Childbirth & Pregnancy
More Pregnancy and Birth ArticlesCat Pose
This simple yoga pose/exercise can really help ease back pain in pregnancy as well as a bunch of other issues, it's called Cat Pose. Have you tried it? You'll love it - try it tonight. More Fitness Friday:
Photo © Swifter/Fotolia Cat Pose originally appeared on About.com Pregnancy & Childbirth on Friday, February 3rd, 2012 at 13:45:43. Permalink | Comment | Email this Color Names for Baby
Beyonce and JayZ are not the first parents to choose a baby name that is a color, but baby Blue Ivy might be one of the most recent ones to be well known. Using names that have to do with colors is a fairly old practice. In fact, some of the "oldest" names I can think of are colors, like Rose. I also think of names that have to do with coloring, like names that mean things like fair haired (Xanthe). I started thinking of this when someone shared that she named her kids after shades of her favorite color. So it wouldn't be obvious to the average person that her kids' names all had something in common, but it made her happy. Would you name your child a color name? What color and why? Related:
Color Names for Baby originally appeared on About.com Pregnancy & Childbirth on Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 at 16:50:12. Permalink | Comment | Email this Announcing Your Pregnancy on Valentine's Day
It's almost Valentine's Day and you may be waiting to find out if you're pregnant. Have you considered waiting for this special date to share your big news? Lots of women choose to make pregnancy announcements on special occasions. In fact, we have a few stories to share of Valentine's Day pregnancy announcements. If you get a big fat positive (BFP) on your pregnancy test consider doing something special! Photo © iStockPhoto Announcing Your Pregnancy on Valentine's Day originally appeared on About.com Pregnancy & Childbirth on Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 at 10:20:04. Permalink | Comment | Email this Belittled for Pregnancy Weight Gain?
At a recent mothers group I attended some of the women were talking about pregnancy weight gain. This isn't an uncommon topic for mother's to discuss, but what really surprised me was what the women had to say about their doctor's attitudes towards weight gain. One mom was about 8 months pregnant and she shared her story. She had had a rough patch with morning sickness in the beginning and lost a bit of weight in the first trimester. Her doctor had told her not to worry about the weight loss. So as her appetite returned and her nausea dissipated, she began to gain weight. By 24 weeks she had gained a total of 12 pounds. Her doctor saw her chart and mooed at her. He laughed and told her to watch her weight. She thought it odd but wrote it off as a poor attempt at humor. At her 28 week visit she had gained 3 more pounds, for a total of 15, and the doctor mooed at her again. Then he told her that she really should "learn to push the plate away." When she asked him what he expected her to gain for the pregnancy, he told her that 15 pounds was "plenty." The mom pointed out that she was up 15 from the lowest point, but only a bit over 5 pounds from her prepregnancy weight. He said it didn't matter. He explained that she was setting herself up to get "fat" and to have a ton of pregnancy complications from growing an overly large baby that she'd probably "need a c-section" to get out. The mom said she was dumbfounded. She walked out and never went back. She called her friend and got a recommendation for a new OB/GYN. She said her new OB actually was encouraging her to eat well and to make her food count. The new office had a nutritionist on board who explained that the weight gain was actually low but on track for a healthy pregnancy. She was glad she switched OBs, but couldn't believe it when other women shared stories about being belittled for pregnancy weight gain as well. Have you ever been belittled for your pregnancy weight gain? This blog is a part of the Doctors Behaving Badly Blog Carnival. Related:
Photo © iStockPhoto Belittled for Pregnancy Weight Gain? originally appeared on About.com Pregnancy & Childbirth on Monday, January 30th, 2012 at 08:59:32. Permalink | Comment | Email this Neck Stretch
Headaches and neck tension can cause you pain in pregnancy. But there is a simple stretch that you can do from your desk or anywhere to help relieve the pain and tension called simply the neck stretch. Have you tried it? You'll love it - try it right now. Doesn't that feel better? More Fitness Friday:
Photo © Vojtech/Fotolia Neck Stretch originally appeared on About.com Pregnancy & Childbirth on Friday, January 27th, 2012 at 09:22:56. Permalink | Comment | Email this Home Birth on the Rise Historically speaking, home birth was were the vast majority of babies were born prior to the 1900s. As recently as the 19040s, home birth comprised 44% of the births in the United States. This number had dropped to about 1% by 1969. This is were the number stayed for many years. In a recent look at the data, the CDC found that the number of home births has been on the rise in recent years, since about 2004 - by about 29%. While the absolute number is still low, 29,650 births in 2009, this increase is notable. About 1 in 90 births to non-hispanic white women are home births. There are also more women who are over 35, married and low risk giving birth at home. They feel that this means that women are being screened to accept only low risk women in the home birth setting. Of the home births only 5% were attended by physicians, 33% were listed as other, this could be mother, father, friend, emergency medical personnel, etc. This leaves 62% of home births being attended by midwives. (19% certified nurse midwives and 43% other midwives (including certified professional midwives, direct entry midwives, etc.) This compares to 92% of births in a hospital being attended by physicians, with about 7% attended by midwives. While they tried to look briefly at why women were choosing home birth, let's face it, birth certificate data doesn't ask you why you chose where you gave birth. The reasons most moms choose home birth are varied and complex. Some reasons that mothers give for choosing home birth include:
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) says that when decided on a home birth a mother should make sure that she is a good candidate for home birth (e.g. low risk), that she should choose a doctor or midwife who is qualified and has ready "access to consultation" and the ability to transport to a hospital in a timely manner should the need arise. Do you know someone who has had a home birth?
