I saw an FB status by a primary school friend saying his wife is expecting and shared with him some of the tips and experiences I had during my 2 kiddos time and thought I might as well blog this down. So here you go, my advice and tips on what to prepare when you are expecting:
* Stop taking your over the counter multivitamins (if you have been taking them prior to pregnancy)
(** Image credit: Various Pills by Vera Kratochvil)
Why? For example, too much vitamin A can be toxic and can damage the developing foetus if you're pregnant. And over the counter multivitamins contains vitamin A that is too high for pregnant ladies. This is what we've been told by our 2nd gynae when I was pregnant with Benjamin back in 2008. IMHO, just taking folic acid and obimin is sufficient already.
Also, please do not consume pregnancy milk. If you have to gain weight, you can take normal UHT milk moderately but please refrain from consuming commercial pregnancy milk which claims to boost/provide healthy progress/development for your baby or yourself. There is very high sugar content in those milk and an acquaintance of ours took these milk and gained too much weight and having pregnancy diabetes now, on top of high blood pressure. So please do not take these milk!
Also read: http://www.tipsonhealthyliving.com/health-and-wellness/is-your-prenatal-multivitamin-falling-short
* Seek another gynae's opinion if you do not feel comfortable with their consultation
The reason why I mentioned this is not for you to gynae-hop. You see, back when we first found out I was pregnant with Ben, we went to this hospital for check-up and was told that Ben is a bit too small size for my estimated pregnancy duration. I was given some hormone pills to take orally and because of that, I had side effects everytime I took those pills. I will feel nauseous and my head will be spinning around for some time.
About 1 week into taking the pills, we went for another gynae and was told that the hormone pill is not necessary. I had vaginal ultrasound scan and we found out Ben's size is normal due to my irregular period cycle, I cannot expect Ben to be the size based on my last period date. The scan via vaginal gave a better accuracy results as we can see Ben clearly instead of ultrascan on the tummy.
As for the hormone pill, our 2nd gynae told us it is better to take it vaginally as the effects will be better absorbed by foetus due to the distance and to be honest, if the pill is taken orally, it gets digested, went through stomach and everything, by the time it reached foetus, only about 25% of the effects are left to be absorbed... which is a waste. I stopped taking the hormone pills after that and yes, we stopped seeing the 1st gynae in that hospital too.
* Try to stick to the same gynae where you will be delivering your child
For the sake of keeping track of your pregnancy progress and updates, do try to stick to the same gynae where you will be delivering your child. This is so that you developed a relationship with the gynae and they can monitor and (hopefully!) remembers your pregnancy progress. Of course this might not be easy if you are checking up at public hospital where the doctors go on rosters everytime.
* Decide (if you have not already done so) whether to go for natural birth or C-sect
I am all for natural birth if you asked me. To be able to feel the pain of labors and the moment when your baby shot out of your ehem vagina... that's always an unforgetable memories. No matter how painful the contractions were, I always remembered the feelings when my babies shot out of my body. Of course, that said, there are cases where pregnant mums are not able to give birth naturally due to baby or mum's health conditions, but if everything is fine and dandy, do try to go for natural birth!
* Decide (if you have not already done so) whether to breastfeed or not
Nursing Ben at 21 months old...
Again, I am all for breastfeeding if you asked me. If I am not pro breastfeeding, I would not have breastfed my 1st child past 1 year, 2 years, throughout my 2nd pregnancy, 3 years, tandem nursed both kiddos and finally he weaned himself at 45 months old while my 2nd child is continuing on breastfeeding at 1.5 years old now. Go Google around and find out what's in your breastmilk and why people do this and why formula milk can never ever fight and substitute the contents in breastmilk no matter how hard formula companies tried to research and replicate it.
These are some of the initial preparations that I advised you to do ASAP (of course more along the way as you progressed on with your pregnancy). Feel free to share your tips!
