• Pre Conceptional counselling is basically a series of advice given to a couple before they start to try and have children.
• Preconception health means taking care of your own health now to make sure that if
  you choose to start a family; you’ll be healthy for yourself and your future baby.
  Whether you’re thinking about now, the near future or not at all, the key is setting
  goals, making a plan, and most importantly, taking care of yourself during preconception since your health before pregnancy can affect the health of your baby.

Ideally how long before they start trying should they come for preconception counselling?

• 3 months would be ideal

Should every couple undergo this counselling or a select few?

• I would or let’s say, all over the world, it is recommended, that every couple
  undergoes this counselling. In fact interestingly, those who wish to have babies now
  as well as those who don’t wish to have babies right now.

How would a couple who doesn’t wish to have babies right now benefit from this?

• There are couples who wish to postpone starting a family, yet wish to know if things
  are alright with them and whether they will have any problem when they actually start
  thinking of completing family. We do some tests for these couples so that they can
  take a conscious decision. For example, we know that women lose eggs as they
  age, so if someone wants to know if her egg quality is good and whether she can
  postpone having babies for some time, we can help her decide based on few tests

What is Renew Healthcare and Dr Rajeev Agarwal’s unique method of taking you through Preconception Counselling?

We take you through a 6 step process wherein we

• Understand the need of the couple. Instead of sharing our views, we evaluate what the couple is looking at.
• Investigate the various basic aspects of fertility and whether they are working alright in your case. We investigate any other medical or hormonal issue that you might
  have and may either come in the way of you conceiving or may adversely affect your pregnancy or your child.
• We rectify all the issues that we find during clinical evaluation of both partners. Sometimes this needs teamwork and we involve various other specialists as per requirement.
• Genetics plays a major role in fertility and also ultimately how our future children behave and how healthy they are going to be. We look into personal genomics, family genomics and devise ways to eliminate genetic problems in future offsprings in special cases. This is something which is not offered by any clinic in the city, where we do genetic profiling of the couple.
• Vaccination is an important part of preventive healthcare and we try and identify which essential vaccines have been missed and we ensure you are vaccinated and safe before you get into pregnancy.
• Preconception vitamins are not just for women but for men as well. They not only enhance fertility but also reduce complications during pregnancy
• Counselling happens at many levels starting from lifestyle changes to myth busting to advising about correct timings, frequency and positions for achieving easier pregnancy.
• What patients need to understand here is the fact that to be healthy & have a smooth motherhood, now or in near future, pre conception counselling plays a big part & help to make informed decision about family planning.