HELMS Journey - Preconception | KK Women's and Children's Hospital

Welcome to the HELMS study. You are now at the very beginning, trying to embark on this pregnancy journey with your husband. At this stage, you may be asked to attend 3 clinic visits and will be called twice during this 12-month period. If you fall pregnant during this 12-month period, it is possible that you may not have attend all clinic/phone call visits as it will depend on when you fall pregnant. Once you are pregnant during this 12-month period, you will be moved to the next stage of the HELMS study.

Click to expand to find out more about the details of your journey:

Welcome to your first visit! At this visit, we will be performing some important screening tests and obtaining some information from you so that we have a baseline to draw comparisons from as you progress through the HELMS journey.

Measure height and weight
Review diet and level of physical activity
Perform basic history taking and physical examination
Perform blood tests to screen for pre-existing conditions
Perform eye assessments
Provide necessary supplements
Screen for current sexual practices and fertility issues, if any
Collect stool

Welcome to your second visit! At this point of contact, we will be giving you a phone call to check on your progress so far. We will also be collecting similar information from you to draw further comparisons.

Assess for pregnancy
Review diet and level of physical activity
Review supplement intake
Provide fertility counselling, if required
Collect stool

At this point of contact, we will be going through the results of the investigations that were done during your first visit. We will also be collecting similar information that we have previously captured so that we can draw comparisons.

Assess for pregnancy
Measure height and weight
Review diet and level of physical activity
Review results of investigations, if any
Perform blood tests to screen for metabolic conditions
Perform eye assessments
Provide necessary supplements, and review supplement intake
Provide fertility counselling, if required
Collect stool

Similar to the 3 months visit, we will be giving you a phone call to check on your progress. At the same time, we will be collecting similar information from you to draw further comparisons.

Assess for pregnancy
Review diet and level of physical activity
Review supplement intake
Provide fertility counselling, if required
Collect stool

At this visit, it has been 12 months since you embarked on the HELMS journey. Even though you may not be pregnant at this point, do not give up! The HELMS journey may have come to an end, but we remain committed in helping you achieve your goals of a healthy pregnancy.