Not sure just how far along you are with your pregnancy?? Join the club! Many women, for a wide variety of reasons, just aren't sure when they got pregnant or what their due date might be.
Calculating Gestational Age:
Last Menstrual Period: If the mother has a regular period and knows the first day of her last menstrual period, gestational age can be calculated from this date. Gestational age is calculated from the first day of the mother's last menstrual period and not from the date of conception.
Ultrasound: The baby can be measured as early as 5 or 6 weeks after the mother's last menstrual period. Measuring the baby using ultrasound is most accurate in early pregnancy. It becomes less accurate later in pregnancy. The best time to estimate gestational age using ultrasound is between the 8th and 18th weeks of pregnancy. The most accurate way to determine gestational age is using the first day of the woman's last menstrual period and confirming this gestational age with the measurement from an ultrasound exam.
Calculating Conception Date:
In a Typical Pregnancy: For a woman with a regular period, conception typically occurs about 11-21 days after the first day of the last period. Most women do not know the exact date of conception, and their conception date is merely an estimate based on the first day of their last period.
Special Cases: Women who undergo special procedures such as artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization typically know the exact date of conception.
Calculating Due Date:
Estimated Due Date: Based on the last menstrual period, the estimated due date is 40 weeks from the first day of the period. This is just an estimate since only about 5% of babies are born on their estimated due date.
Difficulties in Determining Gestational Age:
Last Menstrual Period: For women who have irregular menstrual periods or women who cannot remember the first day of their last menstrual period, it can be difficult to determine gestational age using this method. In these cases, an ultrasound exam is often required to determine gestational age.
Baby's Growth: In some cases it is difficult to determine the gestational age because the baby is unusually large or small. Also, in some cases the size of the uterus in early pregnancy or the height of the uterus in later pregnancy does not match the first day of the last menstrual period. In these cases as well, it is difficult to obtain an accurate gestational age.
My recommendation (as a mother, not an MD) are to assume you'll probabl have your baby about 8 and 1/2 months after you discovered you were pregnant, give or take a week. Enjoy your pregnancy and take this opportunity to do all the healthy things for yourself that you've been meaning to do for a long time:
Stop smoking immediately!
Walk and do slow stretches daily
Eat your fruits and veggies
Limit your sugar intake
Drink lots of pure water
Develop a spiritual practice of some kind...you don't have to go to church to be spiritual...something like quiet meditation on your blessings and your growing child would be lovely and calming!
Let me know if you have questions or comments!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
How does music help a sick preemie or baby?
- When your infant is sick, you'll do anything to turn the tide, right? Music therapy has been around for literally thousands of years, but most people don't realize how powerfully healing music can be. With a preemie or newborn full-term infant, there are many benefits.
- When a baby is sick, you must stabilize the heart-beat: music with a slow, soft, steady pulse can do that. Our bodies automatically synchronize with the pulse of music!
- When a baby is sick, s/he needs to hear a soft, comforting, preferably familiar voice. A mother or other singing lullabies, can calm a frightened and agitated newborn.
- When a baby is underweight and needs to take in nourishment, soft lullabies playing can help a baby calm down enough to take in the nourishment s/he desperately needs.
I have created a lullaby CD/download just for you and your baby. Click on the image of the baby at the top of the blog to purchase. Let me know how I can help you!
Friday, November 14, 2008
Pregnancy and Fibroids: Problem or not?
Even if you have fibroids, the chance of delivering a healthy baby is high. Learn how fibroids can affect pregnancy from medical experts and two women who had fibroids and birthed healthy babies.
They can be microscopic, the size of a grapefruit, and even grow to volleyball proportion or beyond. These unwelcome guests call a woman's uterus home. We are talking about tumors of the muscle of the uterus, commonly known as fibroids.
The good news is that with the monitoring modern technology enables, the great majority of pregnant women who have fibroids give birth to healthy babies, says Dr. Pedro Arrabal, MD, a Baltimore OB-GYN and maternal fetal medicine specialist.
