How To Lay The Groundwork For A Healthy & Successful Pregnancy

Dr. Bev Blessing FNP, PHD

We hear a lot these days about the impact of the mother's diet, obesity, medications, exercise, diseases, and genetic influences on the pregnancy outcome. As a result, we as providers want to work with women well before pregnancy occurs to help lay the groundwork for a healthy and successful pregnancy. A pre-conception visit with your provider to discuss your plans for pregnancy will prove quite valuable in helping you identify risk factors and make any necessary changes in medications or diet and exercise before getting pregnant. 

 The following tips developed by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) provides valuable information about things that you can do immediately, and things to discuss with your provider during that visit. It also has some excellent resource information.

Before Pregnancy

By the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

5 Steps to Get Ready for a Healthy Pregnancy

1. Take 400 micrograms (mcg) of folic acid every day for at least 1 month before getting pregnant to help prevent birth defects.
2. Stop smoking and drinking alcohol.

3. If you have a medical condition, be sure it is under control. Some conditions include asthma, diabetes, oral health, obesity, or epilepsy. Also be sure that your vaccinations are up to date.
4. Talk to a health care professional about any over-the-counter and prescription medicines you are taking. These include dietary or herbal supplements.
5. Avoid contact with toxic substances or materials that could cause infection at work and at home. Stay away from chemicals and cat or rodent feces.

Click on the links below for info on getting ready for a healthy pregnancy.

Planning

Preconception Care:  Learn why it’s important to be healthy before getting pregnant. Learn how to create a reproductive life plan. And find out what your health care provider should do at regular pre-pregnancy visits.

Sexual Health: Sexual health requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships
Women's Health: Find tips to improve women's health, safety, and quality of life.

Preventing Problems

Folic Acid: Folic acid is a B vitamin that can help prevent major birth defects. Take a vitamin with 400 micrograms (mcg) of folic acid every day, starting before you become pregnant.
Smoking during pregnancy is the single most preventable cause of illness and death among mothers and infants. Learn more about the dangers of smoking and find help to quit before you get pregnant.

Alcohol: When a pregnant woman drinks alcohol, so does her unborn baby. There is no known safe amount of alcohol to drink while pregnant. If you’re planning a pregnancy, stop drinking alcohol now.
Diabetes: Poor control of diabetes during pregnancy increases the chance for birth defects and other problems for your baby. It can cause serious complications for you, too.
High Blood Pressure: Existing high blood pressure can increase the risk of problems when you become pregnant.
Bleeding Disorders: Bleeding and clotting disorders can cause serious problems for women. These problems include heavy menstrual bleeding (a disorder called menorrhagia), bleeding and clotting complications in pregnancy, and miscarriage. If you have a bleeding disorder or have heavy menstrual bleeding, talk to your health care provider. 
Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs): Learn about the harmful effects of STDs and find out how to protect yourself and your baby against infection.
Bacterial vaginosis (BV) - Chlamydia - Genital Herpes - Gonorrhea - Hepatitis - Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) - Human Papillomavirus (HPV) - Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) -Syphilis - Trichomoniasis

Vaccinations: Talk to your doctor about vaccinations (shots). Many are safe and recommended before and during pregnancy, but some are not. Having the right vaccinations at the right time can help keep you and your baby healthy.
Medications:  Taking certain medications during pregnancy might cause serious birth defects for your baby. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about any medications you are taking. These include prescription and over-the-counter medications and dietary or herbal supplements.
Violence can lead to injury and death among women in any stage of life, including during pregnancy. Learn more about violence against women. 
Click here to find out where to get help for yourself or someone else.

Genetics and Family History

Genetics: Understanding genetic factors and genetic disorders is important in learning more about preventing birth defects, developmental disabilities, and other unique conditions in children.
Genetic Testing: Before you become pregnant, you might get blood tests (genetic tests) for certain inherited diseases. You and your partner can be tested to see if you carry a gene that is linked with a disease that could be passed on to your children.
Family History: Family members share their genes and their environment, lifestyles, and habits. A family history can help you learn about possible disease risks for you and your baby.
Genetic Counselor: Your doctor might suggest that you see a genetic counselor if you have a family history of a genetic condition or have had several miscarriages or infant deaths.

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The Solution For Unhealthy Bones Is To Optimize The Hormones That Build Bone

Dr. John D. Carr MD

The human skeleton is a remarkable living tissue, existing in a delicate balance of bone growth (osteoblastic activity) and bone resorption (osteoclastic activity). There are many factors that influence this delicate balance including physical activity, vitamin D levels, certain medications, and most importantly, hormones. Hormones such as testosterone, growth hormone and estradiol stimulate the cells responsible for bone growth, the osteoblasts. In order for bones to stay healthy, the osteoclasts resorb old or defective bone in order to make room for the new bone being layed down by the osteoblasts.


