What do you know about pregnancy?
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Thrifty Thursday: Saving Money & Pregnancy
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Common Postpartum Pain Medications Removed?
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) voted yesterday to discontinue the use of two medications that are frequently prescribed for postpartum pain - Percocet® and the less commonly used Vicodin®. The reason for the panel's decision is that there are a good number of acetaminophen overdoses that occur accidently when a person takes one of these pain relievers in addition to other medications that also contain acetaminophen, like Tylenol. These drugs are usually prescribed after vaginal childbirth or a cesarean birth and are compatible with breastfeeding. It is not yet clear what the replacement medications will look like for pain relief after childbirth should there be an action on the committee's recommendation but this is a very important issue.
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10 Tips for Great Postpartum Sex
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Mother with Swine Flu Gives Birth - H1N1 and Pregnancy
Currently the CDC says that pregnant women who contract or are exposed to the swine flu (H1N1) should take medications like Tamiflu or Relenza. There are also ways to protect your new baby from the H1N1 virus, including breastfeeding and keeping your baby with you in the hospital and insisting that everyone wash their hands in front of you before touching your baby.
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Mothers Can Be Mean
Part of the answer to Warner's question of why is that we set ourselves up for it early on. In pregnancy and birth we hear a lot of these types of tales. They manifest themselves in being upset by people's choices being different than our own, as if the mere fact that I've chosen something other than what you have chosen makes you think I am judging you. So if I'm planning on having an epidural and you aren't, I may feel like you are judging me - and you haven't even opened your mouth.
Warner goes on to say "I suspect that highly successful working mothers suffer a disproportionate amount of scorn when they fail to have the time or available space on their mental hard drives to do things like memorize school handbooks or master Bundt baking." That struck me a bit, because my own personal lens would say that large families get the brunt of it. Then it occurred to me that every group will have a reason why they are targeted more frequently.
As a stay-at-home mom I could say, "But I'm picked on because I'm supposed to have time to read the handbook, but still don't get around to it because I'm busy with my family." The mother with a large family might add, " But I did read the handbook... oh wait, that was a different handbook." The work-at-home mother claims, "I read the handbook and gave a presentation on it over the phone when I was supposed to give my client a look at his portfolio!"
Let's face it, we all do a lot of work. Work is simply the definition of mother. While I don't have a solution, I'd like to say that we should start by not picking or judging other mothers for their choices, their actions or anything else. Perhaps if other people see that the mothers have banded together to be accepting of one another, they will back off and leave us alone.
What are your thoughts on mothers being mean to one another?
Childbirth Injuries Rates Drop, Infant Mortality Still High
There are disparities in birth. I don't think that this is a shock to anyone. But these disparities can be life threatening to mothers and babies and many are based on the color of skin or the income level of the families involved. For example, a baby who was born in a rural area, or was Caucasian, or had Medicaid as their insurance where more like be injured in birth.
Perhaps some of the injuries come from over medicalization of birth for groups with more insurance or private physicians. One thing I don't see here is whether or not midwifery care was included in this study. If the information is taken from birth certificate data or simple databases, it might also be difficult to tell if midwives were involved because they often bill under the doctor's name or the practice name. And this wouldn't even begin to talk about using a homebirth midwife. There are also many studies showing that midwifery care can level out some of this disparity.
Jennie Joseph, a Certified Professional Midwife in Florida, is taking part in a new film called Reducing Infant Mortality and has recently been in Washington, D.C. to talk about improving outcomes for all babies and mothers. The goal is to reduce infant mortality in the United States, which is currently ranked 42nd in world in this grim statistic.
For now, what you can do is to select your care provider and place of birth wisely. Select the specific prenatal tests and procedures that you specifically need, as opposed to one that everyone gets. Do your part and take care of yourself. Eat well. Exercise. Keep your prenatal appointments. Be your baby's best advocate.
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Yeast Infections in Pregnancy
Other links of interest:
Thrifty Thursday: Secondhand Safety for Baby
More Thrifty Thursday from About.com's Parenting Channel:
- Phone Calls & Freebies for College Families
- Good Advice From a Grandma
- Enjoying a Staycation with Tweens
- Make Your Teen a Change Jar
- Save Money on Diapers
- Inexpensive Birthday Gifts for Preschoolers
- Find a Free Family Film Festival Near You
- Getting Acquainted with the Public Library
- Secondhand Safety for Baby
- Make Your Own Therapy Tools and Toys