According to Dr. Bobbie Gostout, MD, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, fibroids infrequently cause difficulty with conception. Yet once a woman is pregnant, fibroids can enlarge rapidly—especially during early pregnancy—cause severe pain, and even necessitate hospitalization, Dr. Gostout explains. Still, she says most fibroids do not cause any difficulties with pregnancy.
Nevadra Johnson, of the Washington DC area, was about to undergo surgery to remove her fibroids when she learned she was pregnant with her second child. "It was kind of bittersweet. You're excited about it. You're also worried," she says of the news. "You're saying, 'Will the baby make it?' There's a lot of worry in the beginning stages of pregnancy. It's even more so when you know you have a condition."
Fibroids and the Growing Fetus
Johnson, who was referred to Dr. Arrabal, learned that for the safety of her unborn child, her surgery needed to be postponed until after delivery.
"During pregnancy, fibroids are not treated," explains Dr. Gostout. "We simply try to manage the symptoms in a woman who wishes to preserve fertility." After pregnancy, she says fibroids can be surgically removed through a myomectomy and adds while there are newer treatments which appear promising, so far they have only been applied in large numbers to women who are done having children, "mainly since the unknown effects on the strength of the uterus and the ability of the uterus to carry a healthy pregnancy."
When Johnson's fibroids were first discovered in 2000, she had a five-year-old son, but in early 2006, pregnant with her second child, her three fibroids ballooned from the size of a quarter to grapefruit size. At three-months pregnant, Johnson says her protruding stomach made her look twice as far along.
Johnson admits wondering if the fibroids were cancer. The answer was no. Dr. Arrabal says that the odds of developing cancer as a result of fibroids during pregnancy are less than one percent.
"Whenever we tell anybody things are out of the ordinary, people tend to assume the worst. The way I look at it, it's my job to assume the worst and to try to prevent the worst," says Dr. Arrabal, who asks patients to leave the worrying to him and to stay as positive as possible.
He explains as a woman's estrogen levels significantly rise during early pregnancy, fibroids can grow tenfold or more. The traditional method of measuring a mother's abdomen to determine a baby's approximate size can give a false sense of security, as the fibroids can throw off the numbers. Thanks to major medical advances in the last 30 years, Dr. Arrabal says the baby and the fibroids can be monitored in ways never before possible. Ultrasounds and other tests are used to track the baby's size and the location of the fibroids.
While Dr. Arrabal emphasizes the favorable odds, he also prepares patients for potential complications, such as an obstructed birth canal necessitating a Cesarean section, preterm contractions, and preterm labor. In a minority of cases, the fibroid settles under the placenta, forcing it to separate from the uterus, which Dr. Arrabal says can cause a woman to hemorrhage or have a stillbirth.
for more info, see entire article at www.babyzone.com/pregnancy/health_wellness/complications
They can be microscopic, the size of a grapefruit, and even grow to volleyball proportion or beyond. These unwelcome guests call a woman's uterus home. We are talking about tumors of the muscle of the uterus, commonly known as fibroids.
The good news is that with the monitoring modern technology enables, the great majority of pregnant women who have fibroids give birth to healthy babies, says Dr. Pedro Arrabal, MD, a Baltimore OB-GYN and maternal fetal medicine specialist.
According to Dr. Bobbie Gostout, MD, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, fibroids infrequently cause difficulty with conception. Yet once a woman is pregnant, fibroids can enlarge rapidly—especially during early pregnancy—cause severe pain, and even necessitate hospitalization, Dr. Gostout explains. Still, she says most fibroids do not cause any difficulties with pregnancy.
Nevadra Johnson, of the Washington DC area, was about to undergo surgery to remove her fibroids when she learned she was pregnant with her second child. "It was kind of bittersweet. You're excited about it. You're also worried," she says of the news. "You're saying, 'Will the baby make it?' There's a lot of worry in the beginning stages of pregnancy. It's even more so when you know you have a condition."
Fibroids and the Growing Fetus
Johnson, who was referred to Dr. Arrabal, learned that for the safety of her unborn child, her surgery needed to be postponed until after delivery.