Related:
Sources American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Committee Opinion: Planned Home Birth. Number 476. February 2011. MacDorman MF, Mathews TJ, Declercq E. Home births in the United States, 1990- 2009. NCHS data brief, no 84. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2012. Photo © iStockPhoto Home Birth on the Rise originally appeared on About.com Pregnancy & Childbirth on Thursday, January 26th, 2012 at 12:00:43. Permalink | Comment | Email this What do you call the grandparents?
When I first got pregnant, I knew my mom would want to pick some really random name to be called by the baby. When she became an aunt she wanted to be called Aunty Mame. (My cousins called her Mamie instead!). So rather than pick something normal like grandma, nana or nearly anything else, she wanted to be known as Grand. Well, the kids all called her Grandy and today it still stands, even 21 years after she became a grandma. What do the kids in your family call grandparents? Do you let the kids pick the names? Or the grandparents? Did your parents care? Let me know in the comments what you have to say about naming the grandparents. Related: Photo© Monkey Business - Fotolia.com What do you call the grandparents? originally appeared on About.com Pregnancy & Childbirth on Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 at 08:56:08. Permalink | Comment | Email this Miscarriage: It Just Sucks
Having a miscarriage or other pregnancy loss is hard on anyone. I know that when we had our pregnancy losses, my husband was just as devastated as I was, only he lacked the support that I had. Ryan tells of his experience as a father after a miscarriage:
What was your experience as a father after miscarriage? Or how did your partner respond after you had a miscarriage? Related:
Follow me on: Facebook, Twitter, Google+ & Pinterest! Photo © Barbara Penoyar/Getty Images Miscarriage: It Just Sucks originally appeared on About.com Pregnancy & Childbirth on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 at 08:52:55. Permalink | Comment | Email this Worried About No Pregnancy Symptoms?
We spend a lot of time talking about pregnancy symptoms. What they are, what they mean and how to deal with them. The truth is that makes a lot of women feel really nervous. They have a positive pregnancy test. They assume they are pregnant and they wait for the pregnancy symptoms. But when the morning sickness, fatigue and everything else that's possible fails to set in, what's a mom to think? The first thing to realize is that you shouldn't panic. Many moms don't experience pregnancy symptoms until the sixth week of pregnancy, once the hormones reach certain levels and your baby is the size of a black eyed pea. (Then you might be missing your symptom free days!) It is also possible that you're one of the women who don't feel horribly during your pregnancy, the ones that have a relatively easy time of it and that's okay too. There is really only one time to worry. Tell me in the comments: Did you have a symptom free pregnancy? Related:
Photo © Dreamstime Worried About No Pregnancy Symptoms? originally appeared on About.com Pregnancy & Childbirth on Monday, January 23rd, 2012 at 09:01:15. Permalink | Comment | Email this What a Newborn Baby Looks Like
You're probably looking very forward to the day that your baby is born. You've been imagining it for months. One thing that most parents tell me about their expectations versus reality of this moment is that the baby usually looks very differently than they anticipated. Most babies have at least one of characteristics of a newborn in their appearance. What do you think would surprise you the most or did surprise you the most? Related:
Photo © iStockPhoto What a Newborn Baby Looks Like originally appeared on About.com Pregnancy & Childbirth on Friday, January 20th, 2012 at 09:15:46. Permalink | Comment | Email this
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