Tag Archives: baby

World Prematurity Day: A Time to Reflect on the Importance of Prenatal Care

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The following guest post comes to us via Edna Meza Aguirre, regional associate development director for Planned Parenthood Arizona. Edna is a native Tucsonan, bilingual and bicultural. She received her JD from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and worked in the area of criminal defense for 12 years before changing careers. Edna is in her 16th year of volunteering at the University of Arizona Medical Center’s neonatal intensive care unit helping comfort newborn babies.

baby_feetThe neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) I volunteer in is among the best in the country. It is known nationwide for the cutting-edge research and techniques that not only save the life of a premature baby, but encourage that same infant to thrive.

The moment the delivery health care staff senses the as-yet unborn child is in stress, the amazing doctors, nurses, and respiratory therapists are on the scene in the delivery room. As in a well-coordinated symphony, the lifesaving process begins. Through the priceless intervention of these medical professionals, I have seen babies born blue return to a normal color. I have seen listless children born with no sign of life emerge back into this world through the medicine and touch of these professionals. I’ve seen sobbing parents struggling with this difficult reality as hospital staff explain the problem at hand with caring words and a gentle tone.

There isn’t a single parent who isn’t deeply emotionally affected by watching their vulnerable baby receive treatment.

Premature birth, also called preterm birth, occurs when a baby is born before the pregnancy has reached 37 weeks, and affects 1 out of every 10 babies born in the United States. Because the last few weeks of pregnancy are so crucial to a baby’s development, being born too early can lead to death or disabilities, such as breathing, vision, or hearing problems, as well as cerebral palsy and developmental delays. Treatment can sometimes depend on how premature the baby is. With a normal gestation period of 40 weeks, a premature baby might be born at 25 weeks, 30 weeks, etc. This time frame can be calculated easily enough with mothers who are receiving prenatal care.

There are, however, cases where the mother has received no prenatal care and doesn’t know how many weeks pregnant she is. Continue reading →

National Breastfeeding Month: A Glimpse Into My Breastfeeding Journey

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The following guest post comes to us via Cynthia.

breastfeedingBreastfeeding is the most natural, rewarding, challenging, frustrating, amazing, and empowering thing I have ever done. While I was in my second trimester of pregnancy, I was starting to make all kinds of decisions about how I wanted to care for my baby, including diapers, daycare, pediatrician, and breastfeeding. After doing the research and talking to other women about breastfeeding, I decided it was the best decision for me. There are amazing benefits.

I was referred to a lactation consultant. I called this woman my fairy milk mother.

In fact, there are so many great benefits the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has a health initiative around breastfeeding and recommends that babies be breastfed through 6 months of age. A breastfed baby gets a nutritional superfood (to use a popular phrase) that is so dense with beneficial vitamins, minerals, and fats that the list of ingredients is long enough to fill several sheets of paper (women’s bodies are pretty spectacular).

Breast milk is powerful stuff, too. Studies show that breast milk will boost the immune system of the baby and benefit the mother’s health as well, in addition to reducing her chance of breast cancer. Additionally, breastfeeding reduces the rate of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) and future obesity for infants as they go into childhood and adulthood. Oh, and breastfeeding helps a mom shed her pregnancy pounds quicker — bonus!

Breastfeeding also provides the opportunity to bond with a baby in a close and personal way (the AAP makes note of this benefit too). My favorite times were when I could sit with my son on my lap and just relax. I didn’t do anything else but touch his soft baby skin, look at his toes and fingers, store in my memory the chubby cheeks, little nose, and rosebud lips, and lovingly stroked his back and legs. Thinking about it now, the sweet scent of my little one comes back to me. There is never another moment like when a child is an infant. Soon they will be crawling, walking, and then running. And that close time does wonders for a baby, providing reassurance, confidence, and a closeness that lasts beyond infancy. Continue reading →

National Infant Immunization Week: A Timely Reminder to Protect Your Child

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babyVaccinations, or immunizations, are important for the health of your baby. National Infant Immunization Week, in its 20th year, continues to educate and inform parents of this important information. In the first two years of your infant’s life, vaccines can protect against 14 diseases.

How wonderful that science enables us to protect our little ones from serious diseases like polio, tetanus, and diphtheria!

Under five years of age, a child’s immune system is not developed enough to defend against some infections that can cause disability and even death. Vaccination schedules for infants are designed to protect them at times when they are most vulnerable to potentially serious diseases — diseases that are easily transmitted and quickly overwhelm an immature defense system. Vaccines contain “germs,” such as inactivated or weakened bacteria or viruses, that can stimulate an immune response. The amount and type of “germs” in vaccines are designed to help infants’ immune systems develop protection from the serious consequences of getting that disease.

Watching your baby undergo painful injections that may give them some uncomfortable reactions like fever and aches can make any parent worry, but these short-term effects are much less serious than getting the disease. For example, mothers — who may not even know they have hepatitis B because they do not show symptoms — can transmit the disease to their baby during childbirth. Years later, that child may develop serious liver disease. By routinely receiving a hepatitis B vaccine at birth, babies are protected from this life-threatening disease. Continue reading →

Motherhood: A Prenatal Guide

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momkissingbabyHAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

Becoming a mother is a wondrous event. It is also a lifelong commitment to another special human being, your child. To provide your new baby with the best start in life, taking care of yourself in your childbearing years is essential. When you think that half of all pregnancies in the United States each year are unintended, it’s very important to follow a healthy lifestyle every day to ensure a good pregnancy and a good start for your baby.

