Pre-Conception Appointment Booked!

I have a very good relationship with my Doctor.  I have been in her care for the past 10 years and she has seen me through the usual health issues, for example catching every cough and sneeze from my students in the first few years of teaching before building up my ‘teachers’ immunity.” She has also helped me through depression and working on weight loss. Most recently, I have spent the past 15 months recovering from a double disc injury I received while on school camp last year. I was off work completely for 3 months, then returned to work part time for 11 months and have just returned to full time work at the end of the school year.

All my back injury has done is add another item to the “Cons” side of starting a family. I have no idea if my back will ever get any better than it is now, and no way of saying what impact a pregnancy may have. With all this in mind, my Doctor has been constantly urging, for the past 4 months or so, for hubby and I to come in for a pre-conception appointment. I mentioned this to hubby at the time, and he was more than happy to put it off until ‘later.’

Today, I took the plunge and made the appointment. I am looking forward to hubby’s reaction when he gets home! This will make it all seem very real, but I think to have the information now will give us time to consider any changes that need to be made before we really start trying. It is clear though that we need professional input to help us make this decision and as my Doctor keeps saying, “You can buy a house at any age, but the same can’t be said for starting a family.”

I have done a little research into this as I have no idea what to expect from such an appointment and I don’t want to waste the opportunity. I think it is important to know all the risks associated with becoming pregnant at this age, I will be closer to 36 before we start trying to conceive. At the same time, I don’t want to become so stressed about everything that can go wrong that it puts us off completely. Hubby is very risk-averse and would rather not do something if there is a chance of things going wrong, as opposed to my general approach to life which is take the leap and then deal with the consequences! I’m also concerned about the fact that I have been on pretty strong painkillers for such a long time and what residual effect this might have. Also what pain relief options I would have once becoming pregnant.

At the moment the biggest worry I have is that following our appointment I will want to get started right away! I have a week to wait until the appointment. Wish me luck!

Did you have schedule a pre-conception appointment? What types of factors did your doctor discuss? Were you discouraged from starting a family after 35?