In my last blog, I talked about the reasons women aren’t always completely honest about certain habits during pregnancy. One of the more common things to hide is drug or alcohol use. Recent research has shown the importance of finding help and getting treatment for addiction when you are pregnant. A study conducted by Kaiser Permanente in California looked at the outcome of pregnancy when the mother receives treatment for addiction. The researchers studied 50,000 pregnant women receiving prenatal care at the facility. There were 2100 women who chose to receive treatment for substance abuse and 160 who declined the … Continue reading →

You may think blogs about drug use in pregnancy aren’t needed. After all, we all know that using street or even many prescription drugs isn’t safe, right? Well, according to a survey conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 5.5 percent of women reported using illegal drugs during pregnancy. Cocaine is one of the more commonly used drugs, due to addiction factors and women fearful of admitting the addiction to their health care providers. It is estimated that as many as a hundred thousand babies are exposed to cocaine in utero in the U.S. each year. The National Institutes … Continue reading →

If you take drugs and are pregnant, the greatest gift you can give your baby is to quit. There are really no safe drugs or no safe amount to take when you are pregnant. It is best for the health of your baby for you to quit. In fact, his life may depend on it. When you discover you are pregnant, you will find that you think of yourself less and your baby more. This makes it easier for some women to quit drugs than at any other time in life. Take advantage of this natural maternal instinct to help … Continue reading →

The short answer is placental abruption is when part of the placenta separates from the wall of the uterus. The condition generally occurs in the third trimester of the pregnancy. About one in one hundred women will experience placental abruption during their pregnancies. The symptoms of placental abruption are vaginal bleeding, combined with some degree of pain ranging from mild to severe. The amount of bleeding varies depending on the size of the tear. In all cases, there is danger of oxygen deprivation in the baby. Less common, but possible is danger to the life of the mother due to … Continue reading →

There is sometimes confusion about drinking alcohol in pregnancy. We all know that getting drunk is never good for the baby. We even know that drinking a glass of wine with dinner every night is not safe. But what about one glass of wine in the entire nine months? What exactly is safe? Adding to the confusion, recommendations change. During my first pregnancy, I was told by my doctor that an occasional glass of wine was not harmful. Recently I’ve read that no amount is considered safe. To err on the side of caution, it is currently recommended that women … Continue reading →

If you are pregnant, you have likely heard or read that alcohol should be avoided in pregnancy. There is a good reason to abstain from the adult beverage during these nine months, your baby’s health. Babies born to mothers who drink during pregnancy are at risk for fetal alcohol syndrome. According to the Centers for Disease Control, drinking during pregnancy is the leading preventable cause of birth defects in the United States. An astonishing 1 in 750 babies is born with symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome. Tens of thousands more suffer from fetal alcohol effects, a less severe side effect … Continue reading →