Pregnancy - How Much Folic Acid Should I Take?

Spina bifida is a birth defect that can happen to anyone. There is no known cause of spina bifida, but research has shown that if a woman takes 400 mcg of folic acid every day for at least one month before conception, she reduces her risk of having a baby with spina bifida or another neural tube defect by as much as 70 percent. Folic acid is found in foods such as cereals, broccoli, spinach and other leafy green vegetables and citrus fruits.

The Correct Average Weight Gain During Pregnancy

Most of the women are confused about the average weight gain during pregnancy. Not all women need to gain the same number of pounds. Pregnancy doesn t mean gorging on whatever food that comes your way thus leading to mindless addition of pounds. This depends more on your overall health, height, and weight before pregnancy. Pregnancy Weight Problems If you do not gain enough weight during pregnancy, there may be fetal malformations. If your body does not get enough nutrients, your baby will find it hard to get enough for its good and healthy growth.

Pregnancy - How is Spina Bifida Detected?

If you are pregnant, you will be offered prenatal screening tests to check for spina bifida and other birth defects. These tests are not perfect. Even if the results are negative, there is still a small chance that spina bifida is present, and many mothers who have positive blood tests have normal babies. Speak with your doctor about prenatal testing, its risks and how you might handle the results. Prenatal testing is a personal choice.

Epidural Analgesia-Pregnancy

Many women find the pain of labor too intense to bear without effective pain relief, and an epidural analgesia provides the best pain relief compared to all other methods. In the US, more than 80 percent of first-time moms ultimately have an epidural analgesia, other take a wait and see attitude. How It Works Epidural analgesia works by delivering very small doses of an anesthetic through a hollow tube to the epidural space, which surrounds the spinal cord.

Caesarean Birth And Post Traumatic Stress

Have you recently found out that your baby will need to be born by caesarean? Did you labour for hours or days only to have a surgical birth in the end? Do you have concerns about the decision? Perhaps you are even angry or depressed? Do you feel as if somehow you failed as a mother and a woman? A mild form of depression, called the baby blues effects as many as 70 to 80 of new mums.

Induce Labor? Why Not Wait For Nature?

Let us first understand the term induce labor. If you are well past your delivery date and undergo false labor with no signs of natural labor, then you stand at a risk to both your self and your baby. At this point, your doctor can use some techniques to induce or start up your labor. Reasons Behind The Need To Induce Labor: If your water bag has already burst and still you do not show any beginning of natural labor.

How To Use Mental Imagery To Connect With Your Unborn Baby

The following article presents the latest information on mental imagery and unborn baby. If you have a particular interest in the topic, then this article is required reading. Once you begin to move beyond basic background information, you begin to realize there is more to mental imagery and unborn baby than you may have first thought. According to the From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, this is how the mental image form in brain. Have you ever wondered why you seem to get a mental picture of something happening when you are reading a book?

Problems during pregnancy and some tips to alleviate them

Being pregnant should be one of the happiest times of your life with all the expectations and dreams for the future. However, there are a number of some symptoms of pregnancy that can make this time quite uncomfortable. Here are a few of the more common. Morning sickness affects up to 70 of pregnant women. This includes nausea, and sometimes vomiting, especially in the morning hence its name. You might go off certain foods because the smell makes you feel queasy.

Aromatherapy for Pregnancy

1.Dilute, Dilute, Dilute: Because essential oils are concentrated they will need to be diluted before they are used. For pregnant women, dilutions for essential oil blends should stand at 2. This means that one should use 10 drops of oil in 2 TBS of carrier oil. For a bath, using 5-10 drops of essential oil should be safe. 2.Avoid These Essential Oils: There are certain essential oils that should be avoided while one is pregnant.

Do Feeding And Alcohol Go Together?

Before we talk about feeding and alcohol, you need to know that there are two hormones that work in breastfeeding. They are prolactin and oxytocin. The former arouses your breast to produce milk while the latter urges it to release the milk to the nipple in order to enable your baby to suckle. When you drink alcohol the level of prolactin increases. At the same time the level of oxytocin decreases. As a result, you feel the fullness of milk in your breasts but actually your baby has to suckle harder to get it because it s not been pushed to the nipple for easy suckling.