Sunday is Mother’s Day. To those of you planning a pregnancy or hoping to be a mother someday, this is for you.

The United States does not fare as well as many other industrialized countries when it comes to the health of its newborns. Preterm births and low birth-weight babies are often the result of unhealthy pregnancies and a lack of prenatal care. New information and research has given us lots of good information about what is important to do before and during your pregnancy to increase your chances of having a healthy baby. Having a plan about when you want to start a family and what you intend to do to get yourself in the best health possible is a good start. This is called preconception health care, and it can make a big difference in the well-being of you and your baby.

At Planned Parenthood Arizona, you can see us for preconception health checkups. In addition to pregnancy planning services and fertility awareness education, we provide other services that can help you be in the best health possible before you conceive. We offer physical exams as part of our general health care services. You also might be interested in STD screening, to ensure that you receive treatment before you become pregnant. Additionally, we offer smoking cessation, to help you quit smoking for a tobacco-free pregnancy.

Here are some guidelines for ensuring your preconception health:

  1. Plan when you want to have a family and space your pregnancies. Be sure you are ready for the responsibility and expense of a child. If it’s not your first child, wait 18 to 24 months before having an additional child to allow your body to recover and prepare for another pregnancy. Continue reading →

STD Awareness: HIV and AIDS

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Our immune systems are beautiful things, refined through millions of years of evolution. The immune system’s complexity is testament to the “arms race” that has been taking place between our species and the harmful pathogens that surround us. Last century, a virus called human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) emerged, and it found a weak spot in our immune system’s armor. HIV has been exploiting this weakness ever since, and an HIV infection can eventually progress to a disease called AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome. AIDS is a condition that disables our immune system’s ability to function properly, rendering us vulnerable to a host of opportunistic infections and cancers.

Even if you don’t think you’ve been exposed, HIV testing can be a good idea.

HIV is transmitted via bodily fluids: blood, semen, pre-seminal fluid (which can be present without ejaculation), breast milk, vaginal fluids, and rectal mucus. (It can also be present in bodily fluids like amniotic fluid, cerebrospinal fluid, and synovial fluid, to which health-care workers might be exposed.) The virus is not transmitted by fluids like snot, saliva, sweat, tears, and urine — unless blood is present.

Activities that can bring you into contact with HIV-infected bodily fluids include injection drug use and sexual activities like anal, vaginal, or oral sex. It can also be transmitted to a fetus or baby during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding. In the early days of HIV, many infections occurred as a result of blood transfusions or organ transplants — though nowadays this is a rarity thanks to tissue screening. Lastly, health-care workers might be exposed to HIV through accidents involving needlesticks or cuts. Continue reading →

September 9: Fetal Alcohol Awareness Day

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September 9 is Fetal Alcohol Awareness Day. At 9 a.m. the bells of the St. Augustine Cathedral in downtown Tucson will ring, so we can remember on the ninth hour of the ninth day of the ninth month not to drink alcohol during the nine months of pregnancy.

Fetal alcohol syndrome is entirely preventable.

I became aware of fetal alcohol syndrome the way many parents do — by dealing with a child affected by a mother’s drinking while pregnant. I had to learn about it to parent my son, who had come to me when he was 7 years old, and who, in his teens, had regressed in his emotional and cognitive functioning. I needed to understand the outbursts that resulted in holes punched or kicked in the walls; broken mirrors, broken windows, broken china; stolen jewelry, my winter jacket that I saw walking down the street worn by his friend, who had given money for it; the daily swearing and the inability to understand that his behavior had consequences.

What is fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)?

Fetal alcohol syndrome is the leading cause of IQ scores below 70 in this country (though most people with FAS have normal intelligence), and is entirely preventable. You have probably seen ads talking about the importance of not drinking during pregnancy. But it is not only women of childbearing age who need to be educated. Doctors, especially ob/gyns and pediatricians, teachers, and social workers — everyone who works with children, in fact — need to learn about the effects of prenatal exposure to alcohol. Also judges, probation officers, and others working in the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems need to be educated; most of them have quite a bit of contact with the victims of fetal alcohol exposure, whether diagnosed or not. Continue reading →

STD Awareness: Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Pregnancy

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Every month since January 2011, we’ve been sharing installments of our STD Awareness series, and each month, we’ve encouraged you to protect yourself from sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) by using dental dams and condoms. But what if you’re trying to get pregnant? In that case, you’re probably not using condoms! However, it is very important that partners know their STD status — being screened and treated for STDs prior to pregnancy is a good idea for your health, and can protect your future baby.

If you and a partner are trying to get pregnant, you might consider being screened for STDs together.

When present during pregnancy, certain STDs can have negative health effects for you or your future baby (including preterm labor, stillbirth, low birth weight, pneumonia, certain infections, blindness, and liver disease), especially if they are not cured or treated in time. Receiving prenatal care can help prevent these problems, so it is important to be screened and treated for STDs prior to or early in your pregnancy.

During pregnancy, the immune system undergoes changes, which are probably necessary to ensure that the body doesn’t reject the fetus — normally, the immune system recognizes non-self cells as potential pathogens and attacks. These immune system changes might make a pregnant person more susceptible to disease. Latent viral infections, like genital warts or herpes, might come out of dormancy. Additionally, anatomical changes lead to a larger exposed area of the cervix, which is potentially more vulnerable to initial infections. Continue reading →