Healthy Pregnancy - Lifestyle By Janet Hart At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Food and exercise are important components of a healthy pregnancy; so is the way you live your life.

Your lifestyle considerations include everything from the medications you take, and the amount of sleep you get, to the level of stress you experience on a daily basis.

Let’s look at some of the factors you need to consider in your lifestyle:

Medication, Drugs and Medical Treatment – If you are taking prescription or over the counter medication, talk to your OB/GYN doctor about these medications and be sure you can continue taking them throughout your pregnancy.

There may be safer options you can consider, or you may have to stop taking medications, natural remedies, vitamins or supplements that are not absolutely necessary to your health during this time.

Even the most common over the counter (OTC) and prescription medications may be dangerous to take during pregnancy because of their effect on your unborn child.

Don’t make assumptions. Talk to your doctor!

If you are seeing a specialist for a medical issue, be sure to let them know you are pregnant so that they can consider that and talk to your OB/GYN doctor if appropriate.

Remember to tell x-ray technicians and dentists that you are pregnant as well.

Ask your doctor to give you a list of ‘safe over the counter medications’ for things like muscle strain and headache, so you will know what to take if you need pain medication, allergy medication, etc.

As to illegal or narcotic drugs, if you are pregnant and you taking these drugs (once or frequently) you are placing your baby at risk for premature birth, birth defect, miscarriage, learning disability and lots of other things.

If you are addicted to a drug your baby can also be born addicted. Talk to your doctor about this and get help immediately.

There is no time to waste!

If you have used drugs at any time during your pregnancy, tell your doctor. Even if you stopped using the drug or didn’t know you were pregnant when you used it, your baby can still be a risk and your doctor may need to monitor your pregnancy more closely.

Smoking – If you smoke and you are pregnant, get help and quit. There is no other way to say it!

Pregnant women who smoke reduce the circulation to their own bodies and to their baby, and they pass nicotine and carbon monoxide through the placenta and into the baby’s body.

The risks of smoking are legendary and they have significant impact on your pregnancy, including:

o Premature birth

o Stillborn fetus

o Low birth weight stillbirth

o Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)

o Asthma and upper respiratory problems

Do what you have to do to quit NOW!

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