancy. Eat healthy, mostly magnesium and iron-rich foods to tackle pregnancy nausea. It is smart to make small sustainable changes to your routine earlier rather than making last-minute hauls out of guilt and fear.
6. It Discusses About Mental Health Too
Pregnancy, birth, and postpartum can put a person’s mental health under great pressure. It is wise to highlight and deal with any existing mental healthcare issues before entering the turmoil of pregnancy. During preconception counselling, your doctor will review your history of anxiety and depression cases along with previous postpartum struggles, if any. The session gives you a chance to talk about all your fears and expectations regarding pregnancy. The provider will walk you through the actual struggles of pregnancy. They will help you prepare for the adventure mentally while also giving you suggestions and tricks to cope with it.
Walking into pregnancy with a plan feels easier than dealing and building your support simultaneously during the sleep-deprived season of pregnancy.
7. Preconception Counselling Helps You To Understand Your Fertility Cycle
Most people try to conceive relying on information about their menstrual cycle and fertility window based on the health class they took years ago. Preconception counselling helps you have a clear and accurate picture of ovulation window based on your cycle length and regularity. This helps you have a realistic overview of how long it can take to conceive, considering your age and health. If needed, your provider will also suggest fertility tests to be sure about the time required to conceive. The whole procedure gives you a chance to plan your family at the most appropriate time before it’s too late.
8. Preconception Counselling Deals Your Family Planning as a Combined Project
Going for a preconception counseling visit is a conscious choice that takes the load of family planning off your shoulder and treats it as a combined project. During the conversation, you will find yourself asking many concerning questions that would otherwise have gone unasked for a long time. The visit will help you understand your partner much more through shared family history and previous medical information. It also helps in building partnerships and a sense of being in all of this together rather than one partner informing the other after the appointment.
What to Expect from the Visit
If you are imagining your preconception counselling visit to be similar to your visit to a doctor, then it’s not. These professionals work towards building comfort and ease for you, as they consider it to be an emotional and intimate moment of your life. These visits are limited to one or in some cases two sittings. Most of the conversation revolves around both of your medical histories and physical examinations. If needed, some tests will be done, but the fair amount of time will be of talking about your timeline and plans.
Providers keep in mind to not overwhelm you with a long list of changes and just suggest you add little healthy habits. They will tell you to start your prenatal vitamins, get a dental appointment, and get done with any specific vaccine before conception. Only in case of any chronic disease will you need to visit them again for monitoring. The whole concept is to give you a starting guideline and not make you feel paralyzed by overwhelming information.
9. Preconception Counselling Gives You a Realistic Timeline
Conception seems easy to most couples as they expect it to happen on the first try. However, panic settles in when it does not happen. Preconception counselling saves you from this panic and stress. It calculates and gives you a realistic timeline based on your age, health, and medical history. The provider will also guide you on when to come back and give you medical options for treatments if needed.
The Blueprint Is Yours to Use
Preconception counselling is just another regular visit to your OB-GYN. You do not require any pre-existing condition or referral to initiate the conversation regarding preconception. Most healthcare providers welcome these questions rather than treating them as unusual. Just bring the list of your regular medications and ask if they are pregnancy-safe. Tell about your conception plans at your next regular OB-GYN visit, and they will guide you through every step. Share your family history and ask away questions that you have been holding back.
Preconception counselling may not give you any guarantee of a smooth and perfect pregnancy. However, it will make you prepared for the complications, and you will take informed decisions during your pregnancy. From conception till delivery, the journey itself is full of surprises, and preconception counselling works as a foundation that absorbs and prepares you for every uncertainty.
