pregnancy: يونيو 2017

الخميس، 29 يونيو 2017

‘I find myself eating pork pies like the last two decades of near-vegetarianism never happened’

Pregnancy brings with it cravings, aversions and a nostalgia for the food of one’s childhood – scotch eggs, fish and chips, or more meat than seems reasonable

When pregnant with me, my allegedly vegetarian mother once ate an entire salami, string and all, before she’d even reached the till (apparently toxoplasmosis didn’t exist in 1984).

Now it is my turn to thicken my baby waist with love and longing. And, in keeping with the family tradition, I have found myself eating pork pies and sausage rolls like the last two decades of near-vegetarianism never happened.

At least I didn’t fall off the wagon like a friend of my parents who ate a small block of coal during her pregnancy

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الاثنين، 19 يونيو 2017

Indian government: pregnant women should shun meat, eggs and lustful thoughts of sex

Mother and Child Care leaflet also recommends expectant mothers ‘detach themselves from desire, anger, attachment’

India’s government is advising pregnant women to avoid all meat, eggs and lustful thoughts.

Doctors say the advice is preposterous, and even dangerous, considering India’s already poor record with maternal health. Women are often the last to eat or receive health care in traditionally patriarchal Indian households.

“Pregnant women should detach themselves from desire, anger, attachment, hatred and lust.”

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الجمعة، 16 يونيو 2017

Experience: I went into labour after running a marathon

I had gone in with no expectations, but I felt good, so I just kept going. Half an hour after finishing, I felt the first contractions

I found out I was pregnant two days after my husband, Joe, and I had signed up to run the 2011 Chicago marathon and each paid the $145 (£113) entry fee.

It was my second pregnancy and would be my eighth marathon. My PB was 3hr 25min, so I wasn’t an elite runner, but I took it very seriously. Running has always been a huge part of my life and I ran a lot during my first pregnancy. This time, though, I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t take part in the race. My first baby, Caleb, was born three weeks early, and this one was due to arrive a week after the marathon, so I assumed that I’d have had it by then anyway.

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الخميس، 15 يونيو 2017

Childbirth in Malawi: 'I travelled to find the right blood, while my wife lay dying'

How the death of two women in childbirth brought two men together to fight for better healthcare in Malawi

As Salom Tsoka drives the one-hour journey to work each morning concerns about his two sons, aged three and six, haunt him: will his youngest son have an asthma attack today? Will the childminder watch out for them? Is he parenting the kids the way their mother would? And the more he thinks about them, the more he thinks of his wife, Elita.

“I am having a tough time balancing work and life. These children were more close to their mother,” says the 39-year-old widower.

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الأربعاء، 14 يونيو 2017

Obese women more likely to have babies with serious birth defects, says study

Increased risk of health problems including heart defects, digestive anomalies and malformations of genitals or limbs revealed by major study

Women who are obese when they conceive are more likely to have a baby with serious birth defects, a major study has found.

The research revealed a sliding scale of risk for health problems including congenital heart defects, anomalies of the digestive system and malformations of genital organs or limbs.

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What to expect when you're expecting at university

Having a baby at university can seem impossible – but help is available for pregnant students who know where to look

So you’ve done the test and it’s come back, not with a grade but two little blue lines: you’re pregnant. Having a baby while a student can leave you in doubt. If you can barely afford food for yourself, how will you feed another person? What about sitting through lectures with morning sickness? And is there such a thing as student parental leave?

NHS doctor and campaigner Rachel Clarke was the first pregnant medical student at her university. She recalls it was both determination and a fleet of willing babysitters in the form of her fellow students that helped get her through. Pregnancy at university doesn’t just have to be a choice between abortion or abandoning your studies. If you decide you want to keep the baby and keep studying, here is some advice on making it work:

Related: University league tables 2018

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الثلاثاء، 6 يونيو 2017

Global study finds 75% of pregnant women don't have healthy weight gain

Data from Asia, US and Europe finds 23% do not gain enough weight and more than 50% gain too much, increasing risk of premature birth and caesareans

A comprehensive new study has found 75% of women are not gaining a healthy recommended weight when pregnant.

Gaining too little or too much weight during pregnancy increased the risk of premature births or requiring caesareans, it said, and the prevalence of both obesity and excess gestational weight gain was increasing.

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الاثنين، 5 يونيو 2017

Can mindfulness reduce fear of labour and postpartum depression?

Anxiety about labour – and what might come afterwards – causes stress for expectant mothers and increases risk in childbirth. But there could be a natural solution

Many women feel anxious about giving birth. Fear of the unknown and over-sharing by others (“I felt I was ripped apart,” one mother told my antenatal group) can make labour daunting. Being frightened of childbirth can prolong labour – by an average of 47 minutes, but it feels longer – increase the need for pain relief, make a caesarean section more likely and raise the risk of postpartum depression. Last month, a small, randomised controlled trial added to the evidence that teaching mindfulness to pregnant women could reduce these risks.

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الجمعة، 2 يونيو 2017

Born to do it? Why pop's pregnant pause could be coming to an end

As musicians from Rebekka Karijord to Tori Amos begin to explore birth, perhaps pregnancy in music could become less taboo

Songs about gynaecology are few and far between. Tori Amos wrote Spark and other songs following her experience of miscarriage. The lyrics of PJ Harvey’s When Under Ether are suggestive of abortion (“Something’s inside me/ Unborn and unblessed”) although Harvey denied a direct link. Kate Bush imagined a father’s perspective of birth in This Woman’s Work. Great songs; relatively slim pickings. Pregnancy and childbirth are transformative experiences and also not unusual. Why then does so little music explore it?

Motivated by this absence, Norwegian composer Rebekka Karijord wrote an experimental concept album of narrative pop, Mother Tongue. Released earlier this year, it chronicles her first pregnancy and the traumatic premature arrival of her daughter. “There is something in popular music for women with this topic that I felt has been taboo,” she says on the phone from Stockholm where she lives. “With this subject, as any subject, it’s super-important that women and artists in general are allowed to be honest [about] where they are in their life.”

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