Search Results for: blog illness and pregnancy

Happy News for the Royal Family Despite Illness

 What wonderful news out of England, that Duchess Kate is now pregnant. She is early in her pregnancy, and is unfortunately experiencing a very severe case of a common early pregnancy symptom. Most of us are familiar with morning sickness, and many of us have experienced it at some point during our pregnancies. However, only about one percent of women will experience morning sickness as severely as Duchess Kate is now experiencing it. The scientific name for excessive morning sickness is hyperemesis gravidarum, or excessive vomiting during pregnancy. In case you are wondering what qualifies as excessive vomiting (after all, vomiting … Continue reading →

Working From Home During an Illness or Disability

Did you know that some types of home – based work can enable people to keep working even after they have had to leave a traditional job due to illness or injury? Sometimes, people with jobs outside of the home are offered the option of doing some or all of their work from home as they recover from an illness or injury. Unfortunately, some are not and they have to leave their jobs because of the illness or injury. Freelance writing, web design, graphic design, programming, and other types of freelance work that are done on the computer are great … Continue reading →

Pregnancy Reflections: Diet

The word “diet” is derived from a Greek word that means “way of life.” As the New Year approaches many of us will reconsider out diets and make New Year resolutions to improve our “way of life.” When we consider our diets especially during pregnancy, we must keep in the mind the ancient origin of the word; a way of life, and not merely a temporary period of time used to lose weight, grow a baby, etc. I have learned a lot about the importance of diet as a “way of life” in the last few years. My first pregnancy … Continue reading →

Illness and Pregnancy

It finally happened. After coming in contact with countless sick family, friends, and random people, my pregnant body had enough. Now I have a cold. Although I am not sure how or from whom I contracted the virus, I do know that being sick while pregnant is not fun at all. In the midst of holiday get-togethers and the consumption of holiday related sugary treats, my immune system became susceptible to the various cold viruses on the prowl this winter season. After a twenty four hour runny nose, I thought I had beat the bug. Alas, after several unsuccessful attacks, … Continue reading →

Pregnancy Increases Your Risk for Just About Everything

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Pregnancy makes a woman more susceptible to colds, allergies,and flu complications. Our immune systems are compromised, making it easier to catch illnesses. We often struggle with concentration and balance due to hormones and their effect on our brains and bodies. Pregnant women are also apt to suffer mood swings, aches and pains, and nausea. Pregnancy is the only condition that makes it normal to suffer from so many different symptoms and side effects! Besides the various classic symptoms of pregnancy, you might find yourself at an increased risk for: Developing gum disease. Pregnancy is no time to slack when it … Continue reading →

Sports and Recreation

Some women significantly reduce their workload, exercise and activity level during pregnancy. Some women have to because of a high risk pregnancy and others have always been taught that this is the right thing to do to keep both mom and baby healthy. But a growing number of women are of the mindset that pregnancy doesn’t have to slow you down at all, at least until the sheer size and weight of the baby in the final trimester begins to get in the way. Research shows that exercise is safe and healthy for pregnant women. We know more about what … Continue reading →

H1N1 and New Families – Part II

Yesterday I talked about how the H1N1 virus has impacted families in the mother/baby ward. As it turns out, I learned today, more and more hospitals are banning children and teens from hospitals unless they are patients. I went to go visit a friend who recently had a baby today, and I discovered that I couldn’t even leave my son with a friend in the cafeteria area of the hospital. They were not letting any children in the hospital anywhere. They even had a sign right by the front door. Fortunately I had called ahead and was able to leave … Continue reading →

Untreated Asthma During Pregnancy May Put Infant at Risk for Future Asthma

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Once again, research indicates that treating health issues during pregnancy, such as diabetes, for example, decreases the health risks for the child. This time the topic is asthma, and it has been found that women who don’t properly treat their asthma during pregnancy raise the risk that their child will suffer from the same disease. Over 32 percent of children born to mothers who neglect to treat their asthma during pregnancy develop the respiratory illness themselves. This new evidence comes from a study conducted at the Université de Montréal, the Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal and Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research … Continue reading →

New Test May Prevent Pregnancy Loss

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Prenatal care is full of tests. I felt as though I got poked and prodded more in the nine months of pregnancy than I had in my entire life. Mothers often get tested for a variety of complications and illnesses. Many problems can be fixed early on without further complications. That is why prenatal care is so important to the health of both the mother and the baby. Well, get ready to add the EPV to your list of routine pregnancy tests. The new test may help prevent pregnancy loss. EPV stands for Estimated Placenta Volume, and is a new … Continue reading →

Swine Flu and Pregnancy

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I know what you are thinking: more swine flu news? On the pregnancy blog? Unfortunately, the swine flu has hit pregnant women especially hard. In fact, pregnant women will likely be given priority when the swine flu vaccinations are distributed in the fall. According to a recent AP wire, “pregnant women account for 6 percent of U.S. swine flu deaths since the pandemic began in April, even though they make up just 1 percent of the U.S. population.” Pregnant women are more susceptible to severe illness, according to World Health Organization experts, and could suffer spontaneous abortion and/or death, especially … Continue reading →