Preconception Health
Taking steps to improve your health before pregnancy is important for the health of your baby. Perhaps you are planning a pregnancy and just want to be sure that you are doing all you can do to have a healthy baby. You may have a health condition that requires medication and you are worried about medication safety. Perhaps this will be your first pregnancy and a history of multiple miscarriages in your family has you worried.
No matter what your concern, if you are considering a pregnancy in the next 5 years, our obstetric medicine physicians welcome an opportunity to work with you to do all we can to assure a healthy mom and healthy baby. We put our entire focus, and our many years of expertise, into the highly specialized care you require.
A Healthy Lifestyle
Taking a few steps toward becoming healthier before pregnancy, such as working with her health care provider to control and treat medical conditions, quitting smoking, and avoiding alcohol if trying to get pregnant, can bring a lifetime of benefits to a woman and her future babies.
In partnership with the Rhode Island Department of Health, the Women’s Medicine Collaborative is pleased to be part of a national effort to promote preconception health, because we know that every baby deserves a healthy mother.
Preconception healthy behaviors include:
- Plan your pregnancies
- Eat healthy foods
- Be active
- Take 400 micrograms of folic acid daily
- Protect against sexually transmitted infections
- Protect yourself from other infections
- Avoid harmful chemicals and toxins
- Manage and reduce stress and get mentally healthy
- Learn about your family’s health history
- Get regular checkups
- Manage your health conditions
- Update your vaccinations
- Stop smoking and reduce alcohol intake before trying to get pregnant. Stop drinking while trying to get pregnant and during pregnancy
- Seek help if you are experiencing partner violence
Learn more: Show Your Love
How We Can Help
If you are a woman with underlying medical issues and you are pregnant or planning a pregnancy, your health care needs are unique. Our Multidisciplinary Obstetric Medicine Service (MOMS) is dedicated to serving the special and diverse needs of women with medical conditions before, during, after, and in between pregnancy.
Our providers are nationally and internationally recognized specialists in obstetric medicine, maternal-fetal medicine, gastroenterology, pulmonology, endocrinology, rheumatology, cardiology, infectious diseases and behavioral medicine.
We provide consultations for patients referred by obstetricians, midwives, gynecologists, internists and specialists or you may call us directly at 401-793-7410.