- CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal; 9/15/2009, Vol. 181 Issue 6/7, p377-383, 7p, 4 Charts
Archives for February 2012
Exercise During Pregnancy.
The benefits of exercise during pregnancy
Exercise does wonders during pregnancy. It boosts mood, improves sleep, and reduces pregnancy aches and pains. It also prepares you for childbirth by strengthening muscles and building endurance, and makes it much easier to get back in shape after your baby’s born.
The ideal workout gets your heart pumping, keeps you limber, manages weight gain, and prepares your muscles without causing undue physical stress for you or the baby.
The following activities are usually safe for expectant moms, although some of them may not work for you during the last few months of your pregnancy. Make sure you consult your healthcare provider before embarking on any exercise regimen.
Cardiovascular
- Walking: One of the best cardiovascular exercises for pregnant women, walking keeps you fit without jarring your knees and ankles. It’s also easy to do almost anywhere, doesn’t require any equipment beyond a good pair of supportive shoes, and is safe throughout all nine months of pregnancy.
Video
- Swimming: Healthcare providers and fitness experts hail swimming as the best and safest exercise for pregnant women. Swimming is ideal because it exercises both large muscle groups (arms and legs), provides cardiovascular benefits, and allows expectant women to feel weightless despite the extra pounds of pregnancy.
- Low-impact aerobics: One good thing about an aerobics class is that it’s a consistent time slot when you know you’ll get some exercise. And if you take a class for pregnant women, you’ll enjoy the camaraderie of other moms-to-be and feel reassured that each movement is safe for you and your baby.
- Dancing: You can get your heart pumping by dancing to your favorite tunes in the comfort of your own living room, with a DVD, or at a dance class, but steer clear of routines that call for leaps, jumps, or twirls.
Flexibility and strength
- Yoga: Yoga can help maintain muscle tone and keep you flexible with little if any impact on your joints. But you may have to augment a yoga regimen with walking or swimming several times a week to give your heart a workout.
- Stretching: Stretching is wonderful for keeping your body limber and relaxed and preventing muscle strain. Add stretching to your cardiovascular exercises to get a complete workout.
- Weight training: If weight training is already part of your exercise routine, there’s no reason to stop, although most women should reduce the amount of weight they’re lifting (you can do more repetitions to ensure that you’re still getting a good workout). If you take the necessary precautions and use good technique (meaning slow, controlled movements), weight training is a great way to tone and strengthen your muscles.
Who should handle a normal birth?
Is Home Birth Dangerous?
Education of Midwives
Debunking the myth: Birth vs. Experience
Eating Healthy for You and Your Baby
A well balanced diet is not only important for your health as an expecting mother but for the growing baby inside of you as well. Your diet is the best place to get all the vitamins and minerals that you need. It is important to eat well for your baby.
Every day of the week you and your baby should have:
- One quart (4 glasses) or more of milk. any kind will do: whole milk, low fat, skim, buttermilk, or cheese, yoguret, ice cream, ect..
- Two eggs, 9hard boiled, in french toast, or added to other foods).
- One or two servings of fish or seafood, liver, chicken, lean beef, lamb, pork, beans, or any kinds of cheese.
- One or two good servings of fresh reen leafy vegetables: mustard, collard, turnip greens, spinach, lettuce, or cabbage.
- Two or three slices of whole wheat bread, cornmeal, cornbread, or tortillas.
- a piece of cirus fruit or glass of juice of lemon, lime, orange, tomato, or grapefruit.
- Three pats of butter
- Other fruits and vegetables.
Also include in your diet:
- a serving f whole grain cereal such as oatmeal or granola.
- a yellow or orange-colored fruit or vegetable five times a week.
- Liver one a week. ( if you like it)
- Whole baked potato three times a week
- Plenty of lfluids, water, juice etc
- Salf food to taste for a safe increase in blood volume.
You may substitute proteins if you wish, being sure your proteins are complete, and that you get approximately 100 grams per day, If you substitute, also be sure all the elements necessary for a well balanced diet are available every day.
Yarn Wigs
It all started when I wanted to be Rapunzel for Halloween but didn’t want to spend a fortune. I started making Yarn wigs. The hat is just a beanie and the wig is tied into it. They are so fun to make and it turned out great. I gave the pink and green wig to my neices. They are adorable on them!
