Sleeping for two: Sleep changes during pregnancy

Being pregnant can be a tiring experience for a woman’s body. Both the physical discomforts of pregnancy as well as the emotional stress of this major life change can cause sleep problems and keep a mother-to-be awake at night. Feeling exhausted is a common complaint during the first and third trimesters. But women might be …

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How to prepare dads for labor.

Take these steps to involve, support and prepare your partner for labour.When a woman is pregnant most of the outside world’s attention is on the mother to be. On the one hand, this makes sense because it is the mother who bears the physical appearance of pregnancy and birth and the special connection to a …

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Blood sugar and Pregnancy.

(CNN) – If you are a woman and you and your partner are planning a pregnancy, it’s important to have your blood sugar levels in control before conceiving. When a woman becomes pregnant, a glucose screening test is done. If those results reveal elevated blood glucose levels, a glucose tolerance test can help determine if …

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Obesity in pregnancy puts child at diabetes risk.

Paris (AFP) – Women who are obese while pregnant may put their offspring at risk of childhood diabetes, a condition that requires lifelong insulin therapy, Swedish researchers said Tuesday. A study of more than 1.2 million children born in Sweden between 1992 and 2004 and monitored for several years, found a 33-percent higher risk for …

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Tips on choosing a cord blood bank.

Expecting parents might not be aware that stem cells derived from their babies’ umbilical cord blood are a vital resource for their families. Advances in medical science have made it possible to harness the body’s own cells for treatment. Families only have one opportunity to collect and store their babies’ cord blood stem cells, and that’s …

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Vitamin overdose and pregnancy.

During pregnancy, it is important to get the proper nutrients to foster healthy fetal development. You may be tempted to take a multivitamin in addition to other supplements. However, vitamin overdose can occur when an individual takes more than the recommended daily amount of a vitamin. This can result when taking more than one multivitamin, …

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Is it safe to drink alcohol during pregnancy?

If you’ve abstained from alcohol during a pregnancy, you know there’s a lot of conflicting information out there. We checked with Dr. Iffath Hoskins, MD, a high-risk OB-GYN at NYU Langone Medical Center, about whether its necessary to abstain from alcohol completely during pregnancy.  “How much is okay and what is the tipping point of what’s …

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Preparing for pregnancy.

  Starting a family is a life-changing milestone. One way to have the best possible pregnancy, birthing process and parenthood experience is to plan for it ahead of time. It is important for both partners to communicate with each other about how they feel and whether or not they are ready to have a baby.  …

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