Pregnancy Articles
Induced Abortion
(category: Pregnancy, Word count: 592)
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Induced abortion is the deliberate termination of pregnancy in a manner that ensures that the embryo or fetus will not survive. Attitudes of society toward elective abortion have undergone marked changes in the past few decades. In some situations the need for abortion is accepted by most people, but political and medical attitudes regarding induced abortion have continued to lag behind changing philosophies. Some religious concepts remain unchanged, resulting in personal, medical, and political conflicts.
About one-third of the world's population lives in nations with nonrestrictive laws governing abortion. Another third live in countries with moderately restrictive abortion laws, ie, where unwanted pregnancies may not be terminated as a matter of right or personal decision but only on broadly interpreted medical, psychologic, and sociologic indications. The remainder live in countries where abortion is illegal without qualification or is allowed only when the woman's life or health would be severely threatened if the pregnancy were allowed to continue.
An estimated 1 out of every 4 pregnancies in the world is terminated by induced abortion, making it perhaps the most common method of reproduction limitation. In the U.S., estimates of the number of criminal abortions performed prior to legalization of the procedure ranged from 0.25-1.25 million per year. The number of legal abortions now being performed in this country approximates 1 abortion per 4 live births. In 1997, there were 1.33 million induced abortions compared to 3.88 million live births.
Legal Aspects of Induced Abortion in the United States
The United States Supreme Court ruled in 1973 (1) that the restrictive abortion laws in the U.S. were invalid, largely because these laws invaded the individual's right to privacy, and (2) that an abortion could not be denied to a woman in the first 3 months of pregnancy. The Court indicated that after 3 months a state may "regulate the abortion procedure in ways that are reasonably related to maternal health" and that after the fetus reaches the stage of viability (about 24 weeks) the states may refuse the right to terminate the pregnancy except when necessary for the preservation of the life or health of the mother. Still, much opposition is raised by various "right-to-life" groups and religious groups. In spite of this opposition, over 1 million procedures are still performed annually in the United States, with about one-third being performed on teenaged women. This dramatically emphasizes the inadequacy of sex education and the need for greater availability of adequate contraceptive methods in order to avoid such pregnancy wastage.
Evaluation of Patients Requesting Induced Abortion
Patients give varied reasons for requesting abortion. Since in some cases the request is made at the urging of the woman's parents or in-laws, husband, or peers, every effort should be made to ascertain that the patient herself desires abortion for her own reasons. In addition, one should be certain that she knows she is free to choose among other methods of solving the problem of unplanned pregnancy, eg, adoption or single-parent rearing.
Although the majority of abortions are performed as elective procedures, ie, because of social or economic reasons as opposed to medical reasons, some women still request such services for medical or surgical indications. For example, for women with certain medical conditions, such as Eisenmenger's complex and cystic fibrosis, continuation of pregnancy may pose a threat to the life of the mother. Other indications are pregnancy resulting from a rape or pregnancy with a fetus affected with a major disorder, eg, trisomy 13. In any event, the ultimate decision rests with the pregnant woman.
Two New Series Show The Stylish Side Of Motherhood Mothers Lives Are Profiled In A New Series Pregnant Models Are Tearing Up The Runways
(category: Pregnancy, Word count: 203)
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Moms have long had a special day once a year. Now one TV channel is featuring them every day of the week. Two brand-new series give viewers a perspective on the modern-day mom and her secrets to a healthy, balanced life-juggling career, family and personal time.
The shows feature women who mix motherhood with exciting and busy lives outside the home. They help bring attention to fun, hip and busy moms who know the secret to the healthy balance of work and family life.
A series for moms of today's fast-paced generation, "Yummy Mummy" celebrates and commiserates with the joys, challenges, payoffs and perils of being a modern-day parent, wife, professional and friend. Combining animated vignettes with live action, the show invites experts, celebrities and parents to share their knowledge and experiences. Host Erica Ehm is committed to uncovering the truth about parenting. She gives viewers a true understanding of a balanced, healthy and exciting life. The show can be seen Monday through Friday at noon and at 3 PM on Discovery Health.
"Runway Moms" is a v
Exercise During Pregnancy Can You Continue With Your Normal Routine
(category: Pregnancy, Word count: 269)
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Can you continue with your normal exercise during pregnancy? Well, back in the old days, pregnant women were considered to be fragile beings that should be hidden away until delivery. Thank God we don't live in those times now.
Just because you're pregnant, it doesn't mean that you can't get out there and get some active exercise. After you get the "all clear" from your doctor, be sure to fit in daily exercises during your pregnancy. In order to clear you for exercise, your doctor may give you some guidelines to follow to ensure a healthy pregnancy, but to get you started, here are some exercise guidelines of our own.
