Things women should do in pregnancy

For women who are pregnant, it is such a time to be relieved of certain chores in the home and workplace, a time to eat more and adhere to a number of rules, for the sake of their health and that of the foetus in their womb.

This is partly because it has been established that the actions and inactions of a pregnant woman go a long way to impact on the well-being of the foetus she’s carrying. Thus, the need to examine the things a pregnant woman should do.

Visit a pre-conception clinic: Usually, women start visiting the hospital when they want to register for prenatal care, and that is about few months into the pregnancy, but, according to a consultant endocrinologist, Dr. Michael Olamoyegun, a woman should see a doctor even before she is pregnant, which means consulting a doctor when she is still anticipating the pregnancy is important.

But why should a woman see the doctor about a pregnancy that has yet to be? Olamoyegun explained that this is to ensure that the woman puts on hold any habit, drug usage or attitude that she has been involved in that may endanger the life of the foetus. He said this is more important for people who have chronic medical conditions, like hypertension and diabetes.

He said, “The first thing before being pregnant is to see a doctor. In developed countries, they have pre-conception clinics for women anticipating pregnancy. The woman could have been taking certain drugs that are not compatible with pregnancy, and she would need to stop such.

“For example, if she is planning to be pregnant in three months and she has hypertension, the doctor could look at the drugs she had been taking to control her blood pressure, and then withdraw some of them that might not be compatible with pregnancy, to avoid some adverse effects on the baby.

“Here, some women don’t even go for ante-natal booking until the pregnancy is advanced, which is not right. So, if somebody is taking a drug that is not compatible with pregnancy, and that person has taken it throughout the time of being pregnant until it is later discovered, that could have adverse effects on the baby. So, the ideal thing is to see a doctor before being pregnant, especially for those who have chronic condition, like hypertension, diabetes.”

He said if somebody has diabetes and the blood sugar is not well controlled, that is not the best time for the person to be pregnant, because uncontrolled blood sugar affects pregnancy on its own; make the pregnancy to be aborted and make the foetus to develop congenital abnormalities.

But if the person had come before getting pregnant, the doctor would be able to regulate the blood sugar and put it under control before the person would be pregnant. This and many other reasons are why you should discuss with your doctor before getting pregnant.

Avoid smoking and taking alcohols: According to the expert, one other thing pregnant women should avoid is taking alcohols and smoking. He said these substances contain some chemicals that could have adverse effects on the foetus, and could cause “congenital abnormalities.”

Findings show that a child could develop disorders such as low intelligence, problems with hearing and seeing, short height, low body weight, small head size and behaviour problems if the mother smokes or drinks during pregnancy. Thus, to have healthy children, stay away from alcohol and smoking.

Don’t take drugs, unless prescribed: Pregnant women are also advised not to take drugs, including antibiotics, except they are prescribed by a doctor. “Most antibiotics, antidiabetic, anti-hypertensive and antiasthma drugs are not very safe in pregnancy, especially during the first trimester, when the development of all the body structures usually takes place. So, any alteration from any drug or smoking can have a devastating effect on the foetus,” Olamoyegun said.

Don’t wear tight clothes: It may be fashionable dress to wear, especially by those who don’t want others to know they are pregnant, whether the pregnancy is unwanted or not, but it has always been advised that pregnant women should always wear loose or roomy dresses. “If a pregnant woman wears a tight dress, it can form a band on the tummy and even compress the pregnancy, so, it is not encouraged,” Olamoyegun added.

Eat quality food and in good quantity: Even though there is no basic restriction on the kind of food a woman should take during pregnancy, it has however been advised that such women should take more of food that are rich in protein, so as to increase their blood flow, more so that the foetus would benefit from the same food.

According to the expert, if the woman is not well fed, the foetus would not get enough nutrients, which would impact on the size of the baby and the development of the brain.

He said, “One of the things that cause intrauterine growth retardation, in which case the baby does not attain the expected growth rate, is malnutrition. So, if the woman is malnourished or the quality of the food she eats is not good, it will impact on the size of the baby and the development of the brain.”

He explained further that when a child does not have the normal weight at birth, it can serve as a precursor for the development of kidney problem, diabetes and hypertension when the child grows old.

“That is why we encourage women to eat well and they can eat what they like, especially proteinous food, even though there are taboos, like not eating snail or okro. Those are all myths and misconceptions,” he explained.

Mind your sleep position: Due to the bulging stomach, it has been found that there are some sleep positions that pregnant women should avoid. According to Olamoyegun, pregnant women should avoid sleeping on their tummy, and sleeping on their back has its bad side as well. They should also have good rest.

