For the woman who expects to enjoy the excitement of pregnancy, preconception care should hold great importance. Preconception care includes every aspect of health care that works to enhance a woman's overall health and well-being in the period leading-up to the time of the pregnancy. Preconception care contributes to the health of both mother and baby by introducing risk assessment, health promotion and needed interventions.
Risk assessment deals with all three areas of possible concern during a pregnancy. Preconception care calls for the investigation of any potential medical, genetic or lifestyle risks. Failure of a woman to deal with those risks could lead to self accusation for pregnancy preconceptions, especially when such preconceptions turn out to be misconceptions.
As stated above, risk assessment does not concern itself with only the discovery of potential medical problems that could impact a pregnancy. Preconception care and risk also entails the evaluation of genetic risks. In this instance the physician gathers material about a patient's DNA. The physician will want to look for evidence that some gene has predisposed the mother to the development of an annoying or even an alarming condition. A woman's neglect of her genetic make-up could lead to self-accusation for pregnancy preconceptions that she has allowed to pass under the wire of a watchful obstetrician.
A third aspect of risk assessment looks at factors that could imperil a pregnancy. Preconception care provides the woman who hopes to become pregnant with a list of lifestyle changes that would most benefit the child that she expects to carry. This list would include things such as quitting smoking (if the woman then smoked), agreeing to eat meat (if the woman was a vegetarian) and modifying an exercise routine (if the woman had been in the habit of running for long distances).
Once risk assessment is completed, then the process of health promotion and possible intervention needs to commence. These represent two other important aspects of planning for a pregnancy. Preconception care should deal with both of these concerns. The health promotion would require no more than the provision of literature about the nutritional needs of the growing fetus. The parents would be expected to study this literature and to begin the process of adding important foods to the diet of the mother-to-be.
The need for possible interventions could be nonexistent, or it could entail a variety of precautions. The caregiver would ask questions of the woman about to experience a pregnancy. Preconception care would be administered according to the nature of the answers to those questions.
If a woman reveals that she has recently traveled outside of the United States, if her partner is currently suspected of having a sexually transmitted disease or if the woman has been exposed to radiation, harsh chemicals or anesthesia then important interventions could prove necessary before the pregnancy.
Preconception care would be completed according to the risk factors made apparent through a questioning of the prospective parents.