As we age the hormones necessary to stimulate bone growth diminish, and thus our ability to grow new bone decreases. This occurs abruptly in women as they approach menopause, but occurs in men over a period of time as well.

If nothing is done, that is if the hormone deficiencies are not identified and treated using bio-identical hormones, then the activity of the osteoblasts diminishes, and bones get weaker. The solution is to optimize the hormones that build bone, the hormones that accomplished this very well for you for decades, the hormones that God or Nature put in your body for healthy bones. The solution is NOT to take drugs that INHIBIT OSTEOCLAST ACTIVITY, thus not allowing for normal bone remodeling. It is true that bones will get thicker if these cells are inhibited, but the bone becomes less healthy, even brittle, because they do not stimulate bone growth.

The drugs most commonly used to treat osteoporosis, the so-called bisphosphonates (Fosamax, Actonel and Reclast) can have serious side effects including atrial fibrillation, esophagitis (for the oral forms), and may even increase the risk of esophageal cancer. In addition, they can increase the risk of fractures! If you understand the brief description of bone growth and turnover above, then it should make sense that if a drug inhibits the body’s ability to remove old or defective bone, then the bones will become weaker over time. This is especially true if the body is deficient in those substances such as hormones that are necessary for bone GROWTH.

The bottom line is that, in my opinion, these drugs should be banned. We grow healthy bones by engaging in resistance exercise (sorry, but walking is not enough), having optimal levels of vitamin D through supplementation, avoiding drugs such as prednisone which cause bone loss, and using bioidentical hormones when necessary to stimulate bone growth and NOT disrupt bone remodeling like these drugs do.


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Dr. Blessing's Healthy Eating Tips: Eating Dried Plums Helps With Osteoporosis

Dr. Bev Blessing FNP, PHD 

I love articles which show how we can do simple things to reduce our health risks. This article which was published by Science Daily showed significant improvement in osteoporosis prevention by individuals eating 6-10 prunes per day. Here's a hint: start slowly and drink plenty of fluids. Please note that the participants in the study also took calcium and Vitamin D. Check out the article below:


ScienceDaily (Aug. 26, 2011) — When it comes to improving bone health in postmenopausal women -- and people of all ages, actually -- a Florida State University researcher has found a simple, proactive solution to help prevent fractures and osteoporosis: eating dried plums.

"Over my career, I have tested numerous fruits, including figs, dates, strawberries and raisins, and none of them come anywhere close to having the effect on bone density that dried plums, or prunes, have," said Bahram H. Arjmandi, Florida State's Margaret A. Sitton Professor and chairman of the Department of Nutrition, Food and Exercise Sciences in the College of Human Sciences. "All fruits and vegetables have a positive effect on nutrition, but in terms of bone health, this particular food is exceptional."

Arjmandi and a group of researchers from Florida State and Oklahoma State University tested two groups of postmenopausal women. Over a 12-month period, the first group, consisting of 55 women, was instructed to consume 100 grams of dried plums (about 10 prunes) each day, while the second -- a comparative control group of 45 women -- was told to consume 100 grams of dried apples. All of the study's participants also received daily doses of calcium (500 milligrams) and vitamin D (400 international units).

The group that consumed dried plums had significantly higher bone mineral density in the ulna (one of two long bones in the forearm) and spine, in comparison with the group that ate dried apples. This, according to Arjmandi, was due in part to the ability of dried plums to suppress the rate of bone resorption, or the breakdown of bone, which tends to exceed the rate of new bone growth as people age.

The group's research, was published in the British Journal of Nutrition. Arjmandi conducted the research with his graduate students Shirin Hooshmand, Sheau C. Chai and Raz L. Saadat of the College of Human Sciences; Dr. Kenneth Brummel-Smith, Florida State's Charlotte Edwards Maguire Professor and chairman of the Department of Geriatrics in the College of Medicine; and Oklahoma State University statistics Professor Mark E. Payton.

In the United States, about 8 million women have osteoporosis because of the sudden cessation of ovarian hormone production at the onset of menopause. What's more, about 2 million men also have osteoporosis.

"In the first five to seven postmenopausal years, women are at risk of losing bone at a rate of 3 to 5 percent per year," Arjmandi said. "However, osteoporosis is not exclusive to women and, indeed, around the age of 65, men start losing bone with the same rapidity as women."

Arjmandi encourages people who are interested in maintaining or improving their bone health to take note of the extraordinarily positive effect that dried plums have on bone density.

"Don't wait until you get a fracture or you are diagnosed with osteoporosis and have to have prescribed medicine," Arjmandi said. "Do something meaningful and practical beforehand. People could start eating two to three dried plums per day and increase gradually to perhaps six to 10 per day. Prunes can be eaten in all forms and can be included in a variety of recipes."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture funded Arjmandi's research. The California Dried Plum Board provided the dried plums for the study, as well as some funding to measure markers of oxidative stress.

Read this article on Science Daily website here.

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