"During pregnancy, fibroids are not treated," explains Dr. Gostout. "We simply try to manage the symptoms in a woman who wishes to preserve fertility." After pregnancy, she says fibroids can be surgically removed through a myomectomy and adds while there are newer treatments which appear promising, so far they have only been applied in large numbers to women who are done having children, "mainly since the unknown effects on the strength of the uterus and the ability of the uterus to carry a healthy pregnancy."
When Johnson's fibroids were first discovered in 2000, she had a five-year-old son, but in early 2006, pregnant with her second child, her three fibroids ballooned from the size of a quarter to grapefruit size. At three-months pregnant, Johnson says her protruding stomach made her look twice as far along.
Johnson admits wondering if the fibroids were cancer. The answer was no. Dr. Arrabal says that the odds of developing cancer as a result of fibroids during pregnancy are less than one percent.
"Whenever we tell anybody things are out of the ordinary, people tend to assume the worst. The way I look at it, it's my job to assume the worst and to try to prevent the worst," says Dr. Arrabal, who asks patients to leave the worrying to him and to stay as positive as possible.
He explains as a woman's estrogen levels significantly rise during early pregnancy, fibroids can grow tenfold or more. The traditional method of measuring a mother's abdomen to determine a baby's approximate size can give a false sense of security, as the fibroids can throw off the numbers. Thanks to major medical advances in the last 30 years, Dr. Arrabal says the baby and the fibroids can be monitored in ways never before possible. Ultrasounds and other tests are used to track the baby's size and the location of the fibroids.
While Dr. Arrabal emphasizes the favorable odds, he also prepares patients for potential complications, such as an obstructed birth canal necessitating a Cesarean section, preterm contractions, and preterm labor. In a minority of cases, the fibroid settles under the placenta, forcing it to separate from the uterus, which Dr. Arrabal says can cause a woman to hemorrhage or have a stillbirth.
for more info, see entire article at www.babyzone.com/pregnancy/health_wellness/complications
Thursday, November 06, 2008
So you've just found out you're pregnant?
If you've just found out you're pregnant, congratulations! This is one of the absolutely most exciting times in a human's life...no doubt about it. You're probably full of questions, concerns and ideas of what you want to do. I believe that lots of good, accurate, and up-to-date information is extremely important. For that reason, I'm going to do a series on how pregnancy progresses. Of course it will also include information on how music fits into the picture! Hope you'll enjoy this and email me with any questions you might have!
How your baby's growing: This week's major developments: The nose, mouth, and ears that you'll spend so much time kissing in eight months are beginning to take shape. If you could see into your uterus, you'd find an oversize head and dark spots where your baby's eyes and nostrils are starting to form. His emerging ears are marked by small depressions on the sides of the head, and his arms and legs by protruding buds. His heart is beating about 100 to 160 times a minute — almost twice as fast as yours — and blood is beginning to course through his body. His intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that will give rise to his lungs has appeared. His pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of his brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, your baby is a quarter of an inch long, about the size of a lentil bean.See what's going on in your uterus this week.Note: Every baby develops a little differently — even in the womb. Our information is designed to give you a general idea of your baby's development.How your life's changing: You may find yourself developing a bit of a split personality — feeling moody one day and joyful the next. Unsettling as this is (especially if you pride yourself on being in control), what you're going through is normal. Ricocheting emotions are caused partly by fluctuating hormones. But hormones aside, your life is about to change in a big way — and who wouldn't feel emotional about that?Spotting (spots of blood on your underpants or toilet tissue after urinating) or bleeding is relatively common in early pregnancy, affecting up to a quarter of pregnant women. It may occur in a normal pregnancy, but sometimes it can be the first sign of miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy. If you have any spotting or bleeding, call your provider. (information found on www.babycenter.com)
Monday, October 06, 2008
Do you know about "Kangaroo Care?"
TORONTO: Swaddling a tiny premature baby against the skin of a parent - a technique known as "kangaroo care" - can help the infant cope with the pain inflicted by necessary medical procedures, a new study suggests.
