Is It Safe to Drink Small Amounts of Alcohol During Pregnancy?
The National Institute For Health and Clinical Excellence (or NICE) recently claims that pregnant women can drink up to 1.5 units of alcohol (or one and a half small glasses of wine) without harming the unborn child. This comes after the Department of Health advises that expectant mothers should abstain from drinking entirely. So between these contradicting sets of advice, where is the truth?
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PREEMIES HEALTH RISK
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Lupus Awareness
October is lupus awareness month. It’s a disease that affects predominantly women, and many aren’t aware of it even when they do have it.
Lupus affects perhaps 1.5 million Americans, it hits women compared to men in a 9 to 1 ratio, and it affects the African American population in particular.
The problem: many women—especially those 18 to 24, those most likely to get it-- don’t know anything about this disease, its signs or symptoms.
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HEART CAT SCANS
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Pregnancy and Exercise
Zina Macias says she is somewhat of a fitness fanatic. When she got the news that she was pregnant, Zina was determined to continue working out, after receiving the stamp of approval from her doctor. “I like to walk on the treadmill, bike on the bicycle, anything just to keep my circulation, especially in my legs, flowing,” says Zina.
Exercising while pregnant has tremendous benefits. It helps maintain body weight during pregnancy and can prevent and control gestational diabetes. But, if you’re going to exercise during the summer months, you need to take precaution.
“I try to advise pregnant patients to stay as cool as possible while exercising, this means staying in an air conditioned environment, this is not the time to be jogging outside at noon, swimming is an ideal summer sport, it is easy to keep cool in the water, and the buoyancy is a lot more comfortable on the joints and it is a lot more comfortable as pregnant women gain more weight,” says obstetrician, Dr. Jennifer Wu of Lenox Hill Hospital.
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In Vitro Fertilization
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PREEMIES HEALTH RISK
Clinton's stand on Plan B
Perhaps the best way to make a “no”—as in not a yes decision, is, in fact, to make no decision—preventing the yes vote from ever happening.
Many are arguing that’s been the tactic of the FDA over the past two years with regard to making available over the counter the Plan B emergency contraceptive pill...referred to as “E.C.”
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Plan B OTC Revisted
For years the movement of the Plan B drug to over the counter status has been a controversial issue, but in 2003 the FDA made their first step towards making the change. One of their advisory panels voted 23 to 4 in favor of making the drug available over the counter; the application was, however rejected. The outcome has troubled many who believe its cause is politics: according to a report by the Government Accountability office, a non partisan Investigative Unit of Congress, there were several irregular actions taken by the FDA that were “unprecedented.”
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In Vitro Fertilization
Today, thanks to the miracle of science, thousands of couples desperately wanting children, who can't conceive naturally, are able to become parents.
"In the in vitro fertilization process women are given hormonal treatments to try to stimulate their ovaries to release eggs, and then we remove those eggs fertilize them outside the body in a laboratory with sperm and place the embryos back into the uterine cavity," says Dr. Daniel Stein of St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital.
But, one of the greatest challenges with IVF is multiple births.
"We often have to replace more than one embryo back into the uterus, about a third of pregnancies from in vitro fertilization are multiple pregnancies, the majority of those are twin pregnancies, but there is also an increased rate of triplet and quadruple pregnancy rate, we want to try to reduce the multiple pregnancy rate because there are so many problems associated with multiple pregnancy, like cerebral palsy, other types of neurological damage, increase c-section rates for the mom," says Dr. Stein.
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PREEMIES HEALTH RISK
Clinton's stand on Plan B
Birth Control Options
It’s back on the road again for 31 year old Jill Pearson. Jill, a technology trainer, travels extensively for work, but, monthly painful periods which included crushing migraines, were making her business trips unbearable. She decided to try Seasonale, one of the newer oral contraceptives, allowing her to get a period just four times a year. “I have total control of when I get my period, you know I get to decide, do I want it this week, do I want it next week, do I want to wait another month until I have it, and it just makes me in total control,” says Jill Pearson.
Seasonale and Seasonique are two innovative contraceptive regimens offering fewer periods over the course of a year. “Women are looking for options that will allow them to have better controlled menstrual cycles so that they can have less of the PMS, be more active and not really be tied down based on what time of the month it is, says gynecologist, Dr. Nancy Roberson Jasper of Columbia University.”
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Diabetes and Pregnancy
Labor and delivery is not uncharted territory for 38 year old Karen Asar, she’s mom to six year old Ben and four year old Lucas and is due any day now with baby number three. But, unlike her prior pregnancies, Karen developed gestational diabetes this time around. “I have to monitor myself and my blood sugar 7 times a day. I have to really watch what I eat, and monitor the sugars after I eat,” says Karen.
And Karen’s vigilance has paid off, no major health issues during the pregnancy. But, according to new research published in the British Medical Journal, the risk of death and major birth defects are still high in babies born to women with diabetes, despite an international strategy to raise standards of diabetes care.
“They are at risk of the babies themselves of being big and fat. And, having obesity as children and obesity as adolescents, and certainly they’re at risk of developing diabetes later in life,” says Dr. Barak Rosenn of St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital.
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Colic Reflux
14 month old Cateyann entered the world when she was only 36 weeks old, a preemie, she weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces. It was crucial for Cateyann to gain weight…but, as weeks and then months passed, she not only didn’t put weight on, Cateyann began losing pound after pound.
“It was a constant stress every day for my husband and I worrying about how much she ate, is she going to eat today? We would be weighing her every night to make sure she didn’t lose any weight,” says Danielle, Cateyann’s mother.
Feeding time was extremely stressful for the family because Cateyann would refuse to eat any solid foods, spitting out every spoonful. “She didn’t care that she didn’t eat, she could go all day long. Typically with a baby you think they would let you know they were hungry by the way they were acting and she would act fine you would never know that she hadn’t eaten for the entire day,” says Danielle.
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FINDING A PEDIATRICIAN
Antibiotics and Sore Throat Study
Croup Treatment Failure
Depo Provera
Depro Provera is a birth control injection that a woman get every 3 months. It consists of a synthetic form of the female hormone progesterone.
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PAINFUL PERIODS
Clinton's stand on Plan B
Birth Control Options
