Wellness During Pregnancy
Local experts offer advice for expectant moms
09/01/2008By Girlfriends Health Pregnancy is an exciting time, but as questions arise, you may get bombarded with information and advice, making it difficult to know who and what to believe. The pregnancy experts at Girlfriends Health in Indialantic recently shared their recommendations on the most important things to do during pregnancy.
Christine Simonetta, licensed and certified professional midwife, offers five recommendations for a healthy pregnancy:
1) Choose a health care provider for prenatal care. The goal of prenatal care is to monitor the progress of a pregnancy and to identify potential problems before they become serious for either mom or baby.
2) Self-care. Proper nutrition, hydration, rest and exercise are the building blocks to a healthy childbearing experience. Try to eat foods from each of the five food groups daily. They provide important nutrients that you and your baby need.
3) Educate yourself. Learn more about your changing body and growing baby's needs to have the best outcome in pregnancy, labor and delivery. Learn about your options for care and about informed consent. Know your rights.
4) Build a support network. Pregnancy is not only about the baby's birth, it also is about the beginning of motherhood, fatherhood and the changing family dynamics. Surround yourself with those who have positive birth stories, respect your choices and will be a source of encouragement.
5) Learn to trust yourself. You are your own best expert. Trust the person you have chosen to care for you and your baby. Trust your ability to birth.
Physical and emotional changesMind and body are inseparable. When our bodies stress, our minds stress and when our minds stress our bodies stress too. Girlfriends Health psychologist Dr. Rachel Lefebvre offers five suggestions for helping you cope with physical and emotional pregnancy-related changes:
1) Nurture your body. As the physical symptoms of pregnancy take a toll on you, take time to care for your body by resting, napping and using relaxation exercises, such as prenatal yoga and meditation.
2) Nurture your emotions. Your hormones are on a roller-coaster ride during pregnancy. Be aware of your emotions and learn how to express and communicate them effectively.
3) Nurture your mind. Fear and worry are very common in pregnancy. Whether you fear that childbirth will be too much to handle, that your baby will not be healthy or that you won't be a good mother, your thoughts are very powerful. You can learn to restructure them to make them more positive and nurturing.
4) Nurture your self and spirit. Enjoy your pregnancy and live in the moment. Mindfulness and keeping a gratefulness diary are great ways to stay focused on the positives. Indulge, treat yourself to that nice maternity dress, a prenatal massage or that bowl of ice cream you have been craving.
5) Plan ahead for the fourth trimester. The postpartum period can be challenging. The stresses of being a new mom, combined with lack of sleep, can be very difficult to deal with. Plan ahead to make sure you have enough support in place for when baby comes.
Side effects of pregnancyYour body goes through numerous changes during pregnancy. Dr. Irfan Imami, a board-certified vascular surgeon, describes five typical side effects of pregnancy and ways to prevent them:
1) Varicose veins. Increased venous pressure in the legs can cause enlargement of varicose and spider veins. Prevention and treatment can be achieved by wearing compression stockings. Post-pregnancy treatment options also exist with laser treatment or sclerotherapy.
2) Hair growth. Excess hormones may cause an increase in coarse hair in unwanted areas. There is no prevention, though most women improve without any treatment. Laser can be used for permanent reduction.
3) Melasma. "Pregnancy mask" is the facial-skin discoloration caused by elevated hormones that may continue to worsen during subsequent pregnancies. Unfortunately, there is no major prevention method during pregnancy. Chemical peels offer the best treatment to reduce the persistent discoloration after pregnancy.
4) Acne. Pregnancy's hormonal imbalance can cause permanent acne scars. The best prevention is usually over-the-counter facial cleansers to reduce oil buildup. Long-term combination of microdermabrasion, chemical peels or laser treatment offers excellent results.
5) Stretch marks. Unfortunately, the skin needs to stretch, and most times this process leaves marks. During pregnancy, light massage to the area helps to increase blood flow to stimulate new collagen production to reduce the appearance of stretch marks, and emollient lotions and moisturizers help to fade away fine marks. Laser treatment helps to further stimulate collagen growth, allowing for additional skin tightening.
