Lynsey Stone does not set foot in the shower without placing her cellphone on a nearby ledge, lest she miss an urgent text from a woman in labor. She schedules vacations 10 months in advance to ensure they do not conflict with due dates, and on family outings she and her husband leave their …
Continue ReadingLack of support can sabotage breastfeeding goals
A new, but perhaps not surprising, study published in the journal Pediatrics points directly to lack of support as being the number one cause of a new mother’s failure to follow through with her intentions to breastfeed exclusively. According to this Time article, a majority of women want to breastfeed their babies exclusively for …
Continue Reading18 Rudest Pregnancy Comments We’ve Ever Heard!!!
You just can’t make this stuff up. You know, the things people say when, um, they’re just not thinking?? Leave it to family members, strangers, and friends to pretty much ruin a woman’s pregnancy with their insensitive comments. Seriously, what are some people thinking when they make these remarks and ask these questions of expectant …
Continue ReadingWhat are the signs of anemia in pregnancy?
Anemia in pregnancy is common and it is most often caused by an iron deficiency. Iron is a mineral that everyone needs. Pregnant women need more iron for a variety of reasons. The biggest reason is that iron helps your body make new blood to carry the oxygen and nutrients to …
Continue ReadingGuide to Pregnancy Hormones
It doesn’t seem quite fair to accuse your hormones of causing every bloat, blemish, and emotional outburