Get insights on all things obstetrics, including pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care, from the doctors at Kamm McKenzie OB/GYN.
World Breastfeeding Month is celebrated every August. This month provides an opportunity to engage the community in supporting breastfeeding families. The 2019 theme is “Support Changes Everything.” Studies clearly indicate moms who feel supported will breastfeed longer and report a more positive experience with nursing overall. How can you support a breastfeeding mom?
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Often times, throughout my postpartum period I questioned if I was a good mom or if I was making the right decisions for my children. Many of the decisions we make as mothers are based on maternal instinct or a gut feeling ….or maybe due to good ol’ fashion hormones. So when trying to figure out why we, as women, often blame ourselves for the uncontrollable or inevitable during our childbearing and childrearing years… it’s simple. It’s because we’re moms.
Hopefully there are all kinds of reasons why you would want to join our practice. Here is a big one. Our cesarean section rate continues to be one of the lowest in the nation. The Leapfrog Group tracks quality outcome measures in hospitals across the county. They just released their most recent review of Maternity Care. In it they report the cesarean section rate for first time moms at term with a single head down baby (NSVT).
Congratulations, you are in the final third of your pregnancy. Hopefully you passed your diabetes screen. If you did not, you are “enjoying” your new low carb diet or possibly new medications. If this is your first kiddo you probably have a baby shower in the works. (I was amazed with how NICE everyone was with our first baby. We got so many wonderful and useful things. I remember getting a little choked up seeing all the stuff we received.)
For most of you, visits will continue in two week intervals until the 36th week, then you will be seen weekly until delivery. I previously wrote blogs about first trimester emergencies and second trimester emergencies. This blog is going to focus on third trimester emergencies and WILL NOT include regular labor precautions. I have decided to write a separate blog about that so stay tuned!
It’s that time of year again! NHL and NBA playoffs? Yes, but no. Powerwash the deck now that pollen season is over? Maybe, but nope. Drumroll please…… it’s time to announce the top 10 baby names for 2018! Every May the Social Security Administration releases last years top baby names. It’s really kind of a cool web page with lots of information. You can see the national “winners” or search by state. You can even look up the popularity of a name by birth year dating back to 1880.
You made it! The second trimester is usually the best. For most women, the nausea eventually subsides, your energy level returns (a little at least), and you are not yet so big as to inhibit most of your normal day to day activities. In addition, that first trimester miscarriage anxiety is decreasing a little because you know your risk of pregnancy loss is now 1% or less. For most of you, visits with Kamm Mckenzie are usually only monthly. Excitement builds as you look forward to your anatomy sonogram. At some point you will start to feel the baby move. Then, most of you get to close out your 2nd trimester and begin your third with the wonderful, sweet, mouth puckering, orange or lemon lime flavored gestational diabetes beverage...yummy! If you read my last blog, I dove into what warrants an emergency call during the first trimester, and what can wait until the office is open again. I am going to try to address some of the more common second trimester emergencies and comment on things that ...
Early pregnancy is a particularly anxiety provoking time in one’s life. For one, your life changes with the positive pregnancy test. You start imagining life with this child. You mentally decorate the nursery and fill the closet with the cutest baby clothes. You budget schools and weddings etc. All this just based on a urine pregnancy test! We all do it (and we all take at least 3 pregnancy tests… admit it!!). Early pregnancy is also nerve-racking because for many families this was not an easy point to get to (at least 15% of women have some fertility difficulty), or you have had a miscarriage (or several) in the past. And lastly, there is the lack of control that we all have over what goes on in early pregnancy. These pregnancies advance or they don’t for a variety of reasons outside of any person’s control… and in today’s society, we all want immediate gratifying control of everything. Read Dr. Bernstein's advice on when to call the emergency room and when to wait.
After the hustle and bustle of the holidays, January is a time many turn their focus to self-care. Exercise, mindfulness, and healthier diets are often part of the New Year’s intentions. A skin care routine while you're pregnant can, too, be an important part of your self-care ritual. Here, we’ll run through some do’s and don’ts of winter skin care in pregnancy.
Every once in a while at the office we are asked by our pregnant patients if “vaginal seeding” is offered or not to our patients who have a C-section. If this term is new to you, the American College of OBGYN (ACOG) Committee Opinion on vaginal seeding defines it as “the practice of inoculating cotton gauze or a cotton swab with vaginal fluids to transfer the vaginal flora to the mouth, nose, or skin of a newborn infant. The intended purpose of vaginal seeding is to transfer maternal vaginal bacteria to the newborn.”
Whenever possible, we support a vaginal birth as long as it is a viable, healthy option for both mother and baby. However, in some cases, a C-section may be necessary. Sometimes recovery may feature unexpected elements, so we wanted to offer these 5 tips for recovering after your procedure.