Park View Group Practice

Reliable information on a range of health problems is available at Patient UK www.patient.co.uk.

Planning to Become Pregnant

If you are planning to start a family you must, of course, cease contraception. If you are taking the pill you should change to a barrier method for a period of at least three months. This is to allow for the normal hormone levels and egg production cycle to re-establish itself.

If you smoke, both you and your partner should stop. A woman who smokes during pregnancy stands a 30% greater risk of miscarrying or losing the baby at birth due to a variety of complications.

You should also ensure that your alcohol consumption is kept to an absolute minimum if you are unable to abstain totally.

Both partners should give attention to their diet with particular regard to choosing fresh unrefined foods.

Ask your doctor to check if you are immune from rubella (German measles). If not, he will arrange immunisation. In such a case you should continue with a barrier method of birth control for a period of at least two months whilst the vaccine takes effect.

Unless you've had one during recent months it is advisable to arrange for a smear test to ensure you have a healthy cervix prior to becoming pregnant.

For further information available at Patient UK Planning to Become Pregnant here: http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Pregnancy-Planning-to-Become-Pregnant?.htm

Problems in Conceiving
Infertility means difficulty in conceiving (becoming pregnant) despite having regular sex without using contraception. There is no definite cut off point to say when a couple is 'infertile'. Many couples take several months to conceive. About 17 in 20 couples conceive within a year of trying. About 19 in 20 couples conceive within two years. Looking at this another way, about 1 in 7 couples do not conceive within a year of trying. However, more than half of these couples will conceive over the next year without any treatment.

Doctors usually say that a couple is regarded as infertile if, after regular intercourse, they have not conceived in two years.

As a rule, it is worth seeing a GP if you have not conceived after one year of trying. A GP can check for some common causes, talk things over, and discuss possible options. You may want to see your GP earlier if the female in the couple is over the age of 35 or if either partner has a history of fertility problems.

Futher information available at Patient UK:

http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Infertility-a-Basic-Understanding.htm

http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Infertility-a-Summary-of-Treatments.htm