Planning for Pregnancy
Ready to plan for a pregnancy? Many things need to happen to prepare for this journey. The first and most important step should be getting off of your current birth control regime and evaluating your current state of health.
Birth control is an artificial hormone remedy to help prevent pregnancy. Therefore, it shuts off your body’s innate ability to regulate and control your cycle on its own. For some, this could be a 10-15 year hibernation of the body’s reproductive hormone activity. There is a period of adapting the body will have to go through once you stop taking birth control, in whatever form that may be. For some, a cycle can regulate and have no issues within a matter of three months, but for others it can take up to a year for the body to get into balance. Please consult your healthcare provider in regards to coming off your form of birth control.
Getting off birth control and having your cycle balance is only the beginning. You have to address the other forms of health when it comes to your body’s ability to conceive. In order to get your body back in balance as quickly as possible, get adjusted and see your chiropractor. Your chiropractor can make sure that your body is aligned and functioning properly in order for you and your partner to conceive naturally. After all, chiropractic care directly affects the nervous system, which controls all the functions in your body including your reproductive system and your ability to conceive.
In addition to getting routinely adjusted by your chiropractor, it is smart to get baseline blood work done. Not only for the hormone levels, but blood sugar and cholesterol as well. Elevated blood sugar, which can lead to type two diabetes is the leading cause of ovulation dysfunction in women, and seamen dysfunction in men. Elevated blood sugar will alter the head of sperm, deforming them and making it very difficult to fertilize a healthy egg. In women, elevated blood sugar can alter ovulation, making the cycle irregular which makes tracking ovulation very difficult. To see how your body is functioning metabolically, the bloodwork will give great insight to your current level of health from the inside out. From that bloodwork your chiropractor or healthcare provider can recommend lifestyle changes, nutritional/dietary changes and supplement recommendations to get your metabolic health back on track to make conception a breeze.
Lastly we all know exercise is very important for overall health. Not to mention it is very safe and effective while pregnant. But to wait until you are pregnant to get into shape is a big “no no.” If you want to get into an exercise routine, preconception is the time. Exercise will not only improve your metabolic health, but help mentally as well.
Having a baby is a lot of stress and hard work, but it is so rewarding. Make conception and pregnancy the easiest it can be and enjoy it!