1: Rapunzel Wig
2: Pink Child’s Wig
3: Blue, Green Child Wig
Distribution of Weight Gain during Pregnancy.
Blood…………….4lbs
Placenta…………2-3 lbs
Baby………………7lbs
Amniotic fluid…..6-8lbs
Brown Fat………5lbs
Breast tissue……2lbs
Total…………….26-29lbs
Iron
We all know that Iron is sucked from the mamma during pregnancy and given to the baby.
Iron is extremely important to keep up on though. Iron helps muscle tone, strength
Without it one may feel:
Brain fog
winded going up stairs,
you’ll sleep more.
Varicose veins
Voice may go deeper or more gravily
Heart burn
It is important to have because it keeps oxygen going to the mothers mothers. This will be important through the pregnancy to help you stay motivated to do those exercises as well as to get the oxygen to the uterine muscle during labor. It is labor we need all the strength we can get.
And I realize that as I am writing this there is a reason I have been craving liver. I need iron. I have heartburn and brain fog, and am sleeping a lot…I guess we’ll see how it goes.
And of course in order to properly absorb iron we need to make sure our calcium levels are up. it helps the uptake of iron
According to the USDA Dietary Guidlines for Americans 2005
Good Sources of Iron are as follows:
Appendix B-3. Food Sources of Iron
Food Sources of Iron ranked by milligrams of iron per standard amount; also calories in the standard amount. (All are ≥ 10% of RDA for teen and adult females, which is 18 mg/day.)
Food, Standard Amount |
Iron (mg)
|
Calories
|
Clams, canned, drained, 3 oz |
23.8
|
126
|
Fortified ready-to-eat cereals (various), ~ 1 oz |
1.8 -21.1
|
54-127
|
Oysters, eastern, wild, cooked, moist heat, 3 oz |
10.2
|
116
|
Organ meats (liver, giblets), various, cooked, 3 oz a |
5.2-9.9
|
134-235
|
Fortified instant cooked cereals (various), 1 packet |
4.9-8.1
|
Varies
|
Soybeans, mature, cooked, ½ cup |
4.4
|
149
|
Pumpkin and squash seed kernels, roasted, 1 oz |
4.2
|
148
|
White beans, canned, ½ cup |
3.9
|
153
|
Blackstrap molasses, 1 Tbsp |
3.5
|
47
|
Lentils, cooked, ½ cup |
3.3
|
115
|
Spinach, cooked from fresh, ½ cup |
3.2
|
21
|
Beef, chuck, blade roast, lean, cooked, 3 oz |
3.1
|
215
|
Beef, bottom round, lean, 0″ fat, all grades, cooked, 3 oz |
2.8
|
182
|
Kidney beans, cooked, ½ cup |
2.6
|
112
|
Sardines, canned in oil, drained, 3 oz |
2.5
|
177
|
Beef, rib, lean, ¼” fat, all grades, 3 oz |
2.4
|
195
|
Chickpeas, cooked, ½ cup |
2.4
|
134
|
Duck, meat only, roasted, 3 oz |
2.3
|
171
|
Lamb, shoulder, arm, lean, ¼ ” fat, choice, cooked, 3 oz |
2.3
|
237
|
Prune juice, ¾ cup |
2.3
|
136
|
Shrimp, canned, 3 oz |
2.3
|
102
|
Cowpeas, cooked, ½ cup |
2.2
|
100
|
Ground beef, 15% fat, cooked, 3 oz |
2.2
|
212
|
Tomato puree, ½ cup |
2.2
|
48
|
Lima beans, cooked, ½ cup |
2.2
|
108
|
Soybeans, green, cooked, ½ cup |
2.2
|
127
|
Navy beans, cooked, ½ cup |
2.1
|
127
|
Refried beans, ½ cup |
2.1
|
118
|
Beef, top sirloin, lean, 0″ fat, all grades, cooked, 3 oz |
2.0
|
156
|
Tomato paste, ¼ cup |
2.0
|
54
|
a High in cholesterol.
Source: Nutrient values from Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 17. Foods are from ARS single nutrient reports, sorted in descending order by nutrient content in terms of common household measures. Food items and weights in the single nutrient reports are adapted from those in 2002 revision of USDA Home and Garden Bulletin No. 72, Nutritive Value of Foods. Mixed dishes and multiple preparations of the same food item have been omitted from this table.