Intermountain Health Explains Trimester Zero and How to Prepare for a Healthy Pregnancy
Sep 20, 2026
Trimester Zero: A time for women to improve health, diet, and physical fitness to prepare for the time when they want to have a baby.
SALT LAKE CITY, UT (PRUnderground) September 20th, 2026
Social media influencers are talking about "trimester zero" or the time before pregnancy when women are working to improve their health, diet, and physical fitness to prepare for the time when they want to have a baby. But some of that content can be overwhelming, inaccurate or over-complicate how to prepare for a healthy pregnancy.
According to OB-GYNs and midwives at Intermountain Health, the most important part of pregnancy planning is for a woman to schedule a check-up with a trusted provider if she's planning to get pregnant in the next 12 months.
A pre-pregnancy checkup can help women find out if they have any risk factors for pregnancy complications such as diabetes or high blood pressure, so they can learn about what they can do to improve their chances for a healthy pregnancy. There are tests and screenings that can be done before pregnancy to help women know if they're at risk for these or other complications.
And for women who know they have high blood pressure, diabetes, a heart condition, or other chronic health conditions like lupus, it's especially important to see their women's health provider before they get pregnant. Knowing their family health history can help their provider identify any medical conditions that may run in the family.
But, people can't always plan ahead for pregnancy.
"I tell my patients, almost 41% of pregnancies are a surprise. It's never too late to get information and start making lifestyle changes to improve your own health and create positive changes for both you and the surprise baby!" said Amelia Parrett, MD, an OB-GYN at Intermountain Health based in the Salt Lake City area.
Women's health providers and the March of Dimes recommend that if a woman is planning a subsequent pregnancy, waiting until their child is 18 months old before trying to get pregnant again helps their body fully recover following pregnancy, and may reduce their risk for premature birth.
Women who are overweight or underweight prior to pregnancy may be more likely to have health problems during pregnancy. It's recommended they talk to their provider about the right weight for them to work toward before becoming pregnant and how much weight to safely gain during pregnancy. Their provider may check their body mass index or BMI. Knowing their BMI can help their provider calculate the right amount of weight for they to gain during pregnancy.
"Pregnancy can be a great motivation to learn how to change or adjust their lifestyle habits to increase their chances for a healthy, normal delivery, said Dr. Parrett.
"I help my patients know how to eat more nutritiously and eat in the right portions during pregnancy. And when moms eat healthier, they can form new habits and also influence their partner and other family members to do the same," she added.
"Exercise is like the cherry on top. If you haven't been exercising, before you became pregnant, start by walking 7,000 to 10,000 steps each day. Find a type of exercise you like and talk with your doctor about what is safe during pregnancy. Body weight resistance training is especially beneficial," said Dr. Parrett.
One of the most common pregnancy complications is diabetes
According to maternal fetal medicine specialists, one of the most common pregnancy complications is diabetes. Diabetes in the U.S. is increasing and having diabetes before getting pregnant or developing diabetes during pregnancy can cause complications for mom or baby. But diabetes can be managed to help moms reduce their risk of complications during pregnancy.
According to a recent report from the National Institutes of Health, one in nine women in the U.S. has diabetes. And six percent of women who gave birth developed gestational diabetes during their pregnancy.
When moms have diabetes, it can lead to a higher risk of complications, such as high blood pressure or preeclampsia, preterm birth, cesarean delivery or other delivery complications since their babies are more likely to have a larger than normal birthweight.
A mom's diabetes puts babies at risk too. When moms have diabetes, their babies are at increased risk for preterm birth, birth defects, stillbirths, respiratory distress, jaundice, birth injuries, and low blood sugar. Babies born preterm may need to spend time in a neonatal intensive care unit or may develop diabetes later in life.
If moms see their doctor or midwife early -- ideally before they become pregnant - their provider can help ensure their diabetes is well-managed before they become pregnant.
And if moms start their prenatal visits early in their pregnancy and keep all their prenatal appointments, they can increase their chance of a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby and reduce the risk of complications.
Women with diabetes can benefit from seeing a maternal fetal medicine specialist (an obstetrician who is trained to manage high-risk pregnancies) for some or all of their prenatal visits.