Prepare for the birthAs pregnancy progresses, you start to think more about the birth of your baby. Here are the five most important things to do to prepare for the birth, according to Andrea McKinley, a postpartum doula, and Annmarie Waite, a childbirth educator:
1) Stay active. Labor is hard work and demands a strong body and mind. Movement, stretching and exercise throughout pregnancy can help balance your body, mobilize your pelvic joints and maintain muscle tone, strength and endurance. To your regular fitness activities, add pelvic floor and abdominal conditioning exercises such as Kegels, pelvic-floor bulging and the pelvic tilt.
2) Have a birth plan. Help your care providers understand a little about your desires for your birth. Clarify your options and informed decision-making ability while remaining flexible.
3) Take a birthing class with your birth partner. One that is focused on exactly what you need, not biased by a certain birth place or type of birth. Truly investigate your birth options, physiology, hopes, fears, and gain practical tools to ease pregnancy discomforts, cope with the pain of labor, and explore postpartum adjustments and breast-feeding.
4) Listen to your body. Your maternal intuition is particularly heightened in pregnancy and should always be heeded. Use your feelings as a fierce and compassionate guide in all your prenatal and birth decisions.
5) Consider hiring a doula. A doula is a woman experienced in birth who offers continual emotional and physical support in labor and postpartum to mothers and families. Doulas decrease the need for cesarean sections, pain medications, instrument-assisted births, episiotomy, as well as reduce the length of labor. Doulas improve breast-feeding and bonding, overall birth satisfaction and decrease cases of postpartum blues and depression.
Breast-feeding tipsStudies show that breast milk is ideally suited and provides perfect nutrition for babies. Here, lactation consultant Gloria Canaday offers her top five recommendations on preparing to breast-feed while pregnant:
1) Consider breast-feeding. Not only have studies established that breast milk provides perfect nutrition and protects babies from disease, but breast-feeding helps mom to return to prepregnancy weight. It can also lower the risk of certain cancers (breast, uterine and ovarian) as well as osteoporosis. Breast-feeding is always ready and is a huge savings for your budget.
2) Educate yourself about breast-feeding. Attend a class on breast-feeding. This will give you invaluable help on how to get a successful start. Starting well is key in having a fruitful and enjoyable breast-feeding experience.
3) Prepare yourself physically. Although several regimens used to be recommended to toughen the nipples in preparation for nursing, many experts now agree that this is not necessary and may cause uterine contractions that can stress the baby. However, if you have flat or inverted nipples you may want to check with your provider or a lactation consultant about very simple things you can do to ease breast-feeding.
4) Build a support network. Many local hospitals offer free lactation support groups led by certified lactation consultants. Find out ahead of time when these groups, as well as La Leche League groups, meet and make sure you have handy phone numbers of close friends who have had a positive breast-feeding experience.
5) Shopping list. Don't forget to add to your list gentle support nursing bras (camisole with shelf bra), nursing pads, a boppy type pillow, 100 percent lanolin cream and a set of cooling gel pads for tender nipples. Breast-feeding should not cause pain, but if this is your first baby, some tenderness is likely.
Dad's roleNow a word for dads from our panel of experts:
1) Be involved. Attend the prenatal visits and childbirth education classes with your partner.
2) Help your partner stay healthy. Help her eat healthy foods, exercise, quit smoking and stay away from alcohol and other drugs. Quit smoking yourself, as secondhand smoke is bad for pregnant women and babies.
3) Be patient and sympathetic. Your partner is going through a lot of hormonal and physical changes, and one way to help her is to be as understanding as possible.
4) Take care of yourself. Dads' needs are often overlooked and forgotten. Take some time for yourself and charge your battery; your partner and baby will both need you.
5) Be supportive. Support your partner in her decisions regarding the birth and breast-feeding.
All of Girlfriends Health experts agree on the importance of educating yourself as much as you can on the physical and emotional changes associated with pregnancy as well as on the birth process and the postpartum period. The more you know, the better equipped you will be to make informed decisions and prepare for what is ahead. Maintaining healthy habits and establishing a support system also are key elements to a fit pregnancy. Enjoy this special time.
For more information about Girlfriends Health, call 536-1724 or visit www.girlfriendshealth.com.