He said they should avoid any sleeping position that would make the uterus, especially when the pregnancy is advanced, to compress either on the blood vessel or on the bladder. However, he said the best sleeping position is to sleep on their side, whether left or right, and or any posture that is convenient for them and the baby.

He said, “When they sleep on their side, it is better and they find it easier to stand. But when they lie on their back, we don’t encourage them to stand up without turning to the left or the right. If you lie on your back, especially when the pregnancy is advanced, it compresses the abdomen and that would indirectly be on the foetus when you stand from bed like that.”

According to a study published on Mail Online, pregnant women should wash their fruits and vegetables before eating them, because it makes a lot of difference to the health of the baby.

They are also advised to avoid seafood (and if they must eat, it must be well-cooked), ice cream and some herbs to avoid listeria, which is food poisoning or other disease caused by infection with a type of bacterium that infects humans and other warm-blooded animals.

While pregnant women are advised to engage in some exercise, like yoga, to stay in shape and burn fats that would have remained when the baby bump is gone after childbirth, the study found that doing rollerblading, horse riding, downhill skiing and some other exercises should be avoided. It should also be noted that any exercise by a pregnant woman should be moderate and must be under the supervision of a trained instructor.

In the same vein, ankle massage should be avoided, as it has been found that certain pressure points in the ankles can stimulate labour. So, to avoid premature birth, you should stay away from that, no matter how fun it is.

And due to the sensitivity of the skin at that period, pregnant women are advised to limit their exposure to the sun.

Speaking on the need to do exercise in pregnancy, Mirella Ingamels, a personal trainer in Lincoln, United Kingdom, said, “For their own wellbeing and sanity, pregnant women shouldn’t let themselves go.

She said, “Exercise during pregnancy can also reduce pain and give women a stronger chance of re-gaining their post-baby body once they give birth, boosting their confidence. You lose the baby bump but you don’t lose the body fat – that stays with you. And your body changes after pregnancy.

“Being healthy and active gives mothers a better chance of having an easier labour and means they will be less likely to need a Caesarean,” she added.

(PUNCH)

Seven health mistakes all pregnant women make

You already know you should eat healthy, exercise and keep your prenatal care appointments, but when it comes to other decisions you might have misconceptions about your pregnancy health.

Here are seven of the most common mistakes pregnant women make and easy ways to fix them.k

1. Overlooking the Zika virus

As of August 25th, there have been 624 reported cases of pregnant women in the U.S. with lab evidence of the Zika virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Although women have been advised to avoid travel where Zika has been circulating, women who live in those areas or decide to travel anyway might not use insect repellant or use the wrong type of insect repellant to prevent mosquito bites, said Dr. Alyssa Dweck, a board-certified OB/GYN in Mt. Kisco, N.Y. and an assistant clinical professor at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.

Dweck recommends pregnant women and those planning to become pregnant use insect repellant with DEET sprayed on their clothing, not directly on their skin. If your sexual partner has traveled to an area with Zika, you should also use condoms to prevent the spread of the virus.

2. Treating pregnancy like a condition

“The greatest mistake I’ve seen women in pregnancy make is this idea that somehow it’s a much different state than the rest of their lives and that they have to change everything that they do,” said Dr. Jennifer Lang, a board-certified OB/GYN in Los Angeles and author of, “The Whole 9 Months: A Week-By-Week Pregnancy Nutrition Guide with Recipes for a Healthy Start.”

Remember that pregnancy is natural and normal and although you might have to avoid certain foods like sushi, pregnancy shouldn’t be a free pass to overindulge on foods you crave.

“If it’s not a great idea to do when you’re not pregnant, it’s not a great idea to do in pregnancy,” she said.

3. Eating for two

Nearly 50 percent of women gain more than the recommended amount of weight during pregnancy, according to a study in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

“Women think that because they’re pregnant they have to double their calories and it couldn’t be further from the truth,” Lang said.

Women who are obese during pregnancy have an increased risk for miscarriage, stillbirth, preterm birth and difficult deliveries, gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, preeclampsia, sleep apnea and blood clots. Infants born to obese mothers are also more likely to have birth defects and be obese themselves later on in life.

The American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends women with a normal body mass index (BMI) get an extra 340 calories a day in the second trimester and an extra 450 calories a day in the third trimester.

If you’re carrying twins or multiples, or you’re overweight or obese when you start your pregnancy, talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian nutritionist about a plan that’s right for you.

4. Avoiding sex

“Some women feel incredibly sexual during pregnancy and others feel like, ‘No way, no how,’” Dweck said.

