How is your health? Kids are busy and parenting them requires lots of energy. Individuals with chronic emotional illness often wait to seek medical treatment until they are in crisis. Unfortunately, the secondary consequences of untreated illness can be life threatening illnesses such as stroke, heart attack and late stage cancer. Healthy behaviors such as maintaining your routine health physicals and following up with any chronic illness such as asthma or hypertension increases your odds of being able to watch your kids grow up as adults. Also, there is a good possibility your kid will model your health behaviors, be they good or bad. So your legacy, such as being overweight and smoking cigarettes, will probably continue in the younger generation.

Thoughts of becoming a parent bring the responsibility of achieving your best body condition in order to carry a baby for nine months. It is common knowledge that chronic illnesses such as diabetes, asthma, and mental illness can worsen with pregnancy. A crisis phone call to your health provider saying you are now pregnant is not ideal. An unplanned pregnancy in someone with a chronic severe health problem is usually a big deal and you and your provider do not need that kind of drama. If you are on medications that have to be changed, the worst experience can be an abrupt discontinuation from your prescribed medication.

Doctors are busy and you may not be able to see your provider immediately. So if you are thinking about getting pregnant, schedule an appointment for prepregnancy counseling. Your mind may say baby now, but your provider may have work for you to do first to obtain the best outcome for yourself and your baby. If you are already a parent and have not followed your best health behaviors, especially if you have a chronic medical problem, consider seeing your health provider NOW!