Some women who have never had diabetes before may develop diabetes during pregnancy or what's called gestational diabetes.
Gestational diabetes has no symptoms, so it's important to complete a glucose screening test, which doctors or midwives generally recommend for all pregnant patients between 24-28 weeks. Women who have gestational diabetes have a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.
For more information about diabetes and pregnancy or gestational diabetes or to schedule an appointment at the Pregnancy Preparation, Prevention and Risk Evaluation (PREPARE) clinic in maternal fetal medicine at the PREPARE Clinic at Intermountain Medical Center call 801-507-7400 or visit intermountainhealthcare.org
Press Contact
Name: Holly Nelson Phone: 801-442-3217 Email: Contact UsOriginal Press Release.
SK, Samsung among Korean firms considering Westinghouse stake acquisition
Major Korean companies including Samsung, SK and Doosan are considering participating in the acquisition of a stake in U.S. nuclear power company Westinghouse, according to industry sources. If private companies join nuclear cooperation between Korea and the United States, which has so far been led largely by state-run companies such as Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), the move is expected to give Korean companies greater momentum in entering the U.S. nuclear power market. Government and industry sources said Wednesday that the government has been surveying nuclear power-related companies about their interest in investing in Westinghouse since announcing its investment plans in the United States. Companies interested in participating recently gathered at a meeting hosted by KEPCO to discuss potential investment options, according to the sources. Samsung C&T, SK Group, Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Doosan Enerbility were among the companies that attended the meeting. Securing a stake in Westinghouse is one of the key issues in investment
Taihan Cable & Solution wins large US power grid turnkey project
Taihan Cable & Solution, a leading power cable and energy infrastructure manufacturer, said Thursday that its U.S. subsidiary has won a turnkey extra-high-voltage grid project in the United States, capitalizing on surging power demand from artificial intelligence (AI) and data centers. Under the deal, the subsidiary, T.E.USA, will oversee local engineering, construction and other work, while the Korean headquarters will produce and supply key materials such as extra-high-voltage cables and joints. In a turnkey contract, a single company handles a project from design through construction and hands it over ready for operation. The headquarters and the U.S. unit signed a material supply contract worth about 120 billion won ($89 million), which the company disclosed in a regulatory filing Thursday. Taihan did not reveal the total value of the turnkey project or the client, citing a nondisclosure agreement. The order follows another extra-high-voltage turnkey project worth about 100 billion won that the company won in the U.S. in January. Taihan said it has won all 500-kilovolt high-voltage a
CJ ONE launches global membership service for foreign visitors
CJ OliveNetworks, the digital and technology unit of CJ Group, is branching into the travel industry with a new global membership service that enables foreign visitors in Korea to earn rewards and redeem points at participating merchants, leveraging the country's tourism boom to drive new growth. The company said Thursday that its lifestyle membership platform, CJ ONE, had introduced CJ ONE Global, allowing international visitors to sign up using only email verification, without requiring a Korean phone number or domestic identification. The launch comes as interest in Korean food, shopping and culture spreads alongside the global popularity of Korean entertainment. According to the Korea Tourism Organization, about 12.8 million foreign tourists visited Korea from January through July, up 21.3 percent from the same period last year. Once registered, members receive a mobile barcode through the CJ ONE app that they can use to earn and redeem points at participating stores, as well as access new-member and birthday benefits. The service connects visitors with businesses spanning tourism, re
FADU unveils world's 1st file-semantic SSD to power AI workloads
Korean data center chipmaker FADU has unveiled what it calls the world’s first file-semantic solid-state drive (SSD), a storage technology designed to help artificial intelligence (AI) systems access data faster while reducing computing overhead and power consumption. The company introduced its file-semantic SSD, or FS-SSD, at the 2026 Open Compute Project Global Summit in San Jose, California, which ran from Monday to Thursday under the theme “Scaling Innovation for the AI Era.” Unlike conventional SSDs, which manage data through block addresses, FADU’s FS-SSD is designed to recognize and manage files directly, shifting tasks traditionally handled by a server’s central processing unit and operating system into the storage device itself. The technology uses FADU’s sixth-generation SSD controller, equipped with firmware that handles file searches, access permissions and file-to-address translation within the drive. By embedding file requests in standard Non-Volatile Memory Express commands, the system allows accelerators such as graphics processing units and data processing un