The research shows that the technique - which has already been shown to be effective in full-term babies and moderately premature infants - is also helpful with those born very pre-term, between 28 and 32 weeks of gestation.
"We found that babies in skin-to-skin contact with their mothers showed less pain response than when they were in the incubator" when they were undergoing a procedure, said lead author Celeste Johnston, a nursing professor at Montreal's McGill University.
"The effect was significant and we were surprised to find that in babies this young."
The study was published Thursday in the journal BMC Pediatrics.
The options for pain control are limited for infants born so prematurely. Anesthetic creams applied to numb the skin don't appear to work in these babies and morphine would not be given for routine but painful procedures like the lancing of a heel to take blood or the insertion of an intravenous line.
Breastfeeding has been found to help infants cope with pain, but very pre-term babies may not be able to breastfeed. So Johnston and colleagues set out to study whether a technique known as KMC - kangaroo mother care - could help them through painful procedures. (While the study was done using mothers, kangaroo care can be provided by fathers too.)
Kangaroo care started in South America as a way to deal with a shortage of incubators, Johnston explained in an interview. It was thought that skin-to-skin contact between a baby and a parent might be a substitute for the heat that incubators provide to babies too tiny to regulate their own body temperature.
"The baby only has on a diaper. The mother's bare chested. And then they would wrap a blanket or a cloth, a swaddling cloth, around the mother and the baby," Johnston explained. "And the baby then is kept warm on the mother's chest."
The technique is now sometimes used in neonatal units to help infants bond with their parents.
But it was noticed that babies in kangaroo care were in a calmer state, with better blood oxygen levels and lower heart rates. So Johnston and her co-authors wanted to see if the technique could help preemies cope with pain, which sends heart rates racing and blood oxygen levels plummeting.
No one enjoys pain. But in these fragile infants, pain inflicts a cost.
"When painful thing happen to them, that destabilizes them," Johnston said. "Their heart rates go way up, their sats (oxygen saturation levels) go way down."
"When their heart rate goes up like that when something painful happens to them, then that's taking away energy that they could be using to be growing, if you will."
It wasn't clear, though, that infants this young had yet developed the mechanisms that would allow them to benefit from the technique - responses like the ability to produce pain-killing endorphins. For that reason Johnston and her colleagues weren't sure kangaroo care would work with these babies.
However, in a trial where some infants underwent procedures while in kangaroo care and others while simply in an incubator, the swaddled infants recovered more quickly and seemed to be in less pain.
The effect was not as pronounced as with babies born closer to term. But Johnston said it still makes sense to consider the technique in the younger preemies.
"Well, I think so. I mean, what's the alternative? It's better than not being in kangaroo care," she said.
"It's kind of a natural way to go. It doesn't cost anything. (And) the mothers feel much better about doing it."
The research shows that the technique - which has already been shown to be effective in full-term babies and moderately premature infants - is also helpful with those born very pre-term, between 28 and 32 weeks of gestation.
"We found that babies in skin-to-skin contact with their mothers showed less pain response than when they were in the incubator" when they were undergoing a procedure, said lead author Celeste Johnston, a nursing professor at Montreal's McGill University.
"The effect was significant and we were surprised to find that in babies this young."
The study was published Thursday in the journal BMC Pediatrics.
The options for pain control are limited for infants born so prematurely. Anesthetic creams applied to numb the skin don't appear to work in these babies and morphine would not be given for routine but painful procedures like the lancing of a heel to take blood or the insertion of an intravenous line.
Breastfeeding has been found to help infants cope with pain, but very pre-term babies may not be able to breastfeed. So Johnston and colleagues set out to study whether a technique known as KMC - kangaroo mother care - could help them through painful procedures. (While the study was done using mothers, kangaroo care can be provided by fathers too.)
Kangaroo care started in South America as a way to deal with a shortage of incubators, Johnston explained in an interview. It was thought that skin-to-skin contact between a baby and a parent might be a substitute for the heat that incubators provide to babies too tiny to regulate their own body temperature.
