You can exercise as soon as you want after your baby’s birth.  The amount you do and how strenuous the exercise will be depend on the type of birth you and how much exercise you did before your baby was born.  Other considerations are whether you are breast-feeding and the amount of discomfort you feel.  Always listen to your body since you will become uncomfortable if you do too much.  Your body has just undergone an enormous change throughout the course of pregnancy and childbirth particularly if you had a cesarean section.  There are also high levels of hormones still in your body, which can make you more supple and prone to injury.  If you are breast-feeding you may just want to do gentle exercising until feeding is established.  It’s a good idea to wear a supportive bra while exercising, and exercise following a feeding rather then before one, which may make it more comfortable for you.  Always warm up, wear correct footwear, and drink plenty of fluids while you are exercising.  Stop and seek medical advice if you feel unwell or experience any severe pain or your bleeding increases.  Although getting back to your pre-pregnancy shape is important for your well-being, be patient with yourself and take your time.
Floor exercises are a good place to start.  Also lying on your back and doing twisting can be very relaxing.  The exercises you should avoid are full impact (like running) and resistance exercising should only be done after six weeks of postpartum to prevent any strain on the pelvic wall area.

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Most fathers anticipate with warmth and excitement the birth of their first child.  But they frequently struggle with what role they should play at their baby’s birth (and as a father.)  After all the twentieth century saw dramatic swings in what being a father means in our culture.  Historically, fathers have been peripheral to women giving birth.  Most of our grandfathers were not invited into the birth room, nor did most want to be there.  Birth was considered a woman’s business.  After the midwife or doctor arrived at the home (often the doctor was brought by the father), fathers puttered about in the shed, fixed household items, or protected the birth place by ensuring privacy for his laboring wife.  Our father recalled how his grandmother who had eight children on an Iowa farm, always labored with only the help of a woman relative.  After the first birth his grandfather knew it was his job to to take the older children to town so his wife could labor in peace and quiet.  When the birthplace shifted from home to hospital, the custom of excluding fathers and visitors continued.  This changed when hospitals began to recognize the profoundly positive influence a caring woman friend, a relative, a mother, or a father were present at the bedside.  For the first time in the 1970’s, fathers were given the responsibility of helping mothers through birth.  The term “labor coach” became part of the English language.  Fathers began being present as a helper and supporter during child birth.

As a sonography technician, you will most likely (in this day and age) to be working with husband and wife, or father and mother.  This was not always the case.

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Who you are in labor and as a mother is merely an extension of who your are in the rest of your life.  So if you want to be present and strong in birth, you need to practice that way of being in your everyday life.  the patterns of your life are all cut from the same cloth.  Eating is something you do everyday, so practicing eating in awareness can prepare you for birthing in awareness.  The way you are able to be present in ordinary day to day activities sets the stage for how you will be present while giving birth.  Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Buddhist teacher and poet.  A friend once asked him why he wasted his time growing lettuce when anyone could grow lettuce, but so few could write poetry the way he could.  Thich Nhat, Hanh’s response to this compliment was if I do not grow lettuce mindfully, I cannot write poems.  You may wonder how this teaching of Thich Nhat Hanh’s teaching applies to your prenatal diet.  His view of life has helped so many women realize the difference between eating mindfully and eating anxiously to meet daily nutritional requirements.  As eating mindfully becomes an integral part of your life, meeting your baby’s nutritional needs will happen more naturally and pleasurably.  Rules can offer a sense of security while pregnant.  If nutritional rules help you to feel more comfortable, why not make some that will work to your advantage.  For example, rather than create rules to restrict your diet, why not make rules restricting your rule making?  Flexibility, not rigidity, characterizes a safe natural healthy birth.