Sports & Recreation activities and exercises to avoid include:
-Contact sports and most competitive sports
-Any activity that can result in falling, such as downhill skiing or mountain biking
-Lying on your back or stomach during exercise, after the beginning of the fourth month
-Lifting heavy objects or heavy weight lifting
-Intense cardiovascular exercise - your heartbeat should remain under 140 beats per minute during your workout.
-Scuba diving or any activity that involves pressurized air
The most appropriate exercise during pregnancy can include:
-Prenatal Yoga
-Walking
Exercise is important during pregnancy. It can alleviate aches and pains, depression, and fatigue. Exercise also gives you the endurance and flexibility to get through your pregnancy and through labor. So what are you waiting for? Get out there, get active, and stay healthy. Exercise during your pregnancy is a great thing to do for you AND your baby.
Tips For A Healthy Pregnancy
(category: Pregnancy, Word count: 504)
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Giving birth will no doubt be one of the most magical moments of your life and to ensure that your child is strong and happy, it is important you do all you can to have a healthy pregnancy. To help you and your baby on your way, this article has compiled a number of tips that are guaranteed to make those nine pregnancy months the best they can be!
The first thing you must do when you find you are pregnant is to visit an obstetrician/gynecologist (OBGYN). They will give you an ultrasound to see how far along you are and whether your pregnancy appears to be normal. This stage is crucial and it is important not to leave this too late.
After this, you must begin to change your lifestyle. Remember, you are no longer eating and exercising for yourself but for two! Firstly, if you are a smoker or a drinker, you must quit. Cigarette smoke can lead to low birth weight in babies as well as miscarriages and tubal pregnancies so try to avoid second hand smoke as it is not conducive to a healthy pregnancy. The same can be said for alcohol and other toxic chemicals and substances such as paint fumes. These items are both damaging to the mother and to the pregnancy.
Another part of changing your lifestyle is your diet during pregnancy. Make sure to drink plenty of water - about 6 to 8 glasses a day. It is not healthy to be overweight or underweight during a pregnancy but do remember that you shouldn't diet during pregnancy. Pregnancy is not a time to be worrying about your weight! Don't skip meals as you and your baby need as much nutrition and calories as possible, although not the fattening kind so make sure you get a balance. Junk food is great to satisfy those crazy pregnancy cravings but try not to go overboard!
If you are worried about weight gain during pregnancy, a great alternative to dieting is light exercise. You may not have loved it before your pregnancy, but learn to love it now as it will definitely pay off in the long run by keeping your baby healthy and your body fit. Light exercises will not harm your pregnancy so try swimming, yoga and walking.
An additional healthy pregnancy tip that those with busy schedules tend to forget is the importance of sleep. Make sure to get plenty of rest so that you and your baby can recuperate and to ensure that your immune system is as strong as possible. It is advised that you rest on your side to reduce swelling and generate the best circulation to your baby.
To recap: avoid damaging substances such as nicotine and alcohol, don't diet during pregnancy, drink plenty of water, practice as much exercise as safely possible, and get plenty of sleep! Following these pregnancy tips will make certain that you have a healthy pregnancy and have a happy and fit child.
Should A Mom At Home Own An Otoscope In Caring For Her Baby Or Her Kids
(category: Pregnancy, Word count: 364)
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We are all familar with the sight of our family doctor using a diagnostic tool called an otoscope to take a look into our ears when we seemingly have some ear infection, or some pain arising from the ears.
That is all well when the doctor, as a physician handles that task.
But the question is this: " Should a stay-at-home mom own an otoscope and perform ear inspections herself on her baby or her kids?"
To answer that question, I researched the internet and also look at feedback from many stay-at-home moms, to tap their experience and to see what they are doing.
The answer was a overwhelmingly "YES".
Moms-at-home feel that they should take a more active role in ensuring the health of their children, rather than to have this role performed solely by their physicians.
Moms-at-home feel empowered when they own an otoscope and can use it to identify potential problems in their infant's ears, especially when they find their babies tugging their ear lobes or crying with some form of discomfort arising from their ears.
When they own an otoscope, they can use it readily to take a look into their infant's ears to see whether it is reddish, which will suggest a ear infection just starting off and then to refer their children to their pediatric or their child specialist for further diagnosis and treatment.
This gives them comfort and peace of mind that they can nab beginning ear infections in the early stages rather than finding out about these ear infections in their infants at 2 am in the hospital's emergency rooms.
Otoscopes come in different quality and at different prices. From a twenty dollar model to a quality otoscope such as the Welch Allyn otoscope which can cost a few hundred dollars, the key to a good otoscope is to ensure the lens is powerful enough to provide good manification.
Irregardless of the make or model, the majority of moms-at-home are thankful for this invention called an otoscope that is proving to be useful in helping them identify ear infections fast.
