Being the First Pregnant One

When I experienced my unplanned pregnancy, I was the first one in my friend group to have ever become pregnant. There had been scares. There had been talk about what they would do if two lines appeared on the test. But I was the first one to ever see those two lines. Figures. As such, I had to go it alone on a lot of decisions. No one had valuable, first-hand information to add to conversations. It was really somewhat difficult to navigate on my own.

True, it would have been much easier if my partner, my child's father, had been involved in the situation.... [...] Read more!

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[Source: Crisis Pregnancy Blog]

Should Your Friends or Family Throw You a Baby Shower?

You're experiencing an unplanned pregnancy. You're currently deciding whether or not you want to parent or place your child for adoption. Questions hang in the air. Nothing is decided or final until the baby is born and papers are signed anyway. So, what do you do? More importantly, what do you say when asked by friends or family the following question:

"Do you want a baby shower?"

My default answer is always, "Say yes!" However, I'm going to discuss the reasons for and the reasons not to do so. I had to tell you first, though, that my default answer is always... [...] Read more!

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[Source: Crisis Pregnancy Blog]

A Deadline to Quit Smoking?

By now all pregnant women should know smoking is terrible for both mom and baby. If you smoke, you may have tried to quit without success. Some women mistakenly believe they need to quit in the first trimester for the baby to benefit.

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[Source: Pregnancy Blog]

"Clomid in March 2009"

This is a group of women that have started clomid or gone beyond. We have a diverse group of women.

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[Source: Pregnancy News]

The Importance of Zinc in Pregnancy

Once you become pregnant, you begin to pay a lot more attention to your diet than ever before. Mom and baby need a broad range of nutrients for health and proper development. One important and often overlooked nutrient in the prenatal diet is zinc.

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[Source: Pregnancy Blog]

How do you know what you're getting in medical care?

Every so often there is a huge medical story about someone who wasn't properly informed of something before having a medical test or procedure and then experiences the rarest of complications.

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[Source: Pregnancy News]

"Iron Supplement Side Effects?"

Just had my 28 wk appt last Friday. Apparently my iron levels are lower than they like.

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[Source: Pregnancy News]

Exercise for Back Pain

Back pain is one of the more common symptoms experienced during pregnancy. The vast majority of pregnant women will have back pain at some point in their pregnancies. For most, the back pain is not related to an injury or problem, but from the changes in the body as a result of the pregnancy.

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[Source: Pregnancy Blog]

The new "natural" Caesarean

The surgeon gives the nod: it's time. The drape across the patient's abdomen is lowered and her head is raised. Her eyes widen as she and her husband watch their baby, tiny and pink with a mop of black hair, being gently delivered from her. There is a moment of collective awe before the newborn's cry fills the air. �It's a boy!� his mother gasps, before enveloping him in a warm hug.

This mother has just had a �natural Caesarean�, a revolutionary technique that attempts to turn one of the world's most common operations into an experience closer to vaginal birth. The idea was conceived by Professor Nicholas Fisk in response to the rising numbers of Caesareans in the UK.

His team concentrated on three areas. First, parental involvement: this meant dropping the drape that �divorced� the mother from her abdomen, to allow her to see her baby's head emerge; the baby itself blocks the mother's view of the operation.

The second point was physiological: Fisk showed that when a Caesarean is performed slowly the baby is able to �autoresuscitate� - start breathing unaided - while still attached to the placenta, as in normal birth. The baby is �half-delivered� and a combination of the naturally contracting uterus and the baby's vigorous wriggles allow the lungs to expel fluid in a similar way to a vaginal birth. This reduces the risk of the baby needing help to breathe; a common occurrence after a Caesarean.

Finally, Fisk wanted to see newborns handed immediately to their mother for skin-to-skin bonding. �There are now official standards for skin-to-skin bonding in childbirth, but these are almost never met with Caesareans,� he says. One obstruction is that the monitoring equipment needed for patients in surgery is routinely attached to the mother's chest. �In a natural Caesarean we attach the ECG wires to the back of the chest so that the baby can be placed on the mother after birth,� Plaat says. The anaesthetic dose is lowered so that there is no �heaviness in the arms� to prevent holding the baby, and a clip that measures oxygen in the blood is attached to the toe.

Smith, whose book Your Baby, Your Body, Your Birth advocates a softer general approach to birth, adds: �And while keeping both mother and baby safe, we focus on the fact that this is a birth. We bring in the elements of normal birth: the mother can see her baby's sex at the same time as the operating team. The father can perform a second �cutting of the cord' and the midwife can show him where to clamp it. It is entirely different from the experience parents have had before.�

The procedure is unsuitable for babies who are in the breech position, or when the baby or mother, or both, are in danger, or for premature babies whose lungs are not mature.

Source

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PregnancyWeekly.com

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[Source: Pregnancy Blog - For All Your Pregnancy Things by PregnancyWeekly]

Losing an Unexpected Pregnancy

One thing I don't see discussed very often on sites addressing unplanned pregnancies is the possibility of miscarriage. The truth is that miscarriages are very common. Whether your pregnancy was meticulously planned or rather unexpected, you run a risk for losing your baby. According to Dr. Sears (one of my favorite parenting doctors and authors), the statistics are in favor of having a healthy, breathing baby at the end of a pregnancy but the fact remains that miscarriages occur.

Most pregnancies begin with a healthy fetus, growing in a normal uterus,... [...] Read more!

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[Source: Crisis Pregnancy Blog]

The Effect of Cigarette Smoke on the Fetus

In my last blog, I talked about new research that suggests a woman has a window of until the 15th week of pregnancy to quit smoking. If she quits by then, her chances of having a preterm birth or a baby of low birth weight are lowered to the same level as a non smoker.

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[Source: Pregnancy Blog]

Pregnancy drug helps heal broken hearts

A pregnancy hormone that relaxes blood vessels appeared to reduce symptoms of acute heart failure and improve survival, according to a preliminary study released by US researchers on Sunday.

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[Source: Pregnancy News]

How Your Hospital Can Help You Breastfeed

Your choice of hospital is important to achieving your breastfeeding goals. This is probably not a surprising statement.

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[Source: Pregnancy News]

"Breast Tenderness Come and Go?"

I am entering my 7th week and I've noticed that my breast tenderness is not as painful as it has been the past couple weeks.

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[Source: Pregnancy News]