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Couples accustomed to joint decision making may need to change their style in active labor; it is sometimes a good idea to have a plan before entering the labor room.  In “laborland” a woman’s logical and verbal abilities are significantly impaired.  Even if she has a question or understands what’s being said or asked, she can’t always speak up.  You have the right to recieve balanced information before making any decisions about your health care.  Take responsibility: learn all the facts and alternatives.  Then your “yes” or “no” will be a genuine informed decision, and can also be discussed pre-labor….and your birthing partner and medical team will be informed about your preferences.  In modern medicalized labor, even during normal labor, couples often are bombarded with directives and decisions.  One of the most difficult tasks is to diferentiate between what is routine, optional, and/or necessary.  To a large extent, extracting key information in a given situation falls to the father or birthing companion.  This is for a number of reasons.  First there is the trance like nature of labor itself.  Then there is a woman’s socialization to be polite and cooperative with authorities.  Finally, the psychological vulnerability and dependency accompanying the role of hospital patient can block even the most assertive and educated woman from taking charge.  Some fathers or birthing companions may need to be more assertive than they usually would be.  She’s depending on you, so if questioning or standing up to medical personel will be too uncomfortable for, be honest, and arrange someone to be there who can.   If you can’t do it, have someone at the birth who can.

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Also known as the fetal screening sacan, this detailed scan is offered to all women between the 18th and 22nd week of pregnancy.  At this stage of gestation, your baby has well developed limbs and facial features, and all its major organs and body systems are in place and ready to be assessed.  The scan involves transimitting high-frequency sound waves through your uterus that bounces off the baby, and the returning sounds are converted into an image.  The biggest echoes are from hard tissues, such as bones, which will appear white on the image of the screen, while the soft tissues will appear grey-flecked.  Fluid filled spaces such as the stomach, bladder, blood vessels, and amniotic fluid surrounding the baby will not return sound waves so these are the black spaces in the picture.  It is the difference between echoes and colors that enamble the ultrasonographer to interpret the images.  The Ultrasound starts by checking the fetal heartbeat and then counts the babies-in the case of twins.  Usually it takes about 20 weeks to identify twins.  The head will be measured by circumfrence and diameter.  The abdominal circumfrence and femur are measured as well to make sure the baby is developing in a healthy way.  Any abnormalities of the brain, face, lips, spine abdomen, heart, stomach, kidneys, bladder, and hands and feet will be checked for.  Lastly, the umbilical cord and amniotic fluids will be examined.  You may be able to find out the sex of your baby at this 18-22 week scan, or you can keep it a surprise!  The 18-22 week screening scan can provide a expecting mother with so much information on the progress of her developing fetus.

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A delivery may be assisted using either vacuum extraction which involves a small suction cup (metal or plastic) placed on the back of your baby’s head and very gently pulled, or forceps metal tongs that guide the baby out.  There are several reasons why the obstetrician, and in some units, the midwife, will advise this type of birth.  Generally an assisted delivery is performed because the mother is too tired to continue pushing after a prolonged second stage of labor, and the vacuum suction cup or forceps can help accelerate the baby’s progress through the birth canal.  An assisted delivery may also be necessary if your blood pressure has risen suddenly, or if there are signs of fetal distress.  You will be given either an epidural, or local anesthetic before the procedure is preformed. This is a safe way for your baby to be born, although there is a very small chance that your baby may bleed under his scalp and may need to go to the neonatal unit to be cared for and monitored after birth.  After vacuum extraction, most babies will have a little bump where the soft cup has been attached to the head, and the baby’s head may look slightly elongated.  Babies delivered with forceps may have small marks on the side of the head, where the tongs were.  Any swelling or marks should disappear in a few days.  An episiotomy may be necessary with assisted delivery.  An episiotomy is a cut made between your vagina and rectum to make more space for your baby to be born in order to prevent tearing.  It is sometimes needed in assisted delivery, and more likely to be needed if the forceps are used in the delivery.

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After childbirth, you may not feel constantly low or always happy, but it is true that having a new baby and coping with the changes this brings can give you intense highs and terrible lows as you move from feeling ecstatic about your new baby to unbelievably exhausted the next.  The best advice to a new parent is to be realistic about what parenthood involves.  If you approach life with your new baby aware that you are both likely to be incredibly tired, that you will have far less time to yourselves, and that the structure of your life will change enormously,, then you will be better placed to take the highs and the lows of parenthood in your stride.  Accepting that you are not “perfect” parents can help you view parenthood as a constant learning curve, and to enjoy the enriching experience.  You and your partner can help you view parenthood as a constant learning curve, and to enjoy the enriching experience.  You and your partner can help each other deal with the demands of parenthood by being patient with each other and helping each other with the daily care of your baby.  You can also make sure you allow each other some regular time off to do something for yourselves such as meeting up with friends or getting some exercise.  Parenting ought to be an idyllic experience, buy may bot be once the realities of physical and emotional stress take their toll.  However, many new parents do experience a sense of euphoria, which can be brief or last for awhile.  All of us have unique reactions to becoming a parent, and expectations from childhood, family, and friends influence this, as does your experience with pregnancy.  For families who don’t feel as positive, there are many ways to enhance the experience of parenthood, such as giving your baby a massage, taking family walks, and enjoying time together.

