wezen overboard: What to Consider Before Getting Pregnant

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

What to Consider Before Getting Pregnant | Being Pregnant

ID 10034223 300x199 6 Points to Consider Before Your Planned Pregnancy So, you want to have a baby?

Deciding to expand your family is one of those big decisions that require us to look ahead and think of the larger picture. Not everyone?consciously?makes the decision, sometime it?s kind of ?made for us?, but if you are a couple who are considering becoming parents or adding another child to the mix, a good conversation (or a few) is a good idea.

It?s no secret that I have had baby fever for well over a year now. My husband was not opposed to the idea of another child, but we did sort of have a ?before we try to conceive bucket list? that we wanted to get done before-hand. The list was very specific to our household and life, but there are some general points that every couple should talk about before they make the go-ahead decision.

Click through to read 6 points you should consider before your planned pregnancy:

How Will the New Baby Affect Your Child?
Looking at how a new member will change the dynamic of the whole family is important. For us, we carefully took into consideration the age of our children (are they too old, too young) and how the age difference will change things, for all of us.
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How Are Things Between You & Your Partner?
There are some people who, when desperate to help their relationship, think that adding a baby will make them stronger. For us, the more stable our relationship the more we are able to handle the big changes and still be on the same team.
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What is Your Health Like?
Not just you as mom, but also dad's health too. Are you exercising? Are there any health issues you need to get looked after (including dental work) before a babe arrives? Your age and health no only effects your pregnancy, but can have a big impact on your parenting a newborn as well.
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Identify Life Stressers
Is your work changing? Are you stressing out over finding the perfect house? Is there something in particular in your life that is causing you a lot of stress? We know that pregnancy and a newborn can add stress to our lives and an ideal situation would have as little stresses before pregnancy brings it's own.
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Evaluate Benefits/Insurance
Making sure you understand your health insurance -- what's covered, what's not as well as paternity/maternity leave. Discussing what you want your dynamic to be like and what will work. For us, we talked a lot about who would stay home with the kids, how we would make that work and took into consideration the high cost of prescriptions I need to be on while pregnant.
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Be Realistic
There is never really an 'ideal, 100% perfect time' and I believe that if you wait for that "perfect time" it will pass you by. Be realistic in your expectations, but also make sure you're having a real look at how a baby (or another baby).will change things. Be honest, talk a lot and take all things into consideration. It will be better (& easier) in the long run -- it was for us!
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