Preconception

Choosing to have a baby means choosing to begin one of life's most challenging and rewarding experiences. This site offers you information about what to expect during pregnancy, birth and the first few months of your child's life. Of course, that is only the beginning of the story. If you are thinking about having a baby, you are probably contemplating how your life will change. Consider how a child will affect your:

relationships
career
other children
physical well-being
This is an important time for you to think about the people in your life and to imagine your future. Do you have the social support you think you will need to support a child? How would you cope with a financial crisis? What will you want your child to feel about crucial issues like religion, relationships and work?

If you have a partner, what values do you share and what areas do you need to negotiate? What would life be like for you and your child if your relationship with your current partner broke down?

These are the big picture issues in everyone's life. Having a child is likely to bring up a lot of them, so if you and your partner are considering a child, now is the time to start talking!

There are the practical issues to consider as well: your finances, your living space, the adjustments you will have to make to one, or maybe two, careers. This is an opportunity for you to focus on your physical health too. The link below (A healthy start) offers information about ways you can take care of yourself and changes that you can make to be as healthy as possible, when contemplating a pregnancy.

If you have spent a lot of energy up until now trying to avoid pregnancy, you may expect getting pregnant to be easy. In fact, it usually takes four to six months to get pregnant, and for some women, much longer. Visit the Fertility Awareness section of our Sexual Health Centre to learn at what point in your menstrual cycle you are most likely to get pregnant. Although some women use the Fertility Awareness method to avoid pregnancy, you can also use it to optimize your chances of pregnancy.

If you are concerned because you are having difficulty getting pregnant, use the link below (The possibility of infertility) to learn about if and when you should consider fertility testing.

So, how will you know if you do get pregnant? Pregnancy tests can now be easily purchased from your local drugstore. Use the link below (Pregnancy testing) to explore when to use these tests and what they measure.