To Be Mom

Being pregnant is a tough take, if you are in Mali. A pregnant woman does not intend to share about her pregnancy in Mali, until it becomes obvious. Women fear that people and friends might make jokes about their pregnancy. The situation is though undergoing a change in Mali.

Pain of not being able to bear a child

A woman in Mali is as vulnerable to people’s comments, as in other parts of the world, if not able to bear a child. The woman tries every power in her range to get pregnant but in some cases it is simply not possible.

The ground reality

Mali has a polygamous society. In case the first wife is not able to bear a child, the husband may think of going in for second wife. The reason put forward is the urgency to start a family and in such cases the woman has little choice than to accept the other woman in her husband’s life.

Health issues with women in Mali

Lack of dispensaries and hospitals in villages make things complicated for women in Mali. The antenatal consultations need to be done at Sanankoroba (the local dispensary). However, as these rural dispensaries are located far off from the villages, women avoid traveling and suffer in silence.

The women are encouraged to be at the hospital in the first month of pregnancy. The doctors provide mosquito nets and medicines to women, so that malaria can be minimized, saving precious lives. Sadly, not much women follow this professional advise, thereby risking their, and the unborn babies’ life. Ladies in Mali are inclined to give birth to young child at home. This can put the life of the mother and child at risk.

Government in Mali is making its best efforts to ensure the need of safe pregnancy for all women. The situation is changing for the better and with increasing awareness on part of women, thinks are looking better.

The experience of being pregnant is different for every women. Developing acne is one of the common problems during pregnancy. The condition in women who already have acne could get worse during pregnancy while some women might experience healthy glowing skin during the same period. One should know that the pregnancy period brings a lot of hormonal change which affects the skin.

There are certain medications which are harmful during pregnancy period and should be best avoided.

1. Oral tetracyclines: Tetracycline, doxycycline and minocycline are best to avoid as they does not do any good to both the mother and the child. Breast feeding or pregnant mothers must not consume such drugs as they has been proved harmful. Those drugs are also proved to have side effects like weakness of the bones and discoloration of teeth.

2. Hormonal Treatment: Estrogen, spirolactone and flutamide are included in the hormonal treatment. These type of medications are strictly not allowed for pregnant women as they could be dangerous to both the mother and the baby.

3. Isotretinoin: Drugs such as Isotretinoin could be the reason of various health Complications in a pregnant women. These type of drugs should be taken only under doctor’s advice or should be best avoided. The drugs has more of negative effects than positive.

4. Topical retinoids: Therapies containing drugs such as adapalene, tretinoin, tazarotene should be entirely avoided even if you are pregnant or not. It is wise not to undergo such treatments during pregnancy as it is dangerous for your baby.

In the pregnancy period, a woman must take extra care of herself. To keep your skin healthy and acne free, it is best to wash your face three four times daily. Include lots of fruits, vegetables in your diet and avoid oily and spicy food. While pregnant, you must equip yourself with the right information or consult a dermatologist for further details.

Ways to deal with female infertility

Useful steps to overcome morning sickness during pregnancy

Here you are, pregnant and about to tread the most important threshold of life after taking so many anxious steps of finding the right partner and getting married, and all that you can do now is cling to the washbasin or toilet bowl. Not exactly how you wanted to announce to the world about your pregnancy right? But hold on. After the first trimester it passes off. Of course those 12 to 15 weeks feel like centuries, but you can try and manage this period with a few tricks,

1. Don’t get up and plunge into activity

Learn to lie down in bed even after you wake up and munch slowly on some crackers to quell the bile. Set the alarm an hour earlier to help you get up leisurely.

2. Have small frequent meals

Experts say that morning sickness is caused by the hormonal changes and these hormones make digestion sluggish. Small meals taken frequently are helpful. Keep snacks or fruits handy to keep your stomach engaged at all times.

3. Pamper your tastebuds

For once you can yield to temptation and eat whatever you feel like without worrying about diets and nutrition. But do keep away from fatty or greasy food.

4. Wear Sea bands

Wrist bands that press on acupressure points for nausea have proven to be effective. They are now available in pharmacies. You can do it yourself too. Tape a dried kidney bean on the inside of your forearm about 10 cm from the wrist and leave it till you feel better.

Last but not the least, try the yoga tongue pull. Hold the tongue using a clean, dry napkin. Pull it out keeping it straight for about 30 seconds or till the muscle feels strained and painful. It seems outlandish and looks horrendous but it works. Even if it doesn’t, do it in front of the mirror and have a good laugh. Maybe that will do the trick.

Methods to get pregnant faster

Before building a perception that you are infertile you should have proper knowledge about the right time to try for a baby. It may take time to get pregnant but in the meanwhile one should not develop prejudices about being infertile. Keep patience and adapt methods to get pregnant faster. Here is how you can do it.

Tab over Menstrual cycle

You should be first alert about your menstrual cycle in order to get pregnant. You can get pregnant when you start menstruating. Ovulation is a short period of opportunity every month when there is expulsion of an ovum from the ovary. The time period of ovulation is from 12 to 24 hours and this is the best time for fertilization. This is the time when you can get pregnant. This process of ovulation occurs in between the menstrual cycle. An average menstrual cycle is of 28 days to 35 days and your cycle can vary from month to month. If you keep a menstrual calendar it can be easy for you to trace the ovulation period.

Sperm analysis

Sperms stay around for a longer period of time from four to six days and can be alive to fertilize the egg. Hence, if you have had sex few days before ovulation, that would mean there is enough chances for you to get pregnant. Do not forget, it takes only one sperm to form a baby. Indeed it is most ideal if you have sex on the day you ovulate to get pregnant. It is the process of your own body, you can definitely sense it if you are a little alert.