"The baby only has on a diaper. The mother's bare chested. And then they would wrap a blanket or a cloth, a swaddling cloth, around the mother and the baby," Johnston explained. "And the baby then is kept warm on the mother's chest."
The technique is now sometimes used in neonatal units to help infants bond with their parents.
But it was noticed that babies in kangaroo care were in a calmer state, with better blood oxygen levels and lower heart rates. So Johnston and her co-authors wanted to see if the technique could help preemies cope with pain, which sends heart rates racing and blood oxygen levels plummeting.
No one enjoys pain. But in these fragile infants, pain inflicts a cost.
"When painful thing happen to them, that destabilizes them," Johnston said. "Their heart rates go way up, their sats (oxygen saturation levels) go way down."
"When their heart rate goes up like that when something painful happens to them, then that's taking away energy that they could be using to be growing, if you will."
It wasn't clear, though, that infants this young had yet developed the mechanisms that would allow them to benefit from the technique - responses like the ability to produce pain-killing endorphins. For that reason Johnston and her colleagues weren't sure kangaroo care would work with these babies.
However, in a trial where some infants underwent procedures while in kangaroo care and others while simply in an incubator, the swaddled infants recovered more quickly and seemed to be in less pain.
The effect was not as pronounced as with babies born closer to term. But Johnston said it still makes sense to consider the technique in the younger preemies.
"Well, I think so. I mean, what's the alternative? It's better than not being in kangaroo care," she said.
"It's kind of a natural way to go. It doesn't cost anything. (And) the mothers feel much better about doing it."
Provided by: The Canadian PressWritten by: Helen Branswell, Medical Reporter, THE CANADIAN PRESSApr. 23, 2008
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Breastfeeding and Lullabies ♪♫♪♫
Nursing your baby is one of the best things you can do to get her off to a healthy start in life. Research and common wisdom tells us that Mommy's milk is meant to feed a newborn baby and no baby is ever going to be allergic to Mommy's mild. It almost seems like a miracle to me that the whole process works so beautifully---usually!
Sometimes new mothers or mothers who have had difficult pregnancies get tense and anxious and have trouble getting their mile to "let down." This happened to me after my first child was born: my breasts were full of milk and my baby was crying but the milk would not "let down" into my breasts so that my daughter could satisfy her hunger!
So how do lullabies play a part? Women have been softly singing, humming and crooning to the infants since the beginning of time. The benefits of mother singing to her baby, rather than playing a CD or radio, is that THIS is the same voice that baby has been hearing for the past nine months and is the voice that makes baby feel safe and secure. When baby calms down, mommy calms down and before you know it, the milk is flowing. Is this immediate and instantaneous? Of course not. It's a process and can take days depending on how anxious the mother is.
My recommendation is that mother listen to my lullaby CD during pregnancy so that the melodies come easily to her when she sits down to nurse baby! You can order the CD or you can download these classic lullabies that have been passed down from generation to generation! Do let me know how it goes!!
Sometimes new mothers or mothers who have had difficult pregnancies get tense and anxious and have trouble getting their mile to "let down." This happened to me after my first child was born: my breasts were full of milk and my baby was crying but the milk would not "let down" into my breasts so that my daughter could satisfy her hunger!
So how do lullabies play a part? Women have been softly singing, humming and crooning to the infants since the beginning of time. The benefits of mother singing to her baby, rather than playing a CD or radio, is that THIS is the same voice that baby has been hearing for the past nine months and is the voice that makes baby feel safe and secure. When baby calms down, mommy calms down and before you know it, the milk is flowing. Is this immediate and instantaneous? Of course not. It's a process and can take days depending on how anxious the mother is.
