Prenatal and Postpartum Scenario
Vee Dubb
PSY/280
August 12, 2012
Adams James
Memo
To: Pregnant and Postpartum Women
From: Developmental Psychologist
Subject: Prenatal and Postpartum Activities
Date: November 8th, 2012
Most pregnant woman imagine how their developing fetus looks like, what the developing fetus is doing at a particular point, and aspire to deliver a healthy baby. Most important, many prenatal and postpartum women are eager to know what she can do to help deliver a healthy baby and how to care for the newborn. Here are some advices and activities offered to a prenatal, postpartum, and future development of a child includes healthy foods, consumption of adequate water, exercise, medication awareness, and emotions.
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A pregnant woman would be advised to drink eight to ten glasses of water per day, and this excludes soda, coffee, or tea. A well balanced and healthy diet with adequate water intake is very significant for prenatal and postpartum woman.
Another important factor is doing daily activities as tolerated. Exercise in moderation, and incorporate stretching lower and upper extremities with rest period. Also monitor daily weight daily and notify physician if any critical change. The pregnant woman will be encouraged to practice deep breathing exercises and this can be used to minimize anxieties and promote energy. This will also prepare the pregnant woman for proper fitness and endurance during delivery and caring for the newborn. These regimens mentioned will minimizes fatigues both on the mother and the developing fetus.
A prenatal and postpartum woman will be advised to avoid taking medication including over the counter. The notion behind this is that some medications have chemicals that can inhibit growth and development during critical period. As noted on the text, “a critical period is a time when certain things must occur for normal growth and development” (Berger, 2010 p. 5). To prevent any disruption of growth and development take only medications prescribe by your practitioner or gynecologist.
Emotions rise during prenatal and postpartum period. Emotion can be manifested by frequent changes of emotional state, and some women may develop postpartum
Research-Emotions of pregnant women can range from high to low and these are called “mood swings”. Pregnant women may experience fear, forgetfulness, weepiness and postpartum depression. Fear happens in the first -trimester because this is the period where miscarriage could happen, a pregnant woman would also be worried if the labour would hurt and question themselves if they would be good parents. Pregnant women may sometimes be forgetful as they are always in a panic and there is evidence that points to the hippocampus that it may change during pregnancy.
Have dairy food it’s important during your pregnancy because they contain calcium and other nutrients that your baby needs. These include semi-skimmed or skimmed milk, low-fat lower-sugar yoghurt and reduced-fat hard
A second suggested activity during pregnancy could be for the pregnant woman to take care of herself psychologically and emotionally, to ensure that she is not too stressed or experiencing anxiety. Regular relaxation could be advised by taking up yoga and meditation. Too much prenatal stress can have negative developmental implications for the child later in life. Research has indicated that when mothers-to-be have high levels of pregnancy-specific anxiety, their offspring were significantly more likely to show lower inhibitory control among girls, and lower visuospatial working memory performance among girls and boys (Buss et al., 2011).
Make sure the better care of your self during the first trimester. This is the time when you need to be fit emotionally and physically both. Talk to your friends and the member of the family to be emotionally fit and for the physical fitness intake
The prenatal period is when quick changes in the fetal organs are vulnerable to organizing change and stability but also building internal working system to trigger emotional responses (McEwen et al. 2013). It is a critical time for brain development and the PFC (McEwen et al. 2013). It exposes a selection of long -term modifications on brain development and behaviour (Entringer et al. 2009). Prenatal exposure to stress affects hormones in the body including the physiology and anatomy that relate to increasing drug levels, cortical communication and more (Entringer et al. 2009). Fetal stress is any event that interrupts a fetal process in stability in the body. (Entringer et al. 2009). During pregnancy, maternal stress impends the fetal nervous system and shortens the length of maturation due to many issues and concerns affecting the mother (Entringer et al. 2009). During pregnancy, maternal psychosocial stress threatens the fetal nervous system and contracts the length of gestation (Entringer et al. 2009). High levels of placental corticotrophin- releasing hormone
While exercise may not be able to eliminate all of the discomfort associated with pregnancy, it can help with circulation, digestion, and constipation, as well as improve posture and muscle tone, which you will need to support joints that are loosened by various hormones as your body prepares for childbirth. Additionally, exercise can counteract the changes in body image and self-esteem that you possess. Most importantly, an appropriate exercise program can help prepare for the mental and physical demands of labor and delivery.
