Natural Birth and Baby Care.com

Preparing to Get Pregnant

by Jessie
(Elma, WA, USA)

Hi! In a year, I plan on using a sperm donor to become pregnant, after I graduate college. Being 28, I am starting to want a child badly, 'cause my biological clock is starting to tick. I plan on becoming a single mom by choice.

Anyway, I was wondering if there is anything I need to do in the meantime to prepare myself for becoming pregnant, like what to eat, changing different habits, how to do kegels, ect?

I am not sure how to do kegels, but my friend told me recently that I should start practicing them everyday and perineal massage in the bath weekly.

Also, is it safe to use prenatal vitamins, even though I am not pregnant yet?

Answer:

Hi Jessie,

There is a lot you can get started with now, and the most important thing is your diet. An excellent diet is the absolute best way to make sure you have a healthy pregnancy, a healthy baby, and a good birth. It also helps you make the best milk for your baby.

I have written extensively on preconception nutrition on NBBC's sister site, Getting-Pregnant.com. I encourage you to take a look at those articles:

Preconception Nutrition

It is safe for you to take a prenatal now. I highly recommend you take a food-based prenatal. The nutrients in a food based prenatal are, as the name suggests, derived from food and they're much easier to absorb than synthetic vitamins. The Baby and Me multivitamin and the Perfect Prenatal by New Chapter are both good. A good Cod Liver Oil supplement, such as Blue Ice cod liver oil, is also a good idea - very good for you and baby!

You can read more about cod liver oil here: Fertility Super Foods.

As far as kegels go - they are useful throughout your entire life. They're very easy to do. To figure out how to do them, just sit down on the toilet and start peeing. Then make yourself stop. The muscles that you just used to stop are your pelvic floor muscles. It's not a good idea to kegel while you're peeing - but it's a useful way to instantly figure those muscles out.


As you practice squeezing those muscles you'll notice you can feel them all the way up into the vagina. Practice squeezing and holding in stages, starting low in the pelvic floor and working up through all the muscle groups you feel. At first you may feel like your muscles "down there" are weak, but they get strong.

You can kegel in sets up of 20, up to 100! Hold for a few seconds, then release completely before holding again. Do it anytime - it's best to associate it with something so you don't forget - every time you stop at a traffic light, for instance.

Perineal massage can be good as you're preparing for childbirth (it's also useful if you have pain during sex). Some midwives think it helps, others think it makes no difference.

I, personally, do think it makes a difference, but I used the specific techniques taught in The Pink Kit, called the Internal Work. It's more in-depth than perineal massage but I'm not sure how the actual effectiveness compares. You start the PK Internal Work around 30 weeks pregnant, and I think that's probably a good time to start any perineal massage.

You can do fertility massage before becoming pregnant. You can learn more about that on Natural Fertility Info's Fertility Massage page - there's a video there too :)

I really think the best thing you can do to prepare for pregnancy is work on your nutrition. It is the cornerstone of a healthy baby. Read the pages I linked about fertility nutrition - there are some book recommendations there, too, that you may want to look into.

Planning and preparing for a pregnancy is very exciting, and pregnancy and baby are very exciting too! Enjoy yourself as you get ready for a baby in your life :)