Archive for April, 2009

Your Quick Guide On Care After Pregnancy

Friday, April 24th, 2009

Pregnancy is undeniably the most exciting phase in a woman life. And same as any exciting event, in this case also there are many doubts and apprehensions. There may be many questions on your mind like how do I take care after pregnancy, what changes will I have to make in my lifestyle to welcome the new family member, how much pregnancy weight will I gain and so on. So read on and clarify all your uncertainties.

To help you in your delivery and to guide you in your pregnancy period, there are different health care providers available like Obstetricians (conventional choice for childbirth), Family Physicians (your trusted medical help over the years), Maternal-fetal medicine specialists (in case of very high risk pregnancies where mother is suffering from fatal diseases) or midwives (very common choice for low risk pregnancy). It is your personal decision and you can decide upon the health care provider by analyzing your medical condition.

The period after delivery is called post-partum. The post pregnancy care you need, will depend upon the type of delivery you have had. Every case is different but following is just an overview to help you take good care after pregnancy:

Normal Delivery

You will be very tired after this delivery and why not since you have worked harder than ever before in your life. Also with a sudden decrease in hormone levels, you will need to take as much rest as possible. The best way to achieve this is to sleep while the baby sleeps. You will also have contractions after you deliver your baby. These are called after pains and they will be more intense while breastfeeding. After pains usually go away after the first week to ten days when the uterus starts decreasing to its pre-pregnancy size. Refer to Pregnancy for more information.

Proper hygiene should be followed during pregnancy period as well as after pregnancy. During your delivery, your perineum has been stretched and it will be sore for many days. You can try ice packs and sit baths to relieve soreness. Always clean yourself thoroughly to avoid any infections. If you are breastfeeding, take care of your breasts. You need to keep them clean. If they become dry or cracked, you may massage them with vitamin E oil. Please wash the oil before feeding the baby. Take a balanced post pregnancy diet.

C-Section Delivery

In addition to the guidelines given for the normal delivery, you should follow specific recommendations after surgery. After this major surgery, take full rest. You should always have help the first few times you get out of the bed. As soon as your surgery is over you will be allowed to take clear liquids. Usually one or two days after the surgery, you will be given a regular diet. Increase your activity gradually over several days and never force yourself.

Breastfeeding may be uncomfortable due to the incision and difficulty to move around. Take your own time and find a comfortable position for your self to feed your baby. Do exercise to look good after your pregnancy. It is very important for you to understand exactly what to do during pregnancy and how to take care after pregnancy because it is going to be a wonderful journey that you will remember all your life. I hope that this article gave you an insight on the post-partum period and cleared all your doubts. Visit Pregnancy for further information.

How to lose weight after having a baby, here is what to do!

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

To lose baby weight, you can easily be bored with the limited carb choices but it does get better as you reach the last two stages. Your doctor can explain the possible health risk associated with the Atkins diet. The Atkins diet plan is not easy when losing weight after having a baby but if you stay with it the results will amaze you. An internet search for Atkins diet will yield hundreds of results.

The Atkins diet tries to trick your body into burning fat for energy rather than carbohydrates. If the Reactions are really troublesome you should seek treatment. You can find ways to ease these reactions on the internet and in books about low carb diets.

You might get dizzy, have cramps, and other physical effects because of the changes in your diet. It is possible to ease the dizziness and cramps. There are things that can be done to ease the discomfort of leg cramps and other symptoms. Remember minerals like Potassium, are flushed out of your system quickly.

Take a 90 milligram supplement instead of a banana to replace potassium. Relief from symptoms should be felt in about an hour. While on Atkins follow these suggestions for staying healthy. Listed below are some suggestions that might help you get through the time it takes your body to adjust to the diet.

If your weight loss slows or stops before you are close to goal weight, check how many calories you are taking in. Water is also necessary to your kidneys functioning properly. Drinking enough water to equal half your body weight will keep you out of the kitchen and in another room all day. Not drinking enough water can lead to buildup of ketones which can cause serious health problems.

Weighing yourself more than once a week will only frustrate yourself. If you don’t see a drop in inches and pounds, check for hidden carbs and sugars. You will feel your best when you eat the right amount of carbs. Make sure the carbs you do eat are chock full of nutrients. Sugar is off limits on the Atkins diet. Regular exercise improves your general health.

Beware of promises that you will lose huge amounts of weight without exercise. Convert food into energy faster with exercise. Strive for a balance in exercise if you aren’t a little tired after a session, you probably aren’t doing enough and if you are too tired to move you probably did too much.

The doctor can tell if your post exercise aches and pains are normal or not. To gain maximum benefit from your exercise and dieting, slowly build your routine. Don’t take more than the recommended doses of any supplement without your doctor’s consent. If you are tempted to cheat, checking your journal will remind you what happened the last time you did that.

Some people overeat and some eat barely anything when under stress, recording what you eat will explain weight loss or gain. If you go off program, don’t beat yourself up, just get back on track as soon as possible. Anything significant should be entered because good stuff affects you too.

Knowing you have to list everything is important especially for diabetics so they can see how foods affect them whether its negative or positive. Recording your blood sugar levels in the journal is an obvious fact. Doing this will teach you to recognize patterns such as when your levels are highest or lowest.

You and your doctor can use the journal to recognize what you have been doing right and to build on it. Try to choose foods made from whole grain flour. If your weight loss stalls or slows significantly, try eliminating all caffeine. Having short term goals will keep you motivated.

The amount you lose in a week or a month is not as important as a steady weight loss. Losing more weight than that is potentially dangerous. Yo-yo dieting , losing weight and gaining it back to get out of starvations mode, than losing, etc. may be as dangerous as being overweight.