For any mother the birth of a newborn child can be a challenging experience. As nurses it is part of our job to ensure their experience is positive. We can help do this by providing the information they will need to affective care for their newborn. This information includes topics such as, breastfeeding, jaundice, when to call your doctor and even how to put your baby to sleep. When the parents have an understanding of these topics before discharge it can largely reduce their natural anxiety accompanied with the transition to parenthood. Health teaching for new parents is seen as such an important aspect of care on post-partum floors it is actually a necessary component that needs to be covered before the hospital can discharge the
There are three types of mood changes the women can have after childbirth which are baby blues, postpartum depression (PPD), and postpartum anxiety (PPA) ((American Pregnancy Association, 2015). “baby blues” are the less severe than the postpartum depression. 50% to 75% approximately of all new mothers will experiment some negative feelings after childbirth, these feelings occur unexpectedly 4 to 5 days after baby birth (American Pregnancy Association, 2015) .
Reducing the risk of fetal mortality, infant mortality, and stillbirth, is the goal of Healthy People 2020. Recommending the following to have a healthy pregnancy such as having a healthy weight, not to use illegal drugs, getting vaccinated, taking prenatal and or during pregnancy vitamins, managing any chronic conditions prior of having a baby, having recommended screening test and controlling diabetes.
| To have a healthy newborn and safe delivery. In addition to lose unwanted weight gained from pregnancy and to restart exercise regimen.
Giving birth to a baby is the most amazing and miraculous experiences for parents and their loved ones. Every woman’s birth story is different and full of joy. Furthermore, the process from the moment a woman knows that she’s pregnant to being in the delivering room is very critical to both her and the newborn baby. Prenatal care is extremely important and it can impact greatly the quality of life of the baby. In this paper, the topic of giving birth will be discussed thoroughly by describing the stories of two mothers who gave birth in different decades and see how their prenatal cares are different from each other with correlation of the advancement of modern medicine between four decades.
It has been shown through studies that exercising aids in strength, flexibility, muscle tone and endurance, all in which help in areas such as carrying extra weight, preparing for the physical stresses of labor and contributing in shedding the pounds postpartum (Gulino 2). Exercise also helps in relieving that excess weight gain, swelling, varicose veins, fatigue and leg cramps. It helps to prevent depression and establish confidence both before and after labor. Exercise lowers stress and improves emotional health. It has been shown through studies that women who exercise during pregnancy have shorter labors as well as a decreased need for painkillers and an epidural during labor and delivery (Hudson 1).
Prenatal care is widely accepted as an important element in improving pregnancy outcome. (Gorrie, McKinney, Murray, 1998). Prenatal care is defined as care of a pregnant woman during the time in the maternity cycle that begins with conception and ends with the onset of labor. A medical, surgical, gynecologic, obstretic, social and family history is taken (Mosby's Medical, Nursing, and Allied Health Dictionary, 1998). It is important for a pregnant woman as well as our society to know that everything that you do has an effect on your baby. Because so many women opt not to receive the benefits of prenatal care, our society sees the ramification, which include a variety of complications primarily
Prenatal care is medical care for pregnant woman and is important for a healthy pregnancy. Its key components include regular checkups and prenatal testing, eating healthfully, exercising, and beginning as soon as one knows she is pregnant.
Pregnancy is normally the best and the happiest stage of any woman, but it can also be uncertain because anything can go wrong if you do not know exactly what to do. In order to understand the reasons of why Preterm Birth occurs, it is important to know what it is and how risky it can be. Preterm Birth is also known as Premature labor which mainly begins after “20 weeks but before 37 completed week’s gestations. Approximately 12.9 million babies worldwide are born too early every year representing an incidence of PTB of 9.6%” (Berghella, pp. 2, 8). Baby Center Medical Advisory Board says that about 12 percent of babies