Korean, US biz leaders call for support to accelerate Korean investment projects in US
Korean and U.S. business leaders on Thursday called for faster regulatory approvals, tax and financial support, and visa reforms to ensure the successful implementation of major Korean investment projects in the United States. The call came in a joint declaration issued at a plenary meeting of the U.S.-Korea and Korea-U.S. Business Council, hosted by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), and attended by about 60 political and business leaders and experts from the two countries. Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump announced details of Seoul's planned $200 billion investment in the U.S., part of a broader $350 billion commitment agreed to by the two countries last year in exchange for lower U.S. tariffs on Korean goods. In the joint declaration, the business circles called for measures to reduce trade uncertainty and reform regulations, urging the two governments to introduce fast-track approval procedures and provide tax and financial incentives for companies participating in strategic investment projects. They also called for improvements to visa systems and the establis
Filipinos rank among top 3 AI users on messaging platform
Filipinos rank among the top three markets worldwide for artificial intelligence feature usage on Rakuten Viber, according to the messaging platform, with young professionals among the most active users of its AI tools. Viber Chief Product Officer Nadav Melnick said nearly 20% of the platform’s monthly active AI users in the Philippines are aged 25
MIDEA kicks off Xpress Hub tour with space and money saving appliances
Written by INQUIRER.net Tech Editor Jayvee Fernandez for Midea As a southie, I really make it a point to make my trips up north worth the drive. After discovering the MIDEA Xpress Hub was unveiling its new product line at Waltermart in North EDSA, I had to see for myself what new things MIDEA had
Alibaba sets sights on record-breaking Singles’ Day with 1 million brands joining festival
Alibaba Group Holding is gearing up for its annual Singles’ Day shopping festival on major online marketplaces Taobao and Tmall, with the company expecting a record one million global brands to take part this year. Pre-sales for the event open on Thursday, followed by the formal sale next Tuesday. The company projects more than 70 million products to feature, also a record for the festival. Created by Alibaba in 2009, Singles’ Day has grown into the world’s largest online shopping festival. Also...
DeepSeek offers user refunds after suffering another major outage
Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek apologised and promised compensation to users after its services suffered a nearly five-hour outage on Thursday. DeepSeek will issue users a full refund for any consumption between October 8 and October 14 in the form of credits, according to a notice posted on the Hangzhou-based start-up’s application programming interface (API) platform. DeepSeek’s namesake chatbot and API services for its V4 Pro and V4.1 Flash models went offline on Thursday...
Tillis calls on Pentagon inspector general to investigate Ukraine’s Starshield loss
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) says he and his Senate colleagues will ask the Defense Department’s inspector general to investigate Ukraine’s sudden loss of access to the military version of Starlink, known as Starshield, which hampered Ukraine’s ability to intercept Russian drones. Tillis said the “snafu” that left Ukrainian civilian and military targets exposed now appears...
Z.ai’s GLM-5.3 raises researcher fears the Chinese model can fake AI safety tests
Chinese artificial intelligence lab Z.ai’s latest flagship model, GLM-5.3, may be sophisticated enough to “fake” its way through safety tests, according to a new report published Thursday, sparking new fears about the ability of artificial intelligence systems to shape their own development. The model, launched in August, showed an ability to consider how its behaviour during safety evaluations might influence how future versions of itself would be trained, according to AI safety organisation...
TSMC confirms talks with Elon Musk over Texas ‘Terafab’ but insists on operational control
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) is in discussions regarding a potential role in Elon Musk’s proposed Terafab project in Texas, according to company chairman and CEO C.C. Wei, although he stressed that TSMC would retain operational control of any partner factory. The plant “has got to be run by TSMC”, Wei said during the third-quarter earnings call on Thursday. TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, has sent teams to Texas to assess expansion opportunities beyond its US hub in...
How Mediheal is evolving beyond sheet masks
YOUR NEWS, OUR NETWORK.
Do you have Great News you want to tell the world?
Be it updates about your business or your community, you can make sure that it’s heard by submitting your story to our network reaching hundreds of news sites across 6 verticals.