If you’re planning on having a child in the North Texas area, contact Associated Women’s Healthcare today by calling 972.612.8829. Our board-certified OBGYNs will perform a number of safe and accurate tests to help your pregnancy go as smoothly as possible.
Preconception Counseling Visit
First and foremost, a family planning visit with your obstetrician is the perfect time to cover any questions or concerns you have about a potential pregnancy. We will review you and your partner’s history and discuss topics such as:
- Fertility: If you are aware of any conditions that may impact your ability to have children, now is an ideal time to review the extent of that possible impact.
- Menstrual cycles: Your obstetrician will want to know more about the date of your last period and the average length of your cycles. This information helps your obstetrician to determine the best time of each month for you to try and conceive, and may also alert them to any abnormalities within your cycle that could pose a problem.
- Medical history: Any current health problems that require ongoing treatment or management and how that will impact a pregnancy
Family medical history: Even if you have never been diagnosed yourself, any conditions that run in your family such as diabetes, high blood pressure, or fertility struggles can play a role in your chances of developing them as well. - Current medications: It is important to understand any side effects from your medications, supplements, or even over-the-counter products that could factor into a future pregnancy.
- Lifestyle: Many couples should consider how their habits or environments can influence their health. For example, being a smoker or drinking excessive amounts of alcohol is not ideal for either partner as they prepare to bring a baby into the world.
- Diet and exercise routine: Managing a healthy weight is one of the best ways to prepare for having a child. A mother’s weight can influence both her and her baby’s risk of complications during pregnancy
- Prenatal vitamins: Regularly taking prenatal vitamins as prescribed by your obstetrician before pregnancy will significantly reduce your child’s risk of experiencing various birth defects.
- Birth control: We will discuss the optimal timing to stop your current birth control and timing and impact on fertility
Physical Exams and Screenings
Along with reviewing your lifestyle and medical history, your board-certified OBGYN will also often perform a variety of examinations and tests for patients that are planning to become pregnant. These typically include:
- A Pap test
- Screenings for any physical conditions that may affect your fertility
- Bloodwork including genetic screening
- Blood pressure reading
- Any needed vaccinations
- A mental health screening
Schedule Your Visit Today
Family planning services from Associated Women’s Healthcare are intended to help patients achieve an optimal level of health before becoming pregnant. Taking these proactive steps helps to ensure that both the mother and her baby will have the greatest chance possible to engage in a completely healthy pregnancy, which is always the goal of each obstetrician at Associated Women’s Healthcare.
If you are considering becoming pregnant at any point in the future, now is an excellent time to perform a checkup on your reproductive health. There is also no better time to begin seeing an obstetrician in Plano, TX since you will be working closely with this provider during your pregnancy. Starting that relationship before the conception of a child helps to build an even stronger bond between patients and their physician.
Please call 972-612-8829 to request a consultation with one of the skilled obstetricians on our team.