Are You Ready For A Baby?

1. Are You ReadyFor A Baby?

2. Things You Can Do • Plan your pregnancy • Talk to your partner • Get into healthy habits • Get a checkup before you get pregnant

3. Things You Can Do Do you dream of having a happy, healthy child some day? There’s a lot to do before you get pregnant to help make that dream come true. These are four things you can do before you get pregnant.

4. Prepare before you become sexually active, or at least 3 months before conception. • Even sooner, you should get into healthy habits. • Plan your family – birth control and baby spacing. • Consider other concerns such as domestic violence, mental health, and previous pregnancy problems. • Schedule a pre-pregnancy visit with your health care provider to help you find and treat existing problems.

5. Every man and woman should prepare for pregnancy before becoming sexually active, or at least three months before conception. Women should begin some of the recommendations even sooner – such as quitting smoking, reaching healthy weight, and adjusting medications. Planning for pregnancy is also a good time to talk about other concerns. Issues such as intimate partner domestic violence, mental health, and previous pregnancy problems need to be discussed. Although men and women can do much on their own, a health care provider is necessary for finding and treating existing health problems. The can also help a woman improve her health before pregnancy.

6. Talk to Your Partner • Are we ready to be parents? • How will having a baby change our lives, our jobs, our relationship? • How will we pay for prenatal care and delivery? • Who will take care of the baby? • Do we have enough money to pay for child care, diapers, clothes, and other baby things? • What help will we need and who can give us that help?

7. Talk to Your Partner The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone should have a reproductive life plan. A reproductive life plan is a set of personal goals about having (or not having) children. It also states how to achieve these goals. Everyone needs to make a reproductive plan based on their personal values and resources. There are many kinds of reproductive life plans. What’s important is that you think about when and under what conditions you want to become pregnant. Then make sure your actions support these goals. Your health care provider can help you understand the clinical and lifestyle options that are best for you. Talk to your partner to find out if you are both ready to have a baby. Ask yourselves these questions. Your answers to these questions can help you decide if you’re ready to have a baby.

8. Plan Your Family Use Birth Control Until You Are Sure You’re Ready!

9. Plan Your Family Almost half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unplanned. Having a baby is an important decision. Don’t leave it to chance. Waiting at least two years before getting pregnant again is healthier for you and your baby. • New moms need time to recover. • New babies need time to grow. You want the most for your baby. That’s why waiting at least two years before you get pregnant again is a smart thing to do. It’s better for you, your baby, and the whole family. What do you need to know about birth control? The facts are simple…. • Having sex makes babies. A woman who has sex without using birth control has a 90% chance of getting pregnant within a year. • There’s no safe time to have sex without birth control. There are only certain days of the month when a woman can get pregnant. But you can’t know for sure which days those are. • You can get pregnant every time you have sex – including the first time. You can get pregnant even if you only have sex a few times, or only once. • The only way to prevent pregnancy is to use birth control - correctly every time you have sex. • There is no single method of birth control that’s right for everyone. The right one for you is one you feel comfortable with, and one you will use all the time. Family planning is the way to go. With careful use of birth control (family planning) you can keep from getting Pregnant until you are ready to be a mom – or for another baby.

10. Get Into Healthy Habits • Eat a healthy diet. • Take folic acid. • Exercise. • Don’t drink alcohol, smoke, or use street drugs. • Protect yourself from AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. • Stay away from chemicals and other toxic materials.

11. Get Into Healthy Habits Being healthy can help you keep your baby from being born too small or too soon, or with birth defects. Also you can be pregnant for a few weeks and not even know it. That’s why it is important to get healthy habits now. Here are some tips:

12. Get Into Healthy Habits • Eat a healthy diet. • Take folic acid. • Exercise • Don’t drink alcohol, smoke, or use street drugs. • Protect yourself from AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. • Stay away from chemicals and other toxic materials.

13. Eat a Healthy Diet Eat healthy foods like whole-grain breads, cereal, rice and pasta; cheese and yogurt; low-fat meat and chicken; and lots of fruits and vegetable. Drink lots of fluids, such as low-fat milk, water and juice, every day. Cook meat, chicken and seafood well.

