Parenthood is the biggest gift one can hope for. For most women getting pregnant is the ultimate dream of their married life. So here are a few health tips to make journey of parenhood safer and shorter. Ideally, a child be born only when you want her/him and not merely out of accident or inadvertence!

"It is the greatest prayer between man and wife, that is going to bring into the world another soul fraught with tremendous power for the good of society.” Swnmi Vivekanaiida

The most important thing a couple can do for the health of their future child can do for the health of their future child is to plan well ahead. This will help you to get your body in the best condition possible. Only a healthy mother can provide the best and safest environment for her baby to grow in her uterus. Therefore, as soon as you start thinking about trying for a pregnancy, see your doctor / gynaecologist for "pre-pregnancy counseling”. During this counseling, your doctor should be able to advise and guide you regarding the following important issues:

• These have a huge impact on fertility, pregnancy and the final outcome. A balanced diet helps to regulate hormones and nourish the reproductive system. Being your ideal body weight for your height and age.
• Stay physically active and continue moderate regular exercises while you are trying for pregnancy. However, vigorous, intense schedule of exercises when combined with being lean, can disrupt your hormone productions, hence refrain such routines.
• Avoid foods that are rich in heavily processed carbohydrates and trans-fats (french fries, potato chips, foods made with refined flour, soft drinks etc).
• Ensure adequate intake of folate and Iron such as lentils, chickpeas, spinach, broccoli, asparagus, oranges, beets, lettuce etc.
• A daily Intake of Folic Acid 400 meg tablet ia advised whenever you plan to start trying and continue this during the first 3 months of your pregnancy. Folic odd is essential to the process of building and replicating DNA during conception and early pregnancy and its deficiency may lead to increased chances of miscarriage and congenital malformations in the baby.
• Quit smoking, tobacco consumption, alcohol and drugs you may be addicted to. Discuss with your doctor the possible harmful effect these and how to quit them.Eliminate / minimize caffeine intake.
• Avoid chronic physical and / or emotional stress and try to feel emotionally balanced.

• Even if you think you are healthy, you need pre-pregnancy screening to rule out any sub-clinical illness and check your general health. A detailed medical and family history may point towards extra care to be taken to safeguard the pregnancy. A thalassaemia / sickle cell screening test may be advisable to exclude the carrier status, before you plan for a baby.

• Rubella (german measles), chicken pox, hepatitis A and B are some of the diseases which are known to cause serious harm to the foetus. These unnecessary risks could be avoided if the woman is already vaccinated before starting her pregnancy. Pre-pregnancy counseling is the golden opportunity to discuss and avail these protections.
• If your are on any medications for any chronic disorders, these may need a change to safeguard the foetus.
• Any previous or family history of inherited disease should be reviewed and preventive plans can be laid down with the help of genetic expert.

Although most women can easily conceive, it would be helpful to know that the average monthly couples of proven fertility are only 20-25%. The peak rate is 33% in the first month of trying and it then falls quickly in the next three months, settling to about 5% each month. It is essential to appreciate this chance nature of fertility and not raise your anxiety and stress level prematurely, which may only have a negative impact on fertility. If there are no obvious medical problems such as irregular, long cycles etc (and these counseling session), then just by waiting for a period of one year will yield natural conception in 80% of the couples. In a normal healthy couple, hence, it is not usually advisable to jump to fertility naturally for one year. Otherwise, the risk of multiple pregnancy and other side effects could be quite high in these fertile couples.

Parenting and Family planning - Planning Baby - As couple, your comfort regarding conceiving and pregnancy completely depends upon the awareness you have.

More information you have, better you are equipped to handle situations. For conceiving, you need to be mentally and physically prepared and we let you know about various aspects you need to take care before going for it.

Pregnancy Planning, You need to know how various factors including biology (of your body), Parenting and Family planning, timing, season can make difference to your conceiving. Great amount of precaution is required to avoid any kind of risk involved in pregnancy.

Some experts believe three months to be a perfectly adequate length of time to prepare for a pregnancy, others advise waiting six months or a year especially if you are recovering from any serious illness and have been prescribed drugs to treat it. Three months would be ideal normally as it takes at least eight weeks for eggs and sperm to develop to the stage of being ready to be released. Both partners should take care to be healthy to ensure that both the eggs and sperm developed are healthy. Keep fit, eat wisely, avoid things that could be harmful, and visit your doctor during this period. This way you can prepare for a normal pregnancy and a healthy baby.

Timing your pregnancy

The best time for a woman to have a baby is in her twenties. At this age her body is fully grown, there is no risk of damage to growing bones and she is supple and flexible with plenty of energy. As she grows older, particularly once she is past her early thirties, the more likely she is to experience complications. The older the mother the greater the risk of having a baby with abnormalities such as the down's syndrome which is related to increasing age.

