Archives for November 2009

IT is not uncommon to get infections during pregnancy.They can be respiratory or urinary tract infections which are treatable and curable, and don’t cause any untoward effects on the mother and foetus. However, there are infections which are not as common but have effects on the mother and/or foetus.It is important to inform the doctor if one is pregnant, particularly in early pregnancy. This is because there are medicines that cannot be prescribed or have to be taken with caution when pregnant.Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are common in pregnancy and are usually due to bacteria. UTIs are more common in women because of their short urethra and its proximity to the vagina and anus. There is loss of tone in the ureters during pregnancy due to the effect of progesterone produced by the placenta. This and the increased urine production lead to the collection of urine (stasis) which predisposes pregnant women to UTIs especially infection of the upper urinary tract and kidneys (pyelonephritis).

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Short duration of sexual relationship is more common in women who develop preeclampsia and women with abnormal uterine artery Doppler waveforms who deliver an SGA (small for gestational age) baby, revealed by researchers.The study is conducted by researchers from New Zealand on whether prolonged exposure to the father's semen protects new mothers against pre-eclampsia and having an undersized baby. Dr Kho and colleagues at the University of Auckland published the study in the Journal of Reproductive Immunology.The aim of this study was to determine if women with preeclampsia or delivering small for gestational age (SGA) babies are more likely to have a short duration of sexual relationship compared with those who have uncomplicated pregnancies.

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Cigarette smoke and lead are known to have bad effects on children. Some studies have shown a link to between the exposures and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.A new study shows those downsides begin as early as in the womb.Children exposed to cigarette smoke and to lead in utero were eight times more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD, according to an article appearing in today's Pediatrics.

For years, researchers have known too much lead exposure in pregnancy can lead to a host of developmental and behavioral problems once the child is born. And other research has shown a link between tobacco and attention problems.This study takes a look at both exposures to reveal a significant impact.

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A recent research has asserted that although women with Multiple Sclerosis are at a slightly higher risk of delivering via a cesarean section or have babies which grow at a slower rate in the womb, it should not make pregnancies overly difficult for them.The findings, which were published online in Neurology on November 18, revealed that women with MS were not any more at risk of developing conditions like preeclampsia or premature rupture of membranes than others. For the sake of research, details collected for a national database of information on 18.8 million childbirths across 38 states was analyzed, which included deliveries by nearly 10,000 women with MS. There were some differences in deliveries by MS affected women and those by others, but not enough for experts to conclude that the former group should find pregnancies difficult or impossible.

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Pregnant women with multiple sclerosis are slightly more likely to have Caesarean deliveries and babies with poor prenatal growth rate, U.S. researchers say. Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine found a woman with MS was no more likely to have pre-eclampsia and other high blood pressure problems or premature rupture of membranes, than women in the general population.

Women with MS had only a slightly higher chance of having a Caesarean deliveries or babies with poor prenatal growth.The study involved 38 states, included an estimated 18.8 million deliveries, with about 10,000 of those occurring in women with MS, the researchers say."These results are reassuring for women with MS," study author Dr. Eliza Chakravarty said in a statement. "Women and their doctors have been uncertain about the effect of MS on pregnancy, and some women have chosen to delay or even avoid pregnancy due to the uncertainty. We found that women with MS did not have an increased risk of most pregnancy complications.

Researchers know a fair amount about how pregnancy affects multiple sclerosis - in most cases, moms-to-be see an improvement in their symptoms - but there hasn't been a lot of research on how the autoimmune disease impacts pregnancy.

Stanford immunologist Eliza Chakravarty, MD, wanted to learn more, and she and colleagues conducted a large study on outcomes of pregnant women with MS or epilepsy. The conclusion of their research? Having one of these neurological disorders doesn't put a woman at significant risk for pregnancy-related problems.

Chakravarty's analysis of 18.8 million deliveries showed that women with the disorders faced only a slightly elevated risk of abnormal fetal growth rate and cesarean section delivery, and were not more likely to have blood pressure problems or deliver prematurely. "In general, the outcomes of pregnancy were not terribly different from those of healthy women," she told me. "Hopefully this information will be reassuring to women and their physicians. The study appears in the Nov. 18 issue of Neurology. WebMD and Reuters Health also covered the story.

I’m sure it has happened to all of us at one point or another.We congratulate a friend, colleague or neighbour on being pregnant only to be told that she is not or that she’s already had the baby a few months ago. It’s happened to me on more occasions than I care to recount. So, these days I err on the side of caution even if someone appears on the verge of giving birth, preferring to wait until she mentions the p word herself.

But even so, I was surprised when a friend arrived at lunch the other day, looking svelte in black and silver, and announced that she was pregnant. Even as the rest of us were stammering our congratulations while sneaking a peak at her suspiciously slim figure, she went on I don’t know what to do, I’ve already put on 5 kilos. I don’t know how much I’m going to weigh by the time I’m ready to give birth. Of course, we did the only decent thing possible. We assured her that she didn’t look any fatter, that no one could even tell that she was pregnant, and that the post-baby weight would come off without any problem. It was only afterwards that it struck me that the only pregnancy-related conversation we had indulged in had revolved around weight.

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A simple approach is the best. Keep up your exercise. Pregnancy is not an illness and if everything goes normally, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t carry on doing a reasonable amount of exercise .such as swimming, walking, and even cycling  up to the second trimester. And the fact that you’re fit and well toned will also help when it comes to giving birth!

But exercise alone is not enough you also need to ensure that you eat a balanced diet. As we all know  we are what we eat. And for mums-to-be, a good diet means a good helping of green vegetables, which are rich in vitamin. Be also known as folate, or folic acid. It is very important to take on board a sufficient amount of this from two months prior to conception and then throughout pregnancy.

Why? Because folate deficiency can cause your baby to have serious abnormalities. Chard and lettuce, chicory, cabbage, leeks, artichokes and spinach  most green vegetables in fact are an excellent source of folate. They will also provide you with a not insignificant amount of iron, which is important for avoiding anaemia.

Exercising up to the end of pregnancy has no harmful effect on the weight or size of a baby, a new study has found. According to researchers from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, low-level physical activity during pregnancy has positive effects on the health of both mother and baby. The study of 160 healthy women aged 25 to 35, also found that women who were overweight before becoming pregnant, and did not partake in any exercise, gave birth to heavier newborns.

According to experts, babies with excessive weight (more than 4 kg) are more at risk of developing diabetes and certain types of cancer as adults, in addition to complications that may occur at birth. “An exercise regime carried out during the second and third trimester of pregnancy does not harm the health of the foetus,” the researchers said. “Sedentary mothers of higher pre-gestational weight gave birth to heavier newborns. This relationship, however, was not observed in the group of women who exercised during pregnancy.

Women in longterm relationships apparently have healthier pregnancies possibly because of longterm exposure to the sperm of the baby's father, an Auckland survey has found. Being in a long-term relationship before becoming pregnant gave the woman's body time to build up immunity to foreign proteins in her partner's sperm, according to Auckland University researchers.

If she became pregnant early in the relationship, she lacked this protection. The survey also found women having single, long-term partners were less prone to developing pre-eclampsia - raised blood pressure that can be life threatening and cause serious harm to both mother and baby. Pre-eclampsia affects about 3000 New Zealand women and their babies every year - varying between 3 percent and 7 percent of pregnancies. It can also involve water retention that causes swelling in the feet, legs, and hands, and protein in the urine, a sign of possible kidney damage. The only successful treatment for pre-eclampsia is delivery of the baby - often prematurely. The researchers, led by Associate Professor Lesley McCowan, asked 2507 first-time pregnant women how long they had been with the baby's father.

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