14. Get Into Healthy Habits • Eat a healthy diet. • Take folic acid. • Exercise • Don’t drink alcohol, smoke, or use street drugs. • Protect yourself from AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. • Stay away from chemicals and other toxic materials.

15. Take Folic Acid Take a vitamin pill that has folic acid in it every day. Folic acid is a special vitamin that can help you and help your baby. Folic acid, when taken before and during the first few weeks of pregnancy, may help prevent some types of birth defects. It may also lower the risk of women to develop certain types of cancers such as breast, cervical and colon cancers. Additionally, folic acid may also help prevent heart disease and stroke. Folic acid can help prevent birth defects of the brain and spinal cord. These defects can cause serious health problems and can even cause the baby’s death. Eat foods that have folic acid in them such as: • Orange juice, peanuts, green vegetables, beans, peas. • Breakfast cereals that say “fortified” on the box. • Rice and whole-whet bread that say “enriched” on the label. It’s important to have enough folic acid in your body before you get pregnant and in the first few months that you are pregnant. So start taking it today – and take it every day. Since about half of all pregnancies are not planned, you should get enough folic acid every day if there’s any chance you could get pregnant. By the time you know you’re pregnant, your baby’s brain and spine are already formed. It’s never too soon to begin protecting your own health. And waiting until you find out you’re pregnant could be too late for the health of your baby!!!

16. Get Into Healthy Habits • Eat a healthy diet. • Take folic acid. • Exercise • Don’t drink alcohol, smoke, or use street drugs. • Protect yourself from AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. • Stay away from chemicals and other toxic materials.

17. Exercise Exercise often. Women need at least 30 minutes of physical activity each day. Good physical activities include walking, dancing, house/yard work, biking, and swimming. Being physically active will help to maintain a healthy weight. Being either overweight or underweight can cause health problems. Before beginning a physical activity program, especially if you have any health concerns, check with your doctor or nurse about how much and which kinds of exercise are best for you. Physical activity can help you look and feel better, help you lose weight, and reduce your stress. Regular exercise and eating a healthy diet may also help to prevent some illnesses and infections.

18. Get Into Healthy Habits • Eat a healthy diet. • Take folic acid. • Exercise • Don’t drink alcohol, smoke, or use street drugs. • Protect yourself from AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. • Stay away from chemicals and other toxic materials.

19. Don’t drink alcohol, smoke, or use street drugs Don’t drink alcohol, smoke or use street drugs. These can hurt a baby growing inside of you. Smoking and alcohol use increase a woman’s risk for developing health problems. • Women who smoke may also have more problems getting pregnant than nonsmokers. • Smoking while pregnant can cause a baby to be born too soon or too small. • Alcohol use during pregnancy may cause birth defects or developmental delays in your baby. • If all pregnant women in the U.S. stopped smoking, there would be an estimated 11% reduction in the number of stillbirths. • Smoking around an infant can increase the chance of SIDS (crib death). Stopping bad health habits can be very hard to do. But you will never have a better reason to quit! So try to stop. Get help. And keep trying.

20. Get Into Healthy Habits • Eat a healthy diet. • Take folic acid. • Exercise • Don’t drink alcohol, smoke, or use street drugs. • Protect yourself from AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. • Stay away from chemicals and other toxic materials.

21. Protect yourself from AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections Protect yourself from AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. Only have sex with one person who doesn’t have any other sex partners or use a condom when having sex. • STIs can not only make you sick – they can also be dangerous to your baby. • STIs might cause a miscarriage and could cause your baby to come too early – or can cause your baby to die. Even if you are pregnant, you should still use a condom and practice safe sex because you can still get a sexually transmitted infection.

22. Get Into Healthy Habits • Eat a healthy diet. • Take folic acid. • Exercise • Don’t drink alcohol, smoke, or use street drugs. • Protect yourself from AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. • Stay away from chemicals and other toxic materials.

