To Be Mom

True, it’s uneasy and irritating to experience morning sickness or nausea, especially for a pregnant woman. But, like the pleasure of suffering the pains and uneasiness of pregnancy for nine long months, you can now have enough reasons to extract a ‘feel-good-factor’ from this nausea.

It is recently found that this ’suffering’ - if you call it as, after finding out what it indicates — from pregnancy-related nausea can assure of the fact that you have a lowered breast cancer risk.

Yes, nausea during pregnancy is linked with a 30 per cent reduced chance of developing the disease later in life in comparison to mothers-to-be who sailed through nine nausea-free months, according to the new research.

A hormone– human chorionic gonadotropin — made in the placenta and affects foetal development, is found to be able to potentially protect a woman against cancer.

Presenting the findings last week at the annual meeting of the Society for Epidemiologic Research in Boston, Massachusetts, study leader David Jaworowicz Jr, a Buffalo doctoral candidate said,

Although the exact mechanism responsible for causing nausea and vomiting during pregnancy has yet to be pinpointed, it likely is a result of changing levels of ovarian and placental hormone production, which may include higher circulating levels of a hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin.

In-vitro studies have shown that this hormone possesses several activities that have potential protective effects against cancer cells.

So, though nausea during those hard pregnancy days is not welcome, it is sure to assure you of breast cancer-free life in later years.

Via: thecancerblog

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China’s health authorities have now banned all birth control slogans that are offensive and crude as such slogans have been reported to be tarnishing the image of the government.

Obnoxious slogans such as ‘Raise fewer babies but more piggies’ and ‘One more baby means one more tomb’ have been banned. The authorities have issued a list of 190 slogans that are acceptable and these include “Mother earth is too tired to sustain more children” and “Both boys and girls are parents’ hearts”.

China’s family planning policy that came into effect 28 yrs ago limits urban couples to just one child and rural couples to go in for a second one if the first child is a girl. According to the government sources, this rule has helped prevent at least 300 million births. The preference for a male heir has resulted in forced abortions when the fetus is confirmed as a female leading to a dangerously imbalanced sex ratio.

There have been protests in China among rural folks as the authorities have been levying heavy fines on those who are violating the one-child rule that has been enforced. The authorities are so harsh that they demolish the houses of those who fail to pay up the hefty fines which could be an amount equivalent to $1300 while the annual average income of these farmers is about $130.

The low quality slogans painted on the walls in the rural areas are giving a false impression that the government is forcing people not to have more babies and tarnishing the image of the government, according to the National Population and Family Planning Commission.

It would probably be a better idea to educate people about the benefits of having smaller families rather than use abominable slogans and infuriate the public.

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A baby is God’s opinion that life should go on.

How true! Every mother wishes to be blessed with a healthy child. A baby is born healthy when mothers take care of their own health even before they conceive.

Did you know that seventy percent of serious birth defects called neural tube defects (NTD) can be prevented by taking folic acid daily? These defects are formed during the first four weeks of pregnancy.

This means, the defects are formed even before you know that are pregnant! That is exactly why you should be taking folic acid even before you get pregnant.

How does folic acid prevent birth defects?
Folic acid is a naturally occurring B vitamin that helps a baby’s neural tube’the part of a developing baby that becomes the brain and spinal cord’develop properly. It is advised that women take the folic acid supplements before and during early pregnancy when the neural tube is developing. 400 micrograms/day is the recommended dose for women though it might be increased if you were at a risk in your earlier pregnancy or if you were anemic.

Folic acid in natural resources: While’s it’s good to take folic acid in the form of supplements, try to consume foods that are rich in folic acid like spinach, lentils, asparagus, black beans, peanuts, sprouts, broccoli and lettuce.

So, take care of your health in advance and enjoy you pregnancy without worries.

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According to a recent study, abortions among pregnant teenagers are reaching alarming proportions. Ever since the Labour came to power in the U.K., the number of teenage abortions has increased by a staggering 2,500 each year.

Do you know that the U.S. holds the dubious distinction of the highest teenage abortion rate in the developed world?

Unlike the developing world, teenage pregnancy in developed countries is usually outside of marriage, and may carry a social stigma in some communities and cultures.

There are numerous reasons for the rise in teenage pregnancies. A casual attitude to sex, inadequate sex education, peer pressure, and last but not the least the sexualized content present in the media are some of the factors responsible for the rise in teenage pregnancies.

According to a spokesperson for the anti-abortion charity Alive and Kicking,

these figures are the result of the modern attitude to sexuality - that sex is just a recreational activity.

