Maternal Auxiliary| Pregnancy, Labour & Postpartum

Tasks of Pregnacy

"stress cannot survive in the presence of pie." -David Mmet

Pre-planning can help reduce stress... but make sure your being realistic with your planning as birth can be just as unpredictable as pregnancy! 

Baby's Weight: #1 biggest stressor

*Did you know research shows a pregnant women's estimate of weight is more accurate than ultrasounds or caregivers! Hands on abdominal palpation is found to be as accurate as ultrasound although full pound of error is possible. Ultrasounds Diagnose, they don't treat... they baby wont grow. "There is risks to knowing & risks to not knowing." Ultrasounds don't improve fetal outcome but do increase anxiety, uncertainty, inductions, caesareans, infant + maternal morbidity.

(My personal experience, I estimated: 6.5-7Oz/ he was 6lb 14oz- Ultrasound estimated 5lb which was worrying everyone... unneeded stress!) When a large baby is predicted on the contrary induction rate triples! Women will experience 4x more complications from interventions. Typically induced and when labor wont progress they have a Caesarean. A big baby is considered to be more than 7-8lb 13oz.

For a millionth of a second sound waves are used in ultrasounds (1-10 million hertz) human ears only hear between 20-20,000 hertz. Babies movements is sometimes sign of discomfort from heat produced when sound waves are converted to heat when absorbed by body. Studies prior to 1992 saying no correlation between longterm health of babies... didn't accurately measure dosages of ultrasound/length of time babies exposed. FDA approved increasing ultrasound power eightfold therefore former studies performed at lower levels are obsolete. Then following 1992 risk of autism increases and other neurological disorders. YES not the mercury preservative in vaccines removed in 2001, everyone blames... there is no link between vaccines and autism.

Fever can result in neurological problems, hence the no hot tubs during pregnancy rule. During ultrasounds 70% of the temperature occurs in first minute, exposure time is so important for safety! Also as a baby grows their bones calcify, and bones heat faster than muscle and soft tissue... thus in the 3rd trimester the skull of a baby can heat 50x faster than surrounding tissue.

What can you do?

 1) Limit # of ultrasounds

2) Avoid first trimester ultrasounds

3) Avoid 16-20 Week if measuring okay/ no congenital abnormality

4) Avoid long scans

5) Ask questions about why its being done

6) Postpone if you have a fever

7) Ask them to avoid face/eyes

8) Don't buy an at home droppler

*Paint/draw/sculpt your baby in your womb, write a letter to go with your art & when child is older you can gift it. No reason to get an ultrasound to 'see' your baby.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30985837-ancient-map-for-modern-birth