Age factor counts

Your fertility or the ability to get pregnant is the best before you are 30. However, when you are settled and can manage a secure life for your baby, it is a proper age for you to get pregnant. If you calculate the ovulation period properly and hit the nail on the right time, you will definitely be able to get pregnant faster.

Teens, whose mothers used to smoke during pregnancy and now themselves are smokers, may have higher chances of attention related problems. A new study came up with this finding after studying the effects of nicotine exposure on the attention of the teens in which some teens were exposed to nicotine smoke in the womb, while some weren’t. Moreover, some teens were smoker while some weren’t. To measure the effect teens were asked to perform a series of tests and 63 of the teens had brain scans while they took the tests. During the course of study, experts found that performance of the teen- smokers who were exposed to cigarette smoke in the womb was worst, while the performance of non-smokers, who were also not exposed to nicotine smoke in the womb, was commendable. In addition, teens either who smoked or whose mother smoked during pregnancy fell between the above-mentioned two categories. Another interesting thing, which sprang out from this study reveals that where nicotine exposure in girls showed both visual and auditory attention deficits, while in boys difficulty in listening appeared as the main side effect. On the basis of this finding it could be said that where exposure to nicotine affects only auditory development in males, while in girls it affects bother visual and auditory development. In addition, it would also not be wrong to say that pregnant moms should strictly stay away from both active as well as passive smoking because it is neither good for them (mothers) nor for their babies, no matter it is male or female. Image Via: Reuters

During pregnancy, mothers-to-be may feel uneasy taking medications. However, if a pregnant woman has asthma, it is doubly important that her symptoms be well-managed to increase both her health and her baby’s health. Uncontrolled asthma can be a threat to maternal well-being, fetal growth as well as survival. According to the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, (ACAAI), nearly eight percent of women in their childbearing years are asthmatic. When women who have asthma become pregnant, their symptoms may differ, asserts ACAAI. 1. Women with severe problem develop worse symptoms while, women with mild asthma might experience some improvement. 2. Signs that asthmatic women develop in their first pregnancy tend to resurface during ensuing pregnancies. 3. The most severe asthma symptoms are more pronounced between 24 and 36 weeks of pregnancy. 4. A woman’s asthma symptoms usually regress to pre-pregnancy symptoms within three months of giving birth. Image Read

During pregnancy women who get into depression could have premature births, so to prevent this there have been many treatments given. From Institute of Psychiatry in London, Veronica O’Keane and her colleagues have found out a link between clinical depression and levels of stress hormones and premature birth. They have found out that woman who are expecting and suffering from severe depression had higher levels of the stress hormones cortisol and corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) in their blood than healthy women. They even found out that pregnancies were shorter on average in the depressed women. Preterm delivery is the leading cause of infant illness and then death. As O’Keane says; Depression is a major cause of preterm birth, and over stimulation of stress hormones is at least one cause of this. Well, I am sure this research will help out all the expecting mums. Via: newscientist

As I have said before, the effects of pregnancy on asthma aren’t predictable. It may be unaffected, worse or improved in pregnancy. What is asthma? Asthma is a disease of chronic inflammation of the airways. The inflammation makes breathing difficult all the more. Many women feel uneasy about taking medications during pregnancy. But if you have asthma, it’s important to control the signs and symptoms. How To Deal With ,If you become pregnant, don’t stop taking your asthma medications. Some tips for managing asthma in pregnancy: 1. Take asthma medications only as directed by your doctor. 2. In spite of your treatment, even if the asthma gets worsen, inform your physician immediately. 3. Flu shot is advisable if you’ll be more than three months pregnant during flu season. Effect of Asthma on Pregnancy: The treatment of asthma during pregnancy is little different to other times. There is no evidence that any of the drugs commonly used to treat asthma lead to birth defects or problems throughout pregnancy. In fact, very little of the inhaled medications even gets into the baby’s blood stream. More harm is likely to come from witholding them. There are no problems with breastfeeding whilst taking any of the asthma treatments, even steroid tablets. Precautions during asthma: If you are pregnant and suffering from asthma, first and foremost thing, you must do is, stay away from asthma triggers, like specific allergens such as house dust mites and animal dander and irritants such as cigarette smoke. After discovering you are pregnant, see your allergist/immunologist soon after to discuss the best way to manage your asthma and what medications to take. The doctor would be able to prescribe effective asthma and allergy medications that are appropriate to use during pregnancy, and will continue to work with you throughout your pregnancy to ensure your treatment is effective, without side effects.

Researchers revealed that the chance of having a male baby drops by almost half if both parents smoke during early pregnancy, also smoking raises the chances of a miscarriage. Researchers reportedly found that substances contained in cigarettes, such as nicotine, inhibit sperm carrying male chromosomes from fertilizing eggs. The researchers studied 9,000 cases of pregnancy in Liverpool, and found that mothers who smoked during pregnancy were one-third less likely to have male children than those who did not smoke. Furthermore, if the father also smoked, and if factors such as the health and age of the mother were accounted for, the chances of having a male child reduces by almost half. The study also reveals that even those mothers who do not smoke but are exposed to cigarettes from partners are less likely to have boys. It shows that substances contained in cigarettes, such as nicotine, inhibit sperm carrying male chromosomes from fertilising eggs. Professor Bernard Brabin said, The message is clear: if you want an increased chance of a male baby, don’t smoke during pregnancy. Australian expert Dr Anne Clark, from the Fertility Society of Australia, said the results were fascinating but was concerned they could motivate parents wanting a girl to smoke. Dr Clark said, If a father smokes to get a girl, that girl is four times more likely to get cancer than if he didn’t and the mother is going to be three times more likely to have a fertility problem. So the message is don’t smoke at all if you want a child. Via : ABC home.net