Not only does adolescent parenthood cause devastating effects on families, studies have shown that the children born to teenage mothers are more prone to abuse, neglect, and malnutrition.

As per the World Health Organization, the risk of death following pregnancy is twice as much for women in the age group of 15 to 19 years, than, for those between the ages of 20 and 24.

Before it is too late, we need to find workable solutions to end this high rate of abortions among the teen mothers. If we don’t, then, not only will we compromise our national productivity but we would also not be able to use up the tax payers money more effectively.

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Via: dailymail, parentingteens

The first thought that crossed my mind after reading this news was - How would the mother be related to her grandchild? Would she be a mother or a grandmother? And would the conceiving mother of the baby be the baby’s real mother or her biological sister or brother? Well, you could keep thinking the whole day and come up with weird relation combinations. Now, this would be one of the rare cases of relationship disorder or in better terms, mayhem.

For the first time in medical history, a Canadian mother has frozen her eggs to ensure that her seven-year old daughter would be able to give birth, in case she turns infertile due to a genetic disorder. Melanie Boivin has probably not spared a thought for the baby, if a baby is born through the eggs that is, who would find relating to her kith a tall order. However, the choice of accepting the eggs is left to Melanie’s daughter, Flavie Boivin.

The egg-freezing procedure is not new. Prior to undergoing chemotherapy, cancer patients have the choice of freezing their eggs due to the risk of menopause. Doctors say that 85 percent of the eggs survive freezing and 40 percent of them have a chance of a live birth.

Disorders like Turner’s syndrome often leave women infertile, but with healthy wombs. So, they can use donated eggs to give birth. The Egg-freezing procedure has presented opportunities not only for the infertile but also for women who are averse to the idea of marriage. And even women, who find a partner late in life, can freeze their eggs earlier and use it to give birth when they feel they are ready.

Via: yahoo

Here’s some health watch for the pregnant woman. If you are pregnant, you are not supposed to eat too much fish. The right amount and right kind of fish does matter when you are pregnant. At least, that’s what the Food and Drug administration(FDA) in U.S. recommends.

The advice has been issued by the FDA in collaboration with the EPA. As per guideline, pregnant women should eat no less than 12 ounces of fish per week.Although, no upper limit has been set yet.The fish types include salmon, tuna, sardines and Mackerel.

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy should be completely avoided. This is because alcohol passes through the placenta and can cause very serious birth defects in the growing fetus, like stunted growth, low birth weight, and even brain damage. This disorder is known as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS).

According to Danish researchers arduous exercises during early pregnancy can triple the risk of miscarriage. More than seven hours of exercise a week including jogging, ball games, and racket sports can increase the risk of spontaneous abortion.

Ask any pregnant lady and she will tell you how sometimes they feel an urge to eat specific things or taste some specific flavor. The urge is pretty great and here is another way out, the Womb lollipops. Yeah! The name tells you all. These lollipops come in a variety of flavors like chamomile, lavender, ginger, red raspberry leaf and peppermint, which make them perfect to keep near especially when you are going to be a mom. These lollipops are safe too as they are natural, dye free, preservative free. They are even specified as non-GMO, making them completely pure and natural. Perfect as a gift too!

Source: Greatgreenbaby

The rate of infertility is going up all over the world and women are getting worried about their chances of conceiving. While there are many fertility treatments that offer hope to women who wish to see a baby in their arms, they are actually time consuming and add to the agony of waiting.

The conventional IVF involves a lot of procedures like washing the eggs, moving embryos with the culture fluid causing failed treatment cycles due to changes in the temperature and acidity.

Japanese scientists have come up with a new device called ‘womb-on-a-chip’ that speedens up the process of fertility treatment by churning out early stage embryos. The miniature device actually acts like an automated artificial womb where the embryos are grown until they are ready for implantation. In fact, the endometrial calls that nourish the embryos by releasing chemicals are also grown in the womb chip mimicking the happenings in the body.

The chip is a device that is about two millimeters in which up to twenty eggs can be fertilized at a time. When tested on mice, it was found that the mice that were implanted with chip-grown embryos were more successful than the traditional IVF and developed healthy foetuses.

Dr Matt Wheeler, from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, who is also working on automated IVF, says

It’s not just about more embryos surviving to be implanted, they also seem to be doing better once they are implanted.

This method of treatment is yet to be tried on humans, but if successful, could bring smiles on thousands of women who are anxious to see their ray of sunshine.

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