Practical Tips To Survive The 1st Trimester Of Pregnancy
(category: Pregnancy, Word count: 589)
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So, you've gotten over the elation of being pregnant. Now, despite the joy of having a little one growing in your belly, you (and your husband or boyfriend) need to deal with the nagging symptoms of pregnancy. Here are just a few tips to help you to survive:
1. Get plenty of rest: Most likely, you will be more tired than ever before during the first trimester. Listen to your body and go to bed or take naps when you are feeling tired. This may also mean cutting back on obligations, or going out with friends. Do not let yourself worry about housework, errands, or getting ready for the baby, which needs to be done. You will have more energy in the 2nd trimester, so let the things that can wait, wait. Also, ask your husband, boyfriend, or family to help you when you are tired.
2. Ask (or beg) your significant other to do the grocery shopping, cooking, and some of the cleaning: You may have aversions to foods in the first trimester or simply just do not have the desire to cook. Prepare a list of food items that you enjoy and ask your husband to prepare the meals each night or a few nights per week. Alleviating the stress of having to deal with food aversions at the grocery store and over the stove will help alleviate some of the nausea you may be feeling. Not only that, but if you are like me and working full time, you are tired in the evenings and will not feel like cooking or cleaning.
3. Make large meals on the weekends to last throughout the week: You will find that you have a little more energy for a few hours on the weekends. Snatch up those moments of energy to make a one-dish meal for the week (soups, casseroles, lasagnas, stews) so that you have something on the nights you lack the desire and energy to cook.
4. If you are experiencing nausea, try different avenues to alleviate it: There are many tips out there to ease the nausea, such as eating crackers in the morning before you get up, eating crackers all day, drinking ginger tea, and drinking ginger ale. I did not find these things to help with my nausea. One of the things that helped me was eating black licorice, eating grilled cheese sandwiches all day, and drinking lemonade. So, what works for one, does not work for all. Try different things.
5. Don't read all of the pregnancy books: Ask your doctor for one book that their practice recommends and stick with that book. If you feel the need to buy several books on the market, do not let yourself get worried about all of the things they discuss in these books. For example, I thought there was a chance that my baby was going to have neural tube defects (due to lack of folic acid) since I did not take prenatal vitamins prior to conception and in the first month of pregnancy. My doctor assured me that you do not even need to take the prenatal vitamins until the 20th week.
6. Call your doctor if you have concerns about anything! Your doctor will assure you more than the books or anyone else for that matter.
Lastly, have fun during your first trimester! Cherish all of the changes and experiences your body goes through during pregnancy as it forms a little miracle inside.
Pregnancy Week By Week Week 1 2
(category: Pregnancy, Word count: 335)
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Week #1
The most wonderful experience that can happen to a woman is to be pregnant. It is a truly amazing process of life and being able to go through 9 months of carrying another living, breathing person inside of you will change you forever.
When you think about pregnancy, you think about 9 months. But you actually have to start from the first day of your last menstrual cycle. Women have no idea when they ovulate or conceive, but they do know when the first day of their last menstrual cycle occurred. Ovulation won't take place for another 2 weeks, so you may actually conceive during week 3.
If you are planning on becoming pregnant, now is the time to start getting your body ready. You need to start taking prenatal vitamins, which contain folic acid and iron (two very important nutrients for fetus development early in pregnancy).
Also, start tracking ovulation by taking your basal body temperature and watch for the signs. Check out the article called "So You're Ready to Have a Baby....." to see more information.
Make sure to check back next week to see what happen in week 2. Until then, happy baby making.
Week #2
This is around the week of ovulation. You are now at the midpoint of your menstrual cycle (if you have a regular 28-day cycle), about to ovulate and are most likely to get pregnant. Your uterus has shed its lining and is preparing itself to house your fertilized egg. Your egg is ripening in one of your ovaries and is getting ready to be released.
A woman is truly fertile for about 4 days a month and this is determined by when she is ovulating. You need to keep track of your menstrual cycle, your basal temperature and the consistency of your cervical mucus. These will give you the best signs of when you are about to ovulate.
Prepare to have fun trying to make your baby.
Pregnancy Facts Coping With The First Trimester
(category: Pregnancy, Word count: 774)
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The first 0-12 weeks of a woman's pregnancy is called the first trimester. It is during this period that a woman's body experiences drastic changes during pregnancy. Discomforts and others may or may not be experienced by a pregnant woman during this time, to help you cope with it here are a list of the most common changes and discomforts and how to effectively deal with them.
Morning sickness and Nausea
The stretching of the uterine muscles and the pressure on the digestive tract due to the baby growing can cause increased stomach acids, the body reacts to this increase by releasing it through vomiting. As such, a woman's sense of smell is on hyperdrive during pregnancy; this can also increase irritability as well as the probability of vomiting.
Rejoice, for this doesn't stay for the whole nine months. Usually the vomiting stops after the third month. And do not worry the vomiting doesn't hurt the baby.
