Good Health Guide during pregnancy

March 21st, 2012

Quality Diet of Pregnant Woman: Tune your meals and replace you eating habits with quality and healthy foods. Take as much essential vitamins, minerals and protein as you can that have been suggested by your doctor. Increase the daily calorie intake by 300 calories as proteins are much required during pregnancy. Eat the foods that are rich in folic acids, vitamin C, iron and calcium. The major sources for these proteins are milk, fruits, and green vegetables. Other good sources of folic acids and carbohydrates are cereals and whole grains.

Avoidable foods while pregnancy: Certain foods and beverages are highly prohibited for the intake while you are pregnant. Beverages like alcohol can damage the growth of fetus and have an adverse effect on the development of brain of the baby. Carbonates drinks, sodas and heavily caffeinated drinks are also must be avoided. Instead of eating raw fish, opt for cooked fish as it is a good source of minerals and proteins. Don’t eat papaya when you are in the first weeks.

Avoid using Restrictive Diet: Many women get anxious for their weight when they are pregnant. It is quite obvious to gain weight while pregnancy. Therefore, don’t punish your unborn child and always bear in mind that your complete intake of healthy diet will nourish your baby’s growth and development.

Great Exercises while you are pregnant: Improve the elasticity of your pelvic muscles by doing kegal exercise. The more elastic are the pelvic muscles; more it would be easier to deliver the baby because it improves the capacity to push out the fetus.

Moreover, it reduces muscle contraction and puffiness of limbs due to poor blood circulation.

Also, it improves oxygenation and blood circulation in the entire body. The women, who do regular exercise during pregnancy period, recover the shape of their bodies very fast. Sometimes, women face morning sickness and constipation problems during this stage, but regular exercise removes such kind of ailments and let you feel better during nine months.

Importance of drinking water during pregnancy

March 12th, 2012

Water is essential for all, weather pregnant or not. It helps your body and your vital organs to function properly. During pregnancy, a woman requires more and more water to meet all the requirements of the body. Water is very important to keep the body hydrated and blood cells healthy. Water is also considered essential for good lactation and also a key component of breast milk.

Water helps the body to be hydrated; drinking enough water helps in preventing dehydration. Dehydration during pregnancy may sometimes lead to different body ailments like cramps, dizziness, headaches, nausea and oedema. Drinking enough water is very essential during the third trimester because at this stage dehydration can also cause contractions, which can lead to preterm labour.

If you want to know that your body is hydrated or not, you can check the color of your urine. If the color is straw-colored or is pale then the body is hydrated and if the color is dark then you have to drink more water. Drinking enough water also helps in relieving the symptoms of acidity, heartburn, morning sickness and indigestion. In the hot and humid months, it helps in maintaining the body temperature and keeping your body cool.

One of the most vital functions of water is that it helps in preventing urinary infections that are very common during pregnancy. Drinking enough water helps in reducing the risk of infection as the urine becomes dilute. It also eases constipation, water retention haemorrhoids and oedema.

To prevent dehydration, you should drink about three litres of fluid daily, approximately ten to twelve glasses of water or any other fluid like juices. During summer, you need to drink even more water because in summers there is more lose of water in the form of perspiration. Fruit juices and vegetable juices are quite essential during pregnancy, as these contain essential nutrients and are a good source of vitamins. But, you should keep in mind juices contain extra calories that should be burned by doing light exercises like walking, yoga, etc.

Coconut water should be drink in plenty during all the stages of pregnancy, as it is a good source of manganese, riboflavin, dietary fibre, calcium and Vitamin C. Coconut water or nariyal pani is also one of the most important sources of electrolytes. It is a rich source of potassium, magnesium and chlorides and also has a moderate amount of protein, sugar and sodium. Potassium helps in regulating the blood pressure and the heart function. Also, coconut water is essentially fat free and has zero cholesterol.

Caffeinated beverages like tea, cola and coffee should be avoided during pregnancy because all these fluids are diuretics. Diuretics make you urinate more because of which there is more loss of water from the body. You should try to drink three litre bottles of water daily, which will help you and your baby to stay healthy.

Tips that should be followed by pregnant woman during her three trimesters

February 21st, 2012

Pregnancy is the time when the pallet is filled with love, care, tenderness and with all the possible tips of pregnancy. A nine month journey, which makes a pregnant lady mature enough to be the best mother, requires several things to care. This is the time that actually irritates her to sleep or to take rest because of her growing voluptuous figure. During the three trimesters her body takes different attires and it is very important for her to sleep in the correct posture so that she doesn’t harm her baby.

Here are few tips for pregnant women that should be followed-

First trimester:-

1. Drink lots of water- Stay hydrated and drink liquids during the day and avoid in the evening because this will help in lowdown on nighttime bathroom visits.
2. A pregnant lady must eat healthy and often in small amounts to avoid getting sick from an empty tummy.
3. Rest is the only therapy that will help a pregnant lady stay out of the debt sleep, which can cause her sickness and low on energy.
4. She must sleep on her left side as this is the best position for good blood circulation. To sleep comfortably she can use extra pillows between her knees or under her belly.
5. A pregnant lady must sleep at the same time every night so that her body is fit and this puts her body on a schedule.
6. During the day, short naps are must for a pregnant woman.

