Archive for the ‘Pregnancy’ Category
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Comfortable sleep positions in pregnancy?
There are plenty of reasons it can be tough to find a comfortable sleeping position during pregnancy, especially once you are half-way through! Whether it’s heartburn that is bugging you, or the size of your belly prevents you from finding a position that is comfortable enough to actually stay asleep, this is something many pregnant women struggle with. What are the best sleep positions in pregnancy?
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Supporting women with Hyperemesis Gravidarum
This is part 2 of the article Diana “Whining Puker” wrote about Hyperemesis Gravidarum. You can see part 1 by clicking on the link!
In the HG world, I had it easy. Super-easy. Walk-in-the-park-with-balloons-and-birds-singing kind of easy. In fact, my HG was so “mild” that many would not even characterize it as HG. Why? Because there are many HG women who spend their entire pregnancies hospitalized, vomiting blood and bile. Who come out weighing less at birth (baby included) than they did pre-conception. Who have IVs for the duration of the pregnancy, or even PICC lines (peripherally inserted central catheters) because they are so, so, so sick. Who have lifelong adverse health effects from the strain on their bodies. On those terms, I did indeed have it easy.
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The Week That Changed My Life: An Introduction to Hyperemesis Gravidarum
This is a guest post from Diana – a sister birth blogger and a wife, worker at home, and mother to two boys. She lives with her family in the Phoenix Valley of Arizona, USA. In her few spare moments, she enjoys participating in her local birth community, reading, baking, helping out at church, and blogging about hyperemesis and birth at the Whining Puker and Birth at Home in Arizona. This is part 1. Come back for part 2 tomorrow!
There is so much to be said on the subject of hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), that is, extreme nausea and vomiting of pregnancy, that I could never really give the subject the depth that it deserves. So I’ll begin at the beginning and just tell my story. Six years ago, my husband and I decided that the time had come to start our family. Our first child was lost in a blighted ovum miscarriage (characterized by a symptomless pregnancy before the loss) at eight and a half weeks.
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Preventing and treating pregnancy anemia
Iron-deficiency anemia is pretty common in pregnancy, especially among vegetarians. There are many reasons to avoid it if possible, and treat it as soon as possible if you find out you have it. What are some of the best ways to treat and prevent pregnancy anemia? Read the rest of this entry »
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Morning sickness remedies
Morning sickness, as this vomiting and nausea during pregnancy is still commonly but mistakenly called, can be one of the most challenging experiences of early pregnancy. Around 75 percent of all pregnant women will feel sick and vomit on a regular basis. There is no doubt that this is totally normal. But there are things you can do to make things a little easier for you. What are they?
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Checklist of fear – pregnancy and birth edition
Issa at Love Live Grow, recently published a thought provoking post about fear. Specifically, she made a whole list of the “obligatory” things that people do to help them keep safe. Many of the points on her checklist of fear consist of “common wisdom” that circulates around society, and that is supposed to keep danger at bay. They range from “when walking in the street, be aware of whether anyone is behind you” to more obscure things like “beware of Halloween candy, it may contain hidden razors”. Issa’s point is that these things, when taken together, do not keep us safe but prevent us from living our lives instead. This is the pregnancy and birth edition of the checklist of fear.
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How important is prenatal care?
Prenatal care, as it is widely understood today, refers to medical check ups during pregnancy. They can be performed by an obstetrician or a midwife, or sometimes perhaps a family doctor. What is the purpose of prenatal care? What does it do for mothers and babies during pregnancy? Does prenatal care make a difference in maternal and fetal outcomes? And, perhaps more to the point, should we redefine what prenatal care means?
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Valuable third-trimester lessons #1: Turn off your phone
Pregnancy sometimes tests your patience and your limits in unexpected ways. I thought I would share some “valuable lessons” from the third trimester of pregnancy, some my own, and some other women’s. This is Number One. If you have told everyone who asked, and some who did not, when your estimated due date (EDD) is, people will turn out to have this amazing ability to start calling, texting, or emailing you. “Is the baby there yet?”, or “Are you in labor yet”? When this happens, turning off your phone, and not checking your email, can be surprisingly liberating.
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Fun things to do when you’re waiting for labor to start
Any woman who has ever given birth knows that feeling… You are in your third trimester, and your estimated due date is approaching or has been and gone. Everything is ready for the new baby. You are totally ready for the birth, and spend your days waiting for labor to start. It is not exactly the right time to go traveling very far to overcome this weird mix of boredom and anticipation, but you do want to keep busy. What are some fun things that you can do when you’re waiting for labor to start? Read the rest of this entry »
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Placental abruption during pregnancy
The placenta is such a crucial and fascinating organ – or at least, I think so! It is pretty interesting how the placenta comes to be from the same cells as a baby, and then nurtures our babies while they are in the uterus. It is fascinating how they can nurture us too, after our babies are born (yes, I’m into placentophagy – eating your placenta). But what can go wrong with placentas during pregnancy and birth? Let’s look at placental abruption. Placental abruption, or abruptio placentae in Latin, refers to the placenta seperating from the wall of the uterus before the baby is born. What causes a placental abruption, what are the symptoms, and how is it treated?
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