23. Stay away from chemicals and other toxic materials Many women don’t realize the health risks around them at home, outside and at work. • Bacterial that can cause serious illness can be found in litter boxes and in soil. • Other risks include lead (found in paint, soil, and some dishes and pottery), mercury (found in some types of fish), carbon monoxide (from some heaters, car exhaust and cigarette smoke), and chemicals (from pesticides, bug sprays and fertilizers). All of these can cause health problems in women and problems in pregnancy. So, stay away from chemicals that can hurt your or your unborn baby. Examples of chemicals at home include paint, paint thinner, insect and week killers, and cat litter. Examples of chemicals at work include lead that is used to make paint; cable or plastics; liquids with strong smells; radiation from X-rays if you work in medicine, dentistry, mining, electronics or in a power plant.

24. Get a Checkup Before You Get Pregnant • Make sure you have all your shots. • Tell your provider about any health problems in your family. • Tell your provider about any medicines you are taking now. • Get treated for any problems like diabetes and high blood pressure. • Get tested for HIV/AIDS orother STIs. • Get help for depression. • Get help now if your partner abuses you.

25. Get a Checkup Before You Get Pregnant • Go to your health care provider for a checkup. Make sure you are in good health. • Regular health care is important to your health. For women, it should include a pap smear, breast exam, review of your family health history, weight, height, blood pressure, testing for diabetes and other health conditions, and management of any health problems. • Keep in mind that unmanaged on-going health problems can increase your chances to develop other health problems associated with your illness. They can also cause problems in pregnancy. • Be sure you have all your shots for illnesses, like rubella (German measles) and chicken-pox. If you get these illnesses while you are pregnant, they can cause birth defects in your baby. • Tell you provider about any health problems in your family. Some problems can be passed on to babies. • Tell you provider about any medicines you are taking now. Some medicines can hurt babies. • Get treated for problems like diabetes and high blood pressure. These problems can hurt your baby or get worse during your pregnancy. • Get tested for HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). HIV/AIDS and other STIs can hurt your baby. • Get help for depression. Talk to someone you trust such as your health care provider, your partner, family member or good friend about how to get help. • Get help now, before you are pregnant, if your partner hits you, yells at you, or abuses you in any way. Talk to your health care provider, a member of the clergy, a family member or a good friend about how to get help.

26. Things You Can Do • Plan your pregnancy • Talk to your partner • Get into healthy habits • Get a checkup before you get pregnant

27. Things You Can Do Are You Ready For A Baby?

28. Learning Evaluation Choose the best answer for each of the following questions.

29. Things you can do to plan for pregnancy are… • Plan your pregnancy • Talk to your partner • Get into healthy habits • Get a checkup before you get pregnant • All of the above

30. Folic acid is a special vitamin that can help you and help your baby. • True • False

31. Exposing your unborn baby to tobacco smoke increases the risks for… • High birthweight • Low birthweight • Low blood pressure

32. During pregnancy, you should… • Smoke light cigarettes only. • Not smoke at all. • Smoke cigars instead of cigarettes.

33. Male condoms…. • Are the best way to prevent STDs • Are not 100% effective in preventing STDs • Both a. and b.

34. The reasons for getting a checkup before you get pregnant include… • Makes sure you are health enough to have a baby • Identifies risk factors that might impact your pregnancy • Helps your physician pay his office staff • Both a. and b.

35. Women should be tested for STDs… • Only when pregnant • Only as part of their marriage license process • Regularly

36. Behaviors that increase your risk for STDs include….. • Having multiple sex partners • Having unprotected sex • Abusing drugs and alcohol • All of the above.

37. The best way to avoid STDs is to…. • Practice abstinence • Use a latex or polyurethane condom • Use a condom and a spermicidal gel

38. You should have a routine checkup for STDs if …. • You have had more than one sexual partner • You think you might have an STD • You have an STD • All of the above

39. For more information, Contact… Escambia County Healthy Start at: 595-6641 Santa Rosa Healthy Start at: 626-6751 Email: dtrocki@healthystart.info