Second trimester:-

• Must eat frequent and small meals throughout the day.
• If she has any gas problem, she can take antacids as they are very effective and safe too consume.
• During her second trimester, she must avoid spicy foods, fried and fatty foods in order to avoid heartburns.
• She must sleep properly and more carefully now. She must sleep with her head and neck elevated to keep the stomach acid down.
• Sleep very carefully- When sleeping, lie on your left side with your knees and hips bent. Also can place pillows between your knees, behind your back and under your tummy. This helps in taking the pressure off from lower back.
• Avoid too much eating at the night to avoid nightmares.

Third Trimester:-

• Use a body pillow to help her sleep better.
• To avoid leg cramps please avoid sodas and other carbonated drinks.
• And if she is still getting her leg cramps then straighten her leg and flex her foot upwards, this will help her.

Follow these trimester tips for happy and healthy pregnancy. These several pregnancy tips should be taken care by the pregnant lady. It is very important to take proper pregnancy care, so that the mother and the child stay healthy. This will also ensure a normal delivery.

Advantages of cord blood stem cells

February 9th, 2012

Stem cells are non specialized type of cells that are present in all human beings and have the potential to create other types of cells like tissue cells, liver cells, heart cells, brain cells, kidney cells, blood cells or muscle cells. These are only found at a particular stage (a blastocyst) in human embryos. The main function of these cells is that they circulate and function to replace dysfunctional cells, which helps in maintaining optimal health. There are primarily two type of cells; including adult cells and embryonic cells.

These cells are able to develop into any type of cell division in the human body. The cells are called as pluripotent and totipotent. Pluripotent cells have the ability to form different type tissue types. Totipotent cells are different and they can form some types of tissues. These tissues are mainly found in umbilical cord blood, fetus and also in different adult tissues.

Different researches have been carried out to find out, which all diseases can be cured with the help of stem cells. These cells help in the treatment of number of diseases, some of them are mentioned below:

● Parkinson’s Disease
● Birth Defects
● Replace or Repair Damaged Organs
● Alzheimer’s Disease
● Spinal Cord Injuries
● Heart Diseases, Stroke and Diabetes
● Reduced Risk of Transplantation
● Curing cancer

By differentiating stem cells into specialized cell types, a renewable source of replacement can be achieved for the patients that are suffering from the above mentioned diseases. Stem cells also known as cord blood cells offer numerous advantages that are as follows:

● These cells are isolated from cord blood and are more useful and easier to isolate.
● Stem cells present in the cord blood can be readily isolated from placenta, when the child takes birth.
Cord blood can be stored in cord blood banking and can be transplanted back to the same donor or to a family member and even to an unrelated recipient.
● Stem cells can be harvested from bone marrow but it is difficult as compared to cord blood; it is because harvesting procedure involves surgery.
● Banked stem cells that are harvested from cord blood are easily available and have been proved useful for patients, who are suffering from immune deficiency, leukemia or anemia.
● It has been proved that cord blood has more capacity of producing high number of new blood cells as compared to the bone marrow stem cells.
● When cord blood is used in the treatment then stem cell rejection is less; it is because of the fact that cord blood is not involved in the immune reaction.

Cord blood cells are playing a major role in the pharmaceutical industry. New drugs can be tested on the stem cells for assuring the safety before testing these on human and animal models. If the testing conditions are perfectly replicated then testing drugs offer accurate results.

Difference between normal delivery and scissor delivery

January 24th, 2012

Being pregnant is the most wonderful time for a woman as she gets pampered by each and everyone she meets. During that time even the person on the street who does not known her will give her care and importance. Giving birth to a baby is a pride, an intense strong feeling a mother goes through. This is the time, when she should take a complete balanced diet, complete rest (minimum 9 hrs sleep); she must be happy all the time so that the baby in her womb is happy as well as healthy.

Pregnancy is a nine month period, where a woman goes through lot of emotions and anxiousness. Along with this, her physical attire changes and she matures enough to become a mother. Her life transforms from a lady to a mother, as the time passes her delivery gets closer.

When it comes to giving birth to a baby, everyone is aware of two possibilities that is one is ‘normal delivery’ and the second one is ‘scissor delivery’.

A pregnant woman has her normal delivery between 36th weeks to her 39th week or it can be also said as 38 or 41 weeks post LMP. A survey conducted has shown that there are only two third of pregnant women who give birth to their baby within the 36th week and 39th week of their expected baby birth date. In addition to this, it was also seen that eighty percent of the pregnant woman give birth to a baby within the 1 month of the expected baby birth date.

Normal delivery comprises three periods, which are dilation period, press & expulsion period and post birth period. When a baby’s head ranges at the wide section of pelvic muscle of the mother, normal delivery takes place. As normal delivery has three phases, during the first phase the head of the baby will develop and with the end of final phase that is post birth period, baby’s head will rotate up t 90 degrees.

The other type of delivery is ‘scissor delivery’- In scissor delivery a surgery is required to carry out. Scissor delivery is done because of the size of the bone structure the mother has. Baby’s head is bigger compared to size of mothers bone structure, therefore the baby’s head is upward and it is impossible to have a normal delivery. A surgical incision is created on mother’s tummy for the purpose of delivering the baby from the uterus.

It is also said that a scissor delivery is sometimes risky than the normal delivery. No matter what pain a mother goes through during delivery but after giving birth to a wonderful beautiful baby, the pain vanishes.