Thursday December 31, 2009
Let's face it, even when trying to avoid all medications in pregnancy there is occasionally that really bad headache that makes you want to reach for the medicine cabinet. At least one study shows that some of the things in your medicine cabinet, particularly a category of medications called NSAIDs can lead to an increase in heart defects in your baby with first trimester use. That's enough to make you think twice!
The problem is that we don't have enough studies about medications that moms take in pregnancy. We know that about two thirds of pregnant women have had at least one medication in pregnancy. To meet the needs of pregnant women, the FDA announced the formation of a study to look at this issue through the Medication Exposure in Pregnancy Risk Evaluation Program (MEPREP). The data will be collected from birth data gathered from births over a seven year period beginning in 2007. Hopefully this will help us figure out what medications truly need to be avoided and which, if any, can more safely be used in pregnancy.
Related:
Medication Labels | Medications that harm | Common Birth Defects
Thursday December 31, 2009
There are a lot of worthy organizations who are asking for money, particularly as the end of the year comes up. If you are looking to donate your money to a pregnancy or breastfeeding related organization, consider some of the following (a small sample):
Use the comments section to add your favorite baby and birth related charities!
About.com Parenting's Thrifty Thursday
Wednesday December 30, 2009
In my family we like to tell your birth story the night before your birthday. It is actually quite fun and something that started from me quizzing my mom about my birth, which she limited to my birthday eve. If you haven't asked about your birth story - do so! It might be quite interesting to hear. If you like birth stories, you can also read them on the site or share your birth story.
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Tuesday December 29, 2009
I had a discussion yesterday with someone about what maternity care rooms looked like at most hospitals. I said that I thought that the vast majority of hospitals offered labor, delivery and recovery (LDR) rooms or labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum rooms (LDRP) - all single woman rooms. This is certainly true for all of the hospitals and birth centers I've been in around the US, even with high populations of indigent care. While I'm sure that there are still some shared postpartum rooms, I'd venture to say that these are a minority. So I want to know, what type of room will you give birth in?
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