With the Atkins diet, you have the maintenance phase to use for the rest of your life, so you don’t have to return to the old way. Only use diets that suggest a slow to moderate weight loss and possibly some nutrient supplements. So the element of a safe workable diet are balanced meals, exercise and supplements.

Not all supplements can do what they claim, so do your homework before you buy. All natural ingredients have one advantage. Supplements and medications often don’t mix well, it might be a good idea to take them separately a few hours apart. You won’t need supplements if your diet is well balanced.

Make sure you grab a FREE weight loss report at the losing weight after delivery website!

Visit this blog in order to know more about how to loose weight after pregnancy!

A Pregnancy Diet. What You Need To Know.

Saturday, April 11th, 2009

We examine how a proper pregnancy diet is crucial not only to the baby, but the mother as well. The importance of a planned diet program can make a huge difference in the physical and mental state of the mother-to-be and her child. Go to Pregnancy for more information.

There are a lot of things we gamble on but the one thing you would never gamble on is the health of your children. This is true even before they are born. Increasing your chances for a healthy baby is not gambled on the roll of a dice, but with careful planning and attention to prenatal nutrition. What you want is the best likelihood of a successful and stress free nine months. A proper pregnancy diet plan will give your baby the best chance for a healthy beginning.

No mother-to-be is willing to take a chance on her baby’s health. That means following a program that gives the best options for the mother to provide the utmost care and attention for her future bundle of joy. Sound pregnancy plans provide the extra nutrition and calories needed by the body and the developing baby. It’s important to eat the right amount of calories and restrict weight gain to only what is necessary for the baby’s growth. How much you eat depends on several factors.

- How active you are throughout the day.

- Whether you do moderate physical exertion or exercise.

- How much you weigh before the pregnancy.

- What trimester your pregnancy is in.

- Whether you are carrying more than one baby.

The best Pregnancy diet will center on maintaining a healthy weight throughout the maternity. It will also have the goal of eliminating encounters with a low birth weight, poor immune system, developing nervous systems and diet related birth defects.

Maintaining a healthy diet that increases the odds of a healthy baby, involves a good deal more than just understanding what you should eat. Basically you know you should get enough folic acid, calcium and vitamins. You also must know what to avoid eating or drinking to prevent problems. To increase the best likelihood of a successful term, a smart pregnancy diet plan will include warnings about foods that may cause problems.

Do not eat certain types of fish that may contain high levels of mercury, such as mackerel.

Do not drink alcohol because it can cause the baby to be born underweight or even have a form of brain impairment.

Restrict caffeine consumption.

Never eat undercooked or raw foods. (Vegetables are the exception)

It’s vital that you should know during the pregnancy about some foods that carry food borne illnesses and should obviously be avoided as much as possible. Undercooked meats, raw fish such as sushi and raw eggs should never be eaten while pregnant. Illnesses from these foods can cause fever, vomiting, diarrhea and can directly affect the health of your unborn baby. When you’re pregnant, you can be more susceptible to the illnesses these foods can carry and your response can be heightened by the pregnancy.

Doing some research of your own can provide more insight into what would be the ideal diet plan for both the mother and baby. When setting up such a particular eating program, remember that the best pregnancy diet will cover all aspects of nutrition that equates to a healthy pregnancy and baby. Visit Pregnancy for further information.

Expect Different Changes in Each of the Pregnancy Stages

Monday, April 6th, 2009

There are three pregnancy stages called trimesters. Each one lasts for about three months of the pregnancy and involves bringing new changes to your body, the development of the baby and your relationships with your partner and those around you. It is important to have an understanding of what to expect in each of these stages so that you will not become unnecessarily stressed when they occur. The changes involve your emotions as well as the shape of your body and your level of comfort. Refer to Pregnancy for more information.

The sexual relationship between partners undergoes a change during these stages as well. The first trimester is often a traumatic experience for both partners with the morning sickness, extreme tiredness and general emotional changes, which often results in a decrease in lovemaking. This usually returns to normal in the second trimester. During the third trimester, with your body expanding quite quickly, you may have to find more comfortable positions in order to show your love for one another and sate your sexual desires.

The first trimester lasts for about twelve weeks. The increase in your hormones will cause you some discomfort with feelings of nausea. You may become ill when you see or smell some of your favourite foods and morning sickness is one of the early signs. When you wake in the morning and get out of bed, you may have to run to the washroom to throw up. Some women experience this later in the day and in some cases it is quite extreme. Usually it does abate by the end of the first three months.

In addition to not having any menstrual periods, you will notice that your breasts are tender and seem to enlarge. You will not notice any major increase in the size of your belly, but by the end of the first trimester, the waistbands may feel a little tighter than normal. You will feel tired most of the time and have to take naps during the day or early evening. Another consequence of this early stage of pregnancy is an increase in the frequency of urinating, which means more trips to the bathroom. Go to Pregnancy for more information.

Your pregnancy will start to show during the second trimester. The riskiest period for a miscarriage is over and you can start to relax. You will experience more energy during this time and be able to do most of your normal activities. Due to the increased blood flow to the breasts and genitals, you will have an increased interest in sexual activity. You will start to feel the baby moving inside and have your first ultrasound during this time. This will make the pregnancy seem more real to you.

This is the stage of pregnancy when your uterus will start to enlarge as the baby starts to grow and develop more fully. This also puts more pressure on the blood vessels, often causing your blood pressure to rise. There is also more pressure on the ligaments and muscles of your lower body, resulting in back and leg pain.

The final stage of pregnancy, the third trimester, is the time for you to start planning for the baby if you haven’t already done so. All of the baby organs are developed and this is a time for waiting for the baby to grow. Towards the end of this stage, you will experience a nesting attitude in which you want to make sure you have everything ready for the new arrival. You also need to get more rest at this time to prepare your body for the upcoming event. Visit Pregnancy for more information.