Fifteen years ago, women didn’t show up on their doctors’ doorsteps until they had missed their second period and were 99 percent sure they were pregnant. Today, most doctors recommend that their patients come in for a checkup before they start trying to conceive.
The reason for the change in thinking is obvious. Recent studies about the benefits of preconception health have served to hammer home an important message: It’s not enough to quit smoking, improve your eating habits, and start popping prenatal vitamins the moment the pregnancy test comes back positive. To give your baby the best possible start in life, you need to ensure that you are in the best possible health before you start trying to conceive.
Here’s why.
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Wondering if you and your partner might be good candidates for genetic counseling? If you answer yes to one or more of the following questions, it’s an option you might wish to consider.
Do you have a genetic disorder?
Does your partner have a genetic disorder?
Are you and your partner close relatives (for example, first cousins)?
Do you, your child, or a close family member have a birth defect?
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¦ Tay-Sachs — a disease that causes fatal brain damage — is more common in people of Central and Eastern European Ashkenazi Jewish descent and in certain French-Canadian subpopulations. It occurs in about 1 in 3,600 infants born to members of these ethnic groups.
¦ Sickle-cell anemia — a blood disorder — is more common in African Americans and individuals of Mediterranean, Arab, and Asian Indian origin. Approximately 1 in 484 infants of African-American descent are born with the disorder.
¦ Thalassemia — a blood disorder — is more common in people of Mediterranean and Indian origin. Approximately 1 in 1,600 children born to these ethnic groups is affected by the disease.
If you belong to one of these ethnic groups, you may wish to consult with a genetic counselor to assess your risk of giving birth to a child with one of these diseases.
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If any of the following — high blood pressure, diabetes, hemophilia, birth defects, mental retardation, cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs disease, sickle-cell anemia, or thalassemia — run in your family, you could be at an increased risk. For high blood pressure or diabetes, you are at risk of developing pregnancy induced hypertension or gestational diabetes during your pregnancy — conditions that, if left unmanaged, could affect your baby’s well-being as well as your own health.
Genetic disorders such as hemophilia, birth defects, some forms of mental retardation, cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs disease, sickle-cell anemia, and thalassemia can be passed from one generation to the next. If these types of medical problems run in your family (see Table ), you might want to meet with a genetic counselor to discuss your odds of having a child with one of these problems.
Note: It is possible to have a genetic disorder or to carry a gene for a particular disorder without even knowing it. That’s why genetic counseling plays an important role in preconception health planning.
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Endometriosis is the name given to a medical condition in which tissue similar to the tissue that lines the inside of the uterus grows outside the uterus, typically on the surfaces of organs in the pelvic and abdominal regions. Endometriosis is one of the top three causes of female infertility. Approximately 30 percent to 40 percent of women with the condition experience fertility problems.
Researchers are unsure why endometriosis affects fertility, but they think that the condition may interfere with the uterus’s ability to accept an embryo, change the egg in some way, or prevent the fertilized egg from making its way to the uterus in its normal fashion.
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