seventeen things you should do before you try to get pregnant (prt 3)

10. See your dentist

When you're preparing for pregnancy, don't forget about your oral health. Hormonal shifts during pregnancy can make you more susceptible to gum disease. Higher progesterone and estrogen levels can cause the gums to react differently to the bacteria in plaque, resulting in swollen, red, tender gums that bleed when you floss or brush.

The good news is that women who take care of their periodontal healthbefore they get pregnant cut down on their chances of experiencing gum complications in pregnancy. See your dentist for a checkup and cleaning now if you haven't done so in the past six months.

11. Consider money matters

According to a 2009 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, middle-income families will spend $286,050 to raise a child from birth through age 17. Find out how much you're likely to spend with our Cost of Raising a Child Calculator.

For the more immediate future, you'll want to consider the cost of pregnancy and delivery. Without insurance, a typical vaginal delivery can cost about $9,000 and a cesarean section about $15,000. Neonatal intensive care can cost $2,000 to $3,000 a day.

If you have health insurance, give the company a call and find out what kind of prenatal coverage they offer. If you're lucky enough to have a choice of plans, compare coverage and providers. If you have a particular doctor or midwife in mind, find out if she's in your plan or how much it would cost to see her out of network.

Find out what your deductibles are for prenatal visits and delivery, and ask what tests and procedures your insurance covers. (Preconception and prenatal care visits and many prenatal tests should be completely covered thanks to Obama's Affordable Care Act.) If you have a high deductible, try to put a little aside now so you won't be slammed with exorbitant bills when the baby arrives. 

If you don’t have health insurance, contact your local health department to see what programs and resources are available in your area to help pregnant women and babies get the medical care and other services they need. Call 800-311-BABY (800-311-2229) for information on prenatal services in your area. (For information in Spanish, call 800-504-7081.)

12. Consider your mental health

Women who suffer from depression are twice as likely to have problems with fertility as women who don't, says Alice Domar, director of the Domar Center for Mind/Body Health at Boston IVF. As she points out, "If someone is clinically depressed, she can barely take care of herself, much less a baby. From an evolutionary point of view, it makes sense that it's hard to get pregnant when you're depressed."

Domar suggests that all women, but especially those with a personal or family history of depression, do a mental health check before they get pregnant. If you notice signs of depression, such as a loss of interest and pleasure in things that you used to enjoy, a change in appetite or sleep patterns, a loss of energy, or feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness, ask your practitioner for a referral to a therapist or psychiatrist for a consultation.

The two most effective treatments for depression are psychotherapy and medication, and many patients do best with a combination of both. A psychiatrist can help you find an antidepressant that's safe to take while you're trying to conceive and during your pregnancy. You also may want to try stress management techniques, such as yoga and meditation, which research suggests can help depressed women conceive.

13. Avoid infections

It's important to steer clear of infections when you're trying to get pregnant, especially those that could harm your baby-to-be.

You'll want to stay away from certain foods, such as unpasteurized soft cheeses and other dairy products, cold deli meats, and raw and undercooked fish and poultry. These foods can harbor dangerous bacteria that cause listeriosis, a food-borne illness that can lead to miscarriage or stillbirth. You should also avoid unpasteurized juices because they can contain bacteria such as salmonella or E. coli.

Be sure to wash your hands frequently when preparing meals, and make sure your fridge is set between 35 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit (2 and 4 degrees Celsius) and your freezer is at or below 0 degrees F (-18 degrees C) to keep cold foods from going bad.

It's a good idea to wear gloves when digging in the garden or sandbox, and to get someone else to change the litter box to avoid contracting toxoplasmosis, another infection that can be dangerous for a developing baby.

Finally, make sure you get a flu shot, to avoid coming down with the flu when you're pregnant. Get vaccinated as soon as the vaccine for the coming season becomes available. Getting the flu while pregnant can lead to serious complications, such as pneumonia and preterm labour.

14. Reduce environmental risks

You may not be able to entirely eliminate all environmental dangers, but you can do your best to keep as many of them as possible out of your life now. Some jobs can be hazardous to you and your unborn child, for example. If you're routinely exposed to chemicals or radiation, you'll need to make some changes before you conceive.

Also, keep in mind that some cleaning products, pesticides, solvents, and lead in drinking water from old pipes can be dangerous for a developing baby. Talk to your doctor or midwife about your daily routine, and see if you can come up with ways to avoid or eliminate hazards in your home and workplace.

15. Think your decision through

Having a child is a lifetime commitment. Before you try to conceive, consider whether you're ready to take on this responsibility. Some key questions:

·         Have you thought through how you'll handle childcare responsibilities and balancing work and family?

·         Are you prepared to parent a special-needs child if you have one?

·         If you have a partner, are both of you equally committed to becoming parents?

·         If you and your partner have religious differences, have you discussed how they will affect how you raise your child?

16. Figure out when you ovulate

Some women simply stop using birth control when they're ready to get pregnant and let fate decide when they'll conceive. Others take a more calculated approach by charting their periods and tracking symptoms to try to pinpoint their fertile days each month.

Use our Ovulation Calculator to get a rough estimate of when you're most fertile. If you want to be more exact, start charting your basal body temperature (BBT) and the changes in your cervical mucus. Tracking these symptoms over several months can help you figure out when you're ovulating during each cycle.

Ovulation predictor kits can also help you figure out when you're ovulating by detecting hormones in your urine, or changes in chloride in the saliva or on the skin, that signal ovulation is about to occur. These kits cost $10 to $50 per pack and are available at drugstores.

17. Toss your birth control

So you're ready to bid adieu to birth control. For some people, ditching contraception is as easy as moving the condoms or diaphragm to the back of the dresser drawer. But going off hormonal contraception can require a bit more planning.

All you have to do to reverse the effects of the Pill, the patch, or the ring is to stop using them. You don't even have to wait for the end of a monthly cycle to stop. You'll most likely get your period within a few days.

For many women, fertility returns as soon as they stop using these methods, but some may take a month or so to start ovulating again. You'll know ovulation is back to normal when you're getting your period regularly.

Some healthcare practitioners recommend using a barrier method and waiting until you have a couple of normal periods before trying to conceive, because this can help you establish a more accurate due date. But it's completely safe to start trying right away if you want to. And if you do get pregnant before your periods become regular again, don't worry ­– you can have an early sonogram to date your pregnancy.

If you're using Depo-Provera, it can take up to a year after your last shot for you to start ovulating again, even if your period returns to normal sooner. Find out what you need to know about quitting other kinds of birth control, including IUDs.

reference: baby center.