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You are not alone if you are an expecting mother and this is one of your fears.  While studying to be a midwife, or to obtain your sonography degree, lots of women may ask about this very thing and express nervousness.  They do not want to pass stool while in labor and possibly in front of a spouse, partner, or family member.  It may not be what you want to hear, but in fact a large number of women do defecate usually during the second, or third stage of labor.  This is totally natural and happens as the baby’s head comes down the vagina and pushes against the rectum.  If there is feces in there, it is likely you may poop during the labor.  The feces are forced out of the anus when the baby pushes against the rectum, and it is totally beyond your control.  It is unlikely that a delivering mother will be aware of what is happening in this stage of the game and the overwhelming sensations of birth will be much more powerful.  More simply put, pooping will be the least of a mother’s worries while delivering.  Midwives and doctors are very used to this and will simply remove it without a second thought.  Sterile cloths are often times placed around delivering mothers so they will be readily available in this event.  Don’t worry about pooping during labor.  It will all be worth the discomfort, pain, embarrasment and risk once a mother holds her newborn baby in her arms.

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While studying how to become a sonographer it may be beneficial to learn about different issues that will be affecting your patients.  One common question asked of sonographers by expecting mothers concerns smoking while pregnant, or a fetus being exposed to smoke.  Although expecting mothers may be tempted to just cut down, quitting smoking is the best approach to recommend.  The fewer cigarettes smoked by an expecting mother, the better.  The carbon monoxide, nicotine and other substances that are inhaled while smoking pass out of the lungs, into the blood stream, and cross the placenta with each cigarette smoked.  Nicotine makes the baby’s heart beat faster as it struggles to get oxygen, which can affect a fetus’s growth rate.  Smoking can also increase the rate of miscarriage, premature birth, and low birth weight.  Exposure to tobacco makes a baby more likely to suffer from conditions such as asthma, and chest infections after birth.  There seems to be a higher rate of SIDS if an expecting mother or her partner smokes.  Which brings us to the next question….if you live with a smoker will it affect your baby?  Yes.  If you live with a smoker, you will be inhaling thousands of toxic carcinogenic chemicals that are released into the air around you from the burning end of the cigarette and smoke exhaled in the mother’s environment.  Several studies have confirmed that passive inhalation of second hand smoke can result in health problems, and increase the risk of miscarriage and premature birth.  There have also been studies confirming increased risk of central nervous system problems with fetus/children who have been subjected to second hand smoke.  Smoking is not safe for mothers who are expecting, their fetuses, even when it is just second hand.

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If you are studying to become an ultrasound technician, you may find yourself in the position to give advice.  We will be addressing some of these questions in our blog.  You may also be a mother who is pregnant and looking to have some frequently asked questions answered.  One question I was asked the other day was; “My husband didn’t talk about the baby before the scan.  Now he is overly protective.  Is this normal?”

Many fathers do find it difficult to come to terms with the fact that their partner is carrying their baby, and that the baby will eventually be born and bring all the joys, trials, and responsibilities of parenthood.  This is all even harder to envisage when they are not physically experiencing the changes that pregnancy brings.  They do not feel the symptoms, or the movement that a mother experiences first hand.  The Ultrasound scan is often a pivotal point for partners.  Suddenly they are face to face with their baby and this can be very exciting.  The baby becomes more real at this point.  Perhaps your partner is now realizing his responsibilities and affection for the baby, and is showing these feelings by taking care of you.  If you are finding his attention to be a little “too much” you might want to discuss other ways that he can feel involved in the process such as; encourage him to attend prenatal checkups, where he can ask questions and listen to the heartbeat, attend birth preparation classes together, spend time at home reading about birth and baby care and share opinions, write a birth plan together, or share practical arrangements like decorating the nursery and choosing baby equipment.  Try to embrace his involvement and enthusiasm.  It is a great way to strengthen your relationship and prepare for parenthood together.

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