Hellobee Boards

@Pebbles: Good luck to you! I got some prenatals, charted for about 6 months, tried to eat better, and read a few books.

I read "Taking Charge of your Fertility" and started charting, went to my doc for physical, got bloodwork done and started taking prental vitamins. Good luck!

I saw a high risk gynecologist because I have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and that automatically makes me a high risk pregnancy. It's a genetic disease whereby the collagen is defective so it affects all of your organs and joints to various degrees. I wanted to find someone I could trust because I've seen a lot of doctors in my lifetime, and 95% of them are arrogant, uniformed, and/or jerks. I didn't want that stress during pregnancy. We also discussed vaginal vs. C-section because I've had multiple hip surgeries and my hips are still unstable. We were both worried they would dislocate during childbirth and I would need more hip preservation surgeries (I'm only 30). Also, the risk of prolapse greatly increases with EDS, and you can't really reverse that. The Mesh used to repair it doesn't work with EDS because our connective tissue is defective and not strong enough to hold it.

I started using a pill box so I could take my Levothyroxine normally as I have hypothyroidism and I am bad at taking my medication. Also, I weaned myself down to 200mg of caffeine or less per day. I stopped birth control early Feb., and I'm on my second cycle post-pill. I did ovulate, but my second cycle will be long, about 50 days. I wish I stopped it earlier, but I was recovering from my last hip surgery on 5/7/14 and my hips were very weak and unstable last year.

Yep, I think that about it I've been wanting to have kids since I was 26 but was bedbound 4 out of the past 6 years due to debilitating pain (from multiple joint injuries but mostly hips and spine) and multiple hip surgeries. I feel blessed my health issues have somewhat stabilized for the moment.

My doctor wanted me to get a genetic screen done, but the only diseases my family really has are EDS and autoimmune diseases. My husband is from Japan and has a totally different genetic background. Lucky for me he and his family are healthy I don't know. If it takes a while to get pregnant I might go for it.

I have also increased my intake of fiber because I have irritable bowel syndrome, and can't take Imodium AD or laxatives during pregnancy. Fiber greatly improves my symptoms of constipation and diarrhea. That's also likely due to my EDS. It's the gift that keeps giving XD

I started taking prenatal vitamins months ago. My geneticist told me that there is new evidence showing that taking prenatal vitamins for six months before pregnancy reduces the risks of certain genetic defects. I got one with iron because I don't get enough of that in my diet. I have been diligently taking calcium and vitamin D for months because I have osteopenia (due to past anorexia episodes and long periods of being bedbound). I should look it up, but I think your calcium and vitamin D needs go up during pregnancy.

To be honest, I wish it was much simpler than this, but I can't change who or what I am, so I'm just trying to prepare for pregnancy as best as I can

Eat healthy
Exercise
Gave up alcohol and caffeine (both not necessary, but I'm not big into alcohol anyway)
Took prenatals
Visited high risk OB to ensure med I'm on is safe and brain condition I have would be ok

@yoursilverlining: same here.

Switched to a prenatal. That's it!

I got a pap, learned about charting, talked to my OB about my gyno history and past deliveries, stopped BCP and continued with prenatals.

Three months in advance I stopped birth control, started temping and charting, started taking a prenatal, cut way back on caffeine, and stopped using my prescription acne and anxiety meds (the worst!). I was pretty naive and thought that with all my preparation, I'd get pregnant within a couple months. Unfortunately, I'm still not pregnant with six months TTC under my belt.

I read TCOYF, it answered so many of my questions and made me feel very empowered. Bought the cheapie opks and learned how to use them. Bought cheapie HPTs, too. Got life insurance. Stopped running (after my miscarriage), started using the elliptical and doing yoga much more often. I personally wanted low impact exercise, but I know many women continue running and that's ok too.

I went to my gyn and basically wanted to know if everything was normal, hormonally (it also coincided with my pap). I had been dating my husband for about ten years with zero pregnancy scares so I was worried but it turns out I'm either super great about keeping track of my cycle or super lucky. I was really only on hormonal birth control sporadically, so we tended to mostly use condoms/rhythm.

I slowly weaned myself off of caffeine about six months before we started trying because I was very addicted (drinking about a pot of coffee a day) and prone to migraines. And I tried to exercise more because my BMI about six months before we started trying was 32 (i.e. obese) and I ended up losing about 10lbs by the time I got pregnant. Weight was an important thing to me during the pregnancy because I started off with a BMI that's just barely obese, so I knew I needed to really make sure to make quality food choices.

We also decided to move to a nicer neighborhood so I would feel safe taking walks and exercising (this decision wasn't totally because of the baby, but for me it was a big issue).

@Pebbles: Congratulations and good luck!

Hope it's ok to revive this question after 8 weeks since you aren't starting until September.

So one of the things I did before trying to conceive, besides getting on prenatals, talking to my general practitioner and learning about charting was making sure that my vaccinations were up to date. Apparently the MMR vaccine can wear off and a blood test determined that I was no longer immune.

I definitely don't think this is a requirement for everyone by any means. It's just that the MMR vaccine is not one you can take once you are pregnant because it's a live virus (unlike the flu shot). I heard my friend who had her baby had done this so I asked about it for myself.