The primary goals of pre-conception counselling are to provide specialist information, offer interventions, and optimise medical care prior to pregnancy to support your health and the health of your future baby. If you receive preconceptual counselling within a year of getting pregnant, the likelihood of experiencing a complication in pregnancy is significantly reduced. If you are someone who would benefit from pre-conceptual counselling, it is important that you are referred early enough so that you are adequately prepared for when you fall pregnant.
When preparing for pregnancy, the following link will help provide general advice on steps that you should take to maximise the chances of having a healthy pregnancy.
Planning your pregnancy – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
- Pre-existing health conditions: not all pre-existing health conditions can impact on a pregnancy or vice versa and, in fact, most women with a pre-existing health condition will have a healthy pregnancy. However, becoming pregnant when that health condition is controlled and maintaining that good control throughout increases the likelihood of having a healthy pregnancy.
- Mental health conditions: if you currently have a mental health condition, it is important you discuss with your GP or mental health team about future pregnancy so they can plan on how to support you through this, and you can adequately prepare. If you have a past mental health condition, your GP can refer you to your local specialist perinatal mental health service for pre-conceptual care.
- Women with a history of adverse pregnancy outcomes: there are medical conditions that are specific to pregnancy but can be associated with complications in both the short and long-term. These include conditions such as pre-eclampsia and acute fatty liver of pregnancy. If you have a history of a medical condition specific to pregnancy, there are often steps that can be taken to minimise the risk of recurrence in a future pregnancy.
- Biannual multidisciplinary workshops:Twice a year, the NCL maternal medicine network holds a pre-conceptual care workshop for women with the following conditions:
- Epilepsy
- Inflammatory rheumatoid conditions including lupus
- Inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis)The workshops, which alternate between being held in person or virtually, are attended by the relevant specialty doctors and nurses, Obstetrician, Obstetric physicians, and midwives.They provide an open forum to ask questions, receive information, and, importantly, put faces to the healthcare professionals who may be looking after you in a future pregnancy! In addition, these workshops help to circumvent the waiting times for an individual appointment to enable, for some, to have earlier preparation for pregnancy.The workshops are for both you and your family to attend and the upcoming dates along with information on how to register can be found here.
- Speak with your GP or specialist: your GP, specialist doctor or nurse and community pharmacist will all be able to give you valuable information on how to prepare for pregnancy. If you are not already under a specialist or further information is needed, your GP can refer you to a team of experts who can help.
- Available online resources:
Online resources providing pre-conceptual information have been listed under the individual conditions.