Pregnancy is a tenuous time when a woman should take the best care of her body as possible.

Here are seven risk factors of pregnancy that you should be aware of in order to have a healthy pregnancy:

1. Folic Acid Deficiency. A woman should take prenatal vitamins containing folic acid and may wish to take folic acid before she actually gets pregnant.  A deficiency of folic acid in pregnancy can cause neural tube defects like spina bifida, or an opening in the spine of the developing fetus.  Prenatal vitamins have extra folic acid in them—more than regular vitamins.

2. Smoking. Smoking is believed to cause some birth defects and definitely results in smaller babies that tend to be under greater distress during labor than babies whose mothers did not smoke.  It is best to stop smoking before you actually get pregnant.  It is best not to take nicotine replacement gum or patches during pregnancy either as these could have an effect on the pregnancy.  Smoking also increases the risk of miscarriages and the amount of morning sickness a woman has.

3. Rubella. Rubella is a virus that most women are immune to due to having had the immunization for the virus.  Some women, however, are not immune and could get rubella during pregnancy which results in birth defects in the infant who also gets infected in utero with the virus.

4. Toxoplasmosis. This is an infection that a woman can get in the early part of pregnancy that causes birth defects in the developing fetus.  Fortunately, toxoplasmosis is a rare infection to get. Toxoplasmosis is a parasite affecting up to a quarter of individuals; however, most have a natural immunity to the parasite.

5. Alcohol. Alcohol and pregnancy do not mix and women who drink excessively during pregnancy run the risk of having a baby with fetal alcohol syndrome, a specific syndrome of changes in the brain and physical changes in the baby as a result of alcohol exposure.

6. Caffeine. Women should avoid caffeine during pregnancy.  It affects the fetal heart rate and sleep times and affects their growth.  Excess caffeine during pregnancy also affects the amount of stretch marks a woman gets.

7. Poor diet. If a woman doesn’t get an adequate diet, this affects the fetal growth and development.  Just taking the prenatal vitamins is not enough and the diet should be balanced and should reflect the fact that there is a growing fetus inside the body.

Pregnancy generally goes well and women have healthy babies.  But this doesn’t just happen by accident.  A woman should eat a healthy, well balanced diet and should get at least a minimum amount of exercise in order to remain healthy.  She shouldn’t take drugs, smoke or drink alcohol as these are dangerous to the pregnancy. Infections incurred during pregnancy can only be helped by proper immunization before the pregnancy occurs. Some infections respond to antibiotics, while others do not.