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photo of Robin Elise Weiss, LCCE

Robin's Pregnancy / Birth Blog

By Robin Elise Weiss, LCCE, About.com Guide to Pregnancy / Birth since 1997

What do you know about pregnancy?

Friday July 3, 2009
So you've read a lot of good pregnancy books and you think you've got it all under control. Maybe you've had a baby already and known your way around a birthing room. Here is a fun quiz to test your knowledge of pregnancy and birth. How well do you score?

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Thrifty Thursday: Saving Money & Pregnancy

Thursday July 2, 2009
Let's face it, most of us are tightening our budget. While some reports say that spending on our kids isn't effected, I can't see how that is possibly true. The good news is that just as others have gotten into excesses, I think that pregnancy and baby shopping has gone the same way, convincing us that there are things that we need that we simply don't need. I mean seriously, doesn't the $80 stroller work just as well for its basic purpose as the $800 stroller? That said, there is always something that I have my heart set on that someone else would call an excess. One piece of advice is to splurge on the item you really want, while saving money elsewhere. Another is to avoid jeopardizing quality and safety to save a buck. Leave your money saving tips in the comments!

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Common Postpartum Pain Medications Removed?

Wednesday July 1, 2009

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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Photo (c) iStockPhoto

10 Tips for Great Postpartum Sex

Wednesday July 1, 2009
Some of the most common questions I get in my childbirth class on postpartum are about postpartum sex. When can you have sex after a baby? Will it hurt? Will the sex ever be good again? Having had seven kids, I can honestly say, you do eventually want to have sex again and in some cases it's even better than before kids.

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Mother with Swine Flu Gives Birth - H1N1 and Pregnancy

Monday June 29, 2009
According to MSNBC, Madrid health official are reporting that a 20 year old woman who had a severe case of the swine flu has given birth by cesarean section. The baby is healthy. More details are said to be coming soon on the health of the mother, though I can only imagine that the surgery and recovery will also be more difficult with the flu.

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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Patriotic Baby Names

Monday June 29, 2009
So with the 4th of July coming up, you might be thinking of celebrating the birth of your baby with a patriotic baby name. Whether you're thinking of something like Thomas Jefferson or America, there are names on this list for nearly every baby naming style. Don't forget to leave a note in the comments and share your idea of a patriotic baby name.

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Mothers Can Be Mean

Sunday June 28, 2009
I read with interest Judith Warner's account of what mean people say when they judge mothers, often as strangers. I found myself nodding my head and thinking of my own tales I could add to the dialogue.

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

Saturday June 27, 2009
The good news in this report is that if you gave birth between 2000 and 2006, vaginally without the use of forceps or a vacuum, then your rates of injury fell by 30%. The rates also fell in the same period for women who gave birth by c-section or with vacuum extraction or forceps, these rates fell by 20%. This data was collected by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and published in its report, Potentially Avoidable Injuries to Mothers and Newborns During Childbirth, 2006. One thing I am pleased to see is that this report included women who were uninsured, something that does not always happen.

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.

Related:

Yeast Infections in Pregnancy

Friday June 26, 2009
I remember asking my midwife how I would know if I ever had a yeast infection. She just looked at me and said, "Oh you'd know!" Yeast infections, with all of their annoying and painful symptoms, can be more common in pregnancy. Learning how to deal with yeast infections as well as how to prevent them can be key to your comfort.

Other links of interest:

Thrifty Thursday: Secondhand Safety for Baby

Thursday June 25, 2009
It's yard sale season where I live. One of the first questions you hear people asking as they approach a sale is, "Do you have any baby stuff?" The answer is often affirmative. So this could be potentially a really good thing! You can save money and get items you need for your baby. The trick is getting quality items for your baby that are also safe. Do you know what to look for in used baby items?

More Thrifty Thursday from About.com's Parenting Channel:

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