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Pregnancy Prep: A Guide to Preparing to Get Pregnant

Many women fail to realize that preparing to get pregnant actually starts many months before you’re ready to actually be pregnant. Did you know that what you do today impact the health of your egg(s) 90-100 days from now? This is one of the many reasons pregnancy prep is an important step on your journey to having a baby! 

 

In this post I’ll be sharing a few key things you can start doing right away for your own pregnancy prep.

Family Planning: Where to Start

The first step in pregnancy prep should be deciding when you want to get pregnant. There is no need, and I actually wouldn’t recommend, getting super specific with this because ultimately, we cannot control if or when we get pregnant. But, having a general timeline or month picked out that you want to start trying in, will be helpful and can guide the rest of your pregnancy prep.

 

Something to consider if this is not your first baby, is that some research recommends waiting 2-3 years between pregnancies to allow for healing and recovery before getting pregnant again. I acknowledge that timing is not desirable for everyone, so remember if you are getting pregnant sooner, pay close attention to the Properly Fuel Your Body section below.

Optimize Your Hormonal Balance First

Having happy, balanced hormones increase your chances of being able to get pregnant within your desired timeframe, and sustain a healthy pregnancy. 

 

There are three areas I recommend that you really concentrate on: learning your menstrual cycle patterns, ensuring you are fueling your body with enough calories and nutrients, and ensuring that you have a healthy gut. I want to break each of these areas down for you, in detail, so that you can start taking action right away. 

Learn Your Menstrual Cycle

Before trying to get pregnant, you want to ensure that you have a healthy menstrual cycle. 

 

Begin tracking your cycle, monitoring your basal body temperature (BBT), and tuning into your period related symptoms like cramps, flow, color of your menstrual bleed, and PMS symptoms.

 

Signs of a healthy cycle would include:

  • cycle length of 26-35 days
  • seeing a rise in your BBT to indicate ovulation
  • minimal period cramps
  • medium flow with no or very few clots that is red in color
  • & PMS symptoms that are not significant enough to impact your day-to-day life or relationships

 

If you need help optimizing your hormonal balance, I encourage you to apply to work with me as pregnancy prep is one of my favorite specialties. 

 

One of my favorite pregnancy prep supplements is the Fertility Booster from FullWell. I have taken it myself with and between two of my pregnancies, and recommend it to my client’s frequently.

Properly Fuel Your Body

Throughout pregnancy your body and baby are going to demand a lot from you. You are growing a whole human (or two) after all. This means that it is crucial for you to consume enough calories & nutrients to fuel yourself.

 

When you are in the pregnancy prep stage, start focusing on putting your meals together in a way that supports blood sugar balance. To make this simple, when you look down at your plate do you have a good amount of protein, some fat, some fiber, and some carbohydrates? If not, think about what you can easily add to round out your meal.

 

It’s important to be mindful of how much sugar and processed foods you are consuming as they can affect your hormonal health and balance. Diets that are high in sugar, carbohydrates, and/or processed foods can bog down your liver making it harder for your body to clear hormones as needed.

 

The liver helps convert estrogen to its metabolite which allows for its excretion. If estrogen is not properly excreted, then the estrogen/progesterone ratio will be imbalanced.

 

At least six months prior to trying to conceive, both partners should begin consuming a very nutrient dense diet. Some key nutrients to docus on are: 

 

  • Folate: leafy green veggies, cooked lentils, broccoli, cantaloupe, oranges, avocados

  • Choline: egg yolks, edamame, ground turkey

  • Vitamin A: cheese, milk, sweet potato, spinach, carrots, black-eyed peas

  • Vitamin D: milk, eggs, oily fish

  • Vitamin E: sunflower seeds, almonds, peanuts, broccoli, spinach, kiwi, mango

  • Vitamin K: kale, spinach, egg yolks

  • Biotin: liver, egg yolks, nuts, seeds, sweet potatoes

  • DHA: fatty fish, Glycine-bone broth, chia seeds, walnuts, kidney beans

 

Consuming quality meats, fish, and a rainbow of fruits and vegetables will make this easy, without having to obsess over meal-prepping or tracking what you eat.

Check in On Your Gut Health

There are a few reasons I recommend paying attention to gut health during pregnancy prep. Remember how Hippocrates said all disease begins in the gut? Well, I think he was really onto something. 

 

Aside from being supportive to overall health, elimination (pooping) is how our body gets rid of excess hormones, like estrogen as I mentioned earlier, and toxins. We want to be growing our baby in a healthy, balanced environment. 

 

Lastly, this step is important because constipation is one of the more common pregnancy related symptoms that women struggle with so if we can get ahead of it, you’re less likely to struggle with constipation throughout your pregnancy. 

 

You want to see bowel movements that are smooth, soft, & formed 1-2 times per day.

 

If constipation is something you already struggle with, here are some tips that may help:

 

  • Engage your parasympathetic nervous system before meals: take 3 deep breaths when you sit down for your meal. Breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 7 seconds, breathe out for 8 seconds.

  • Get up and move, especially if you work at a desk all day. Aim for 6k steps per day or more.

  • Focus on your food during meals: always eat at a table, don’t multitask during meals, scroll on your phone, or watch tv.

  • Chew your food more than you think is necessary; digestion begins in the mouth.

  • Incorporate probiotic foods: fermented vegetables, kombucha, yogurt, kefir, miso, pickles

  • Consume enough soluble fiber: Sweet potato, white potato flesh, bananas, plantains, squash, butternut squash.

  • Hydrate: drink half your body weight in ounces of water daily. Try to consume your water in between meals, not a lot at meals as this dilutes stomach acid.

 

If you’re unsure if your current bowel habits are healthy or not, you can check-in on your transit time – aka how long it takes to eliminate what you’re eating right now. To do this you will swallow 2 teaspoons of whole sesame seeds with some water following a meal, mark down the time, and then mark down when you see them come out in your bowel movement. 18-24hrs is considered a healthy transit time.

Remember to Enjoy this time

I understand that pregnancy prep can feel a bit anxiety provoking, but I hope you will remember to enjoy this time.

 

Don’t put pressure on yourself to meet a deadline you’ve created in your own mind. Don’t compare yourself to friends around you that are also trying to get pregnant. Don’t panic if you don’t get pregnant on your first try (it’s actually harder than they make it seem).

 

Remember to have fun with the extra intimate time you’ll be getting with your partner. And especially if this is your first baby, take time to treasure moments with just you and your partner because life is about to get a whole lot busier! 

If you are someone that’s been trying to get pregnant for quite some time and it’s just not happening, or you’re struggling after a miscarriage, I would love to support you so we can get to the bottom of the issue, click here to apply to work together.