To help with morning sickness, try not too eat large meals instead eat small frequent meals so that the stomach doesn't get "shocked." Also, studies show that a diet abundant in complex carbohydrates, like bread and other starchy food, and proteins can help alleviate morning sickness. Also avoid eating fatty food.
Breast swelling
The body, in its preparation for the arrival of the baby, releases progesterone and estrogen in higher levels than usual. These hormones sends a message to the breast to produce more milk, this is in preparation for feeding the baby when it comes out.
The areolas will most likely enlarge and darken. Later on you may notice that these areas start to have white bumps. There may also be increased sensitivity in the breast area and you may also see blue lines along your breasts. These blue lines are only your blood vessels working hard to supply blood to your breasts.
Swelling may increase during the latter period of pregnancy; in this case one must use a good support bra of the right size.
Shortness of Breath and fatigue
Pregnancy can cause fatigue and other emotional changes in a woman. You should know that even while you sleep, your body is feeding another living being. During pregnancy, you body needs more rest. Fatigue is normal, and should go away after the body gets used to it.
To prevent yourself from being more irritable than you are and more tired, try to get as much sleep as you can in the night. The ideal length of sleep for an adult is eight hours, try to get this much every night.
A proper diet also helps with fatigue after all you're already feeding two people. One other reason for the fatigue may be the lack of vitamins and nutrients for the both of you. Take the vitamins that your doctor recommends and make sure you eat lots of nutrient-rich foods.
Exercise is also a big help. It doesn't have to b hard exercise, a light jog a slow walk can in sense practice your body for the extra work it does. But remember, a balance of exercise and rest is needed too much exercise or too much rest can also increase fatigue.
Irritability and mood changes
Because of the increased presence of hormones, mood swings are uncommon, this happens to women monthly during pre-menstrual syndrome.
Lightheadedness
During pregnancy the heart is pumping harder to provide extra blood to the legs and the uterus, as such a woman may experience dizziness due to the lack of blood flow into the brain. Low blood sugar levels can also contribute to dizziness. The best thing to do in this case is to make sure that you eat protein rich food and frequent smaller meals.
Urination Frequency
The rapid growth of the uterus presses the other internal organs away, this includes the bladder. Usually the frequency decreases when the uterus settles into the abdominal cavity. It may return on the third trimester when the uterus drops back down to prepare for birth.
Try leaning forward while urinating. This is to make sure that you empty your bladder completely and can help in decreasing the urinating frequency.
These are the more common discomforts during pregnancy, others like varicose veins, cravings and heartburn are all normal. Being prepared early can help a lot during pregnancy. Be sure to have regular check-ups with your doctor as well as a proper diet, vitamins and exercise.
Note: This article may be freely reproduced as long as the AUTHOR'S resource box at the bottom of this article is included and all links must be Active/Linkable with no syntax changes.
How Pregnancy Pillows Can Save Your Back
(category: Pregnancy, Word count: 422)
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Someone that has not been pregnant will never understand the discomfort it sometimes brings. Because the extra weight your body is carrying and the disproportionate manner it is situated, areas of your back, hips, legs, and feet often feel incredible pain and discomfort. However, pregnancy pillows can be used to ease the pain and support the extra weight. Pregnancy pillows can be used to sleep with or during the day to provide extra comfort needed.
Basically, pregnancy pillows are specially designed to fit on certain parts of your body and add support. There are several different types made to fit on your lower back, between your knees or thighs, on your neck, or on your stomach.
As you progress through the stages of pregnancy, it will be more and more difficult to get comfortable. It will likely get to the point that you have a hard time sleeping because every way you lay causes discomfort. As your stomach gets bigger, sleeping on your back will make you feel as though you can not breathe, and, of course, sleeping on your stomach does not work. For these reasons, you will most likely end up on your side. However, the extra weight makes your hips hurt and you are not able to reposition very well. Luckily, pregnancy pillows provide relief!
The ideal position is lying on your side with a pregnancy pillow between your knees/thighs and another behind your back. The pillow between your legs offers support and relieves some of the pressure on your hips, while the pillow behind your back allows you to lie back slightly when you want to reposition. This gives you a range of motion and also gives your back a break. This way, you have the option to lie at almost any angle on each side, instead of being restricted.
Sitting for long periods of time also makes your joints ache when you are pregnant. A pregnancy pillow behind the back will also help this, as well as propping the feet up periodically. Some women feel relief from placing a pillow in their laps to support the extra weight of their stomachs. These techniques can also be used when driving to prevent stiffness and discomfort.
There are many models of pregnancy pillows available. Some are made of regular pillow materials, such as cotton or down, and other, more expensive models, are made of memory foam. Take your time and try out the different kinds to pick the most comfortable for you.
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