My recommendation is that mother listen to my lullaby CD during pregnancy so that the melodies come easily to her when she sits down to nurse baby! You can order the CD or you can download these classic lullabies that have been passed down from generation to generation! Do let me know how it goes!!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Cloth Diapers - The healthy choice for newborns and their environment
By: Rob Parker
You have to think that life must be pretty difficult as a newborn. After all, so far you’ve spent your whole time in a warm and wet environment; basically bumping around naked, not really worried about anything. Then all of a sudden you are thrust out into this cold, bright place, your means of nourishment is cut off, and you have to learn to breath in a whole new way in a matter of seconds, and then they wrap you in plastic!While some people may have the time to set a schedule for their newborns so that they can get them cleaned every time the baby produces waste, for many this simply isn’t feasible. A new generation that rejects unnatural products both for the environment and for their children are choosing to use cloth diapers instead of disposables for catching the bodily waste that newborns produce. Let’s take a look at the benefits in health and in terms of our eco footprint, that choosing cloth diapers for your newborn can mean.Less diaper rash. Cloth diapers simply can’t hold the same amount of waste, either solid or liquid, that a disposable diaper can. While at first blush this may seem convenient, the fact is that the healthy choices for our children are never convenient. The amount of waste that can build up in a disposable diaper can cause newborns, infants and toddlers significant pain and discomfort in the form of a rash. Using a cloth diaper mitigates this occurrence.Renewable. The biggest benefit as far as the environment with cloth diapers as that by being washable, they are far less likely to be thrown out than disposables. Most disposable diapers contain quite a lot of plastic and other materials which will not break down for hundreds of years; a quick look at just how many disposables the average newborn goes through in a day is enough to make anyone’s spine creep when the eco impact is considered. The fact that you can use cloth diapers again and again, also means there is less impact on your bank account!Less chance of an allergic reaction. As allergies are becoming more and more severe, many new mothers are finding that the synthetic materials used in disposable diapers cause their newborns to have a reaction. Not a very great way to start out life! Choosing cloth diapers made of non-allergenic material will greatly reduce the chance of a reaction from your baby.As with so many are finding today, the old ways of doing things are proving to be the smartest for a new generation. Cloth diapers are a flash from the past, but perhaps they are a part of taking care of a newborn that should never have been left behind.
Article Source: http://babyboomerarticles.com
You have to think that life must be pretty difficult as a newborn. After all, so far you’ve spent your whole time in a warm and wet environment; basically bumping around naked, not really worried about anything. Then all of a sudden you are thrust out into this cold, bright place, your means of nourishment is cut off, and you have to learn to breath in a whole new way in a matter of seconds, and then they wrap you in plastic!While some people may have the time to set a schedule for their newborns so that they can get them cleaned every time the baby produces waste, for many this simply isn’t feasible. A new generation that rejects unnatural products both for the environment and for their children are choosing to use cloth diapers instead of disposables for catching the bodily waste that newborns produce. Let’s take a look at the benefits in health and in terms of our eco footprint, that choosing cloth diapers for your newborn can mean.Less diaper rash. Cloth diapers simply can’t hold the same amount of waste, either solid or liquid, that a disposable diaper can. While at first blush this may seem convenient, the fact is that the healthy choices for our children are never convenient. The amount of waste that can build up in a disposable diaper can cause newborns, infants and toddlers significant pain and discomfort in the form of a rash. Using a cloth diaper mitigates this occurrence.Renewable. The biggest benefit as far as the environment with cloth diapers as that by being washable, they are far less likely to be thrown out than disposables. Most disposable diapers contain quite a lot of plastic and other materials which will not break down for hundreds of years; a quick look at just how many disposables the average newborn goes through in a day is enough to make anyone’s spine creep when the eco impact is considered. The fact that you can use cloth diapers again and again, also means there is less impact on your bank account!Less chance of an allergic reaction. As allergies are becoming more and more severe, many new mothers are finding that the synthetic materials used in disposable diapers cause their newborns to have a reaction. Not a very great way to start out life! Choosing cloth diapers made of non-allergenic material will greatly reduce the chance of a reaction from your baby.As with so many are finding today, the old ways of doing things are proving to be the smartest for a new generation. Cloth diapers are a flash from the past, but perhaps they are a part of taking care of a newborn that should never have been left behind.
Article Source: http://babyboomerarticles.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