Getting tested for infections and deficiencies:

Infections can harm both the mother and the fetus. Some infections during pregnancy can cause severe birth defects or illnesses in the fetus.

Rubella or German measles is one such infection which can have disastrous effects on the development of the babies vital organs if contracted during the first four months of pregnancy. A blood test can be done to check whether you are immune to the disease.

If you are not, a vaccination can be taken for immunisation. But care should be taken not to get pregnant for the following three months after immunisation.

It comes as a surprise to most women, when they are informed that out of the whole month, there is only a "24 hour period' which is their fertile period. This is so because the life of the ova (egg / oocyte) after it is released from the ovnry (ovulation) is only 24 hours, during which it can be fertilised by the sperm.

This 24 hour period of ferltllly may vary by 3-4 days either wny, from cycle to cycle. Keeping this Inter-cycle variability in mind, usually 6-8 days' period in each cycle is described as fertile period. In contrast to the egg's short life of 24 hours, most of the sperm survive lift to 48-72 hours inside the woman's body and many would be still alive even 6 days after intercourse.

Ovulation usually takes place 14 days (+/- 3-4 days) before your next expected date of start of menstruation.

So if your menstrual cycle is of 28 days (interval between first day of one menstruation and the first day of next menstruation) then you are most likely to ovulate on day 14 of the cycle.

Hence, you can concentrate on trying fur a baby between day 10 and day of your cycle to cover the fertile 24 hours of your cycle.

Methods to track ovulation

If you are still unable to achieve your goal despite trying for over a minimum period of 3-6 cycles, you may wish to track the exact day of your ovulation to enhance your chances of conception.

• Changes in the quality of your cervical mucus may indicate the timing of ovulation. It increases in quantity and becomes more slippery and stretchy (like egg-white), usually 2-3 days before ovulation.
• The basal-body temperature chart which was very popular, is not considered very practical now-a-days. Also, the temperature chart tells you about the ovulation, only after it has already happened. Hence this method is not often used these days.
• There are several ovulation predictor kits available in the market these days, whioch work on the principle of detecting LH surge (luteinizing hormone) which occurs 12-48 hours prior to the ovulation. These are readily available in the market, with full instructions.
• However, for most healthy couples, these kits are not necessary.

If even after one year of trying, you don not get the desired result, don’t lose heart. See an infertility specialist. With the help of modern technology and expertise most if not all couples are able to fulfill their dream of parenthood.

Pregnancies in which there is risk to the mother, foetus or the newborn baby, before, during or after delivery, are called high risk pregnancies.

It's a pregnancy that develops outside the womb, usually in one of the fallopian tubes. That is why it is also known as a tubal pregnancy. It happens in about two of every 100 pregnancies in India.

All pregnancies at a risk of being high-risk, are monitored from inception. The risk factors could range from maternal weight problem to diseases contracted during pregnancy.

What are the various abnormalities that increase the risks during pregnancy?

• Spontaneous abortion
• Ectopic pregnancy
• Pre-eclampsia and ec lampsia
• Placenta praevia
• Erythroblastosis foetalis
• Hyperemesis gravidarum
• Multiple pregnancies

Spontaneous abortion (Miscarriage):

When the termination of pregnancy occurs before the 28th week is called abortion. When abortion is natural and not induced, it is called spontaneous miscarriage.

If the pregnancy terminates between the 28th and 40th week, it is not called an abortion, but premature labor. The incidence of abortion is far higher than what is generally believed and may be as high as 30%.

• Abnormalities in the fetus
• Intra uterine death due to infections contracted by the mother (eg. Smallpox, typhoid, dysentery etc.) and effects of X-rays or drugs
• Abnormalities of the placenta
• Abnormalities of the maternal genital organs.

Placenta praevia

Placenta praevia - A complicated medical condition where the placenta covers the opening of the cervix into the vagina. In most cases, an early ultrasound may detect a low lying placenta, but the situation usually resolves itself as the uterus grows larger.

Abruptio placentae:

Erythroblastosis fetalis:

This is a condition caused by incompatibility of certain blood components of the mother and the baby. Also called Rh incompatibility, there is destruction of the fetal blood cells due to the antibodies transmitted from the maternal blood. The first child is usually normal and healthy. The effects are usually seen in subsequent children, when the antibodies are already present in the mother's body. The scenario occurs when a woman with Rh negative blood group is impregnated by a man with Rh positive blood group and the foetus happens to be Rh +ve. The foetal blood causes antibodies to be generated in the mother's body, which may be transferred to the subsequent babies.