Unless your doctor has told you that there’s a medical reason why you shouldn’t have sex, there’s no reason to avoid it. In fact, if your pregnancy is full-term, sex may actually jump-start labor because the prostaglandins from semen may soften the cervix and cause uterine contractions.

You can get creative with different positions to make sex more comfortable, but it’s important to avoid lying flat on your back because it can compress the vena cava, the vein that returns blood to the heart.

5. Opting out of vaccines

Pregnant women may decide not to get the seasonal flu shot over concerns about its effectiveness or safety. Yet it’s the best way to avoid serious complications from the flu, which pregnant women are at risk for because of the changes to the immune system that happen during pregnancy, Dweck said.

In fact, a study in the journal Pediatrics showed that 90 percent of women didn’t get the flu vaccine, yet the infants of mothers who did had a 70 percent reduced risk of the flu.

What’s more, infants of mothers who receive the flu vaccine in the third trimester are 33 percent less likely to be hospitalized for respiratory illness in the first six months after they’re born, found a study presented at the Options for the Control of Influenza 2016 Conference in Chicago.

The CDC also recommends women receive the whooping cough vaccine during the third trimester of pregnancy to protect their babies from the disease before they receive the vaccine at two months.

6. Neglecting your core

Exercise is healthy for you and your baby but many women avoid training their abdominal muscles during pregnancy because they fear they could hurt themselves or their babies while others don’t even realize they should be doing it, said Leah Keller, a pre- and post-natal fitness expert in San Francisco, California and creator of The Dia Method.

The core muscles can help to prevent falls and injuries that are more common during pregnancy and make delivery shorter and easier. Training the core during pregnancy can also help prevent damage from diastasis recti— the separation of the rectus abdominis muscles that affect approximately sixty percent of first-time— singleton pregnancies.

To make sure you train safely, ask your physician to recommend a program or a trainer who has experience with prenatal fitness and diastasis recti.

7. Overdosing on vitamins and supplements

You already know you need to take your prenatal vitamins, but if you’re loading up on extra vitamins and over-the-counter herbal supplements, there’s no evidence it can help and it could actually be harmful to your baby, Lang said.

A better way is to get your nutrition through food. A whole-foods, primarily plant-based diet, will likely give you the right amount of nutrients you need.

“It’s the way our body was meant to assimilate vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients in combination with this very complex blend that tends to be absorbed more optimally by the body,” Lang said.

If morning sickness or food aversions get in the way and you think you need a supplement, check with your doctor first to make sure what you’re taking is safe.

 

Source: Julie Revelant (FOX)

Police rescue three pregnant victims from baby factory in Delta

Three female human trafficking victims namely: Esther Frank, 17; Chinyere Ude, 19; and Happiness Igwe, 20 have been rescued by operatives of the police Special Anti-Kidnapping Squad, Asaba at a hideout on Okpanam Road, Asaba.
The Delta State Police Commissioner, Mr. Zanna Ibrahim, told reporters yesterday in Asaba that the victims, who are all with advanced pregnancies, told the police they were brought to the hideout by a lady, Uju Okonkwo, a suspected fake nurse working at Chinonso Hospital, Nkpor in Anambra State, for the purpose of selling their children after delivery.
Ibrahim said after intensive surveillance by operatives following a tip-off by a whistleblower, Uju and a suspected fake lawyer, Mr. Ezurum Joseph, who provided the hideout where the victims were harboured, were arrested last on August 2.
The police boss said the suspects were helping law enforcement agents in investigation and would soon be arraigned in court.
Also, a pastor, who allegedly raped a minor, was arrested by the police in Delta State.
The pastor, who owns a church in Asaba, was apprehended for allegedly defiling an eight- year-old girl in his residence.
The Police Commissioner explained that on Wednesday July 20, the victim and other children, including the pastor’s children were playing when the cleric ordered everyone, including his children to go outside the compound to play, while he invited the victim into his room and had carnal knowledge of her.
Ibrahim noted that as a result, the victim started experiencing severe pain in her private part after a week and consequently, reported the incident to her parents.
In another development, a lecturer at the, Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, who was accused of sexually harassing his student, has been arrested by the police.
Ibrahim disclosed that the female student, had reported that the lecturer, who is also her course adviser, had threatened that if she refused to yield to his sexual demands, he would make her carry over some of her courses.
According to the police commissioner, on Tuesday, July 19, during the Mathematics examination, she told the randy lecturer that she had accepted her proposal, but before then, she had reported the matter at the police station in Abraka.
He explained that based on the complainant’s feigned acceptance of the suspect’s demand, she was taken to a hotel in Abraka on Thursday, July 21, where detectives were invited.
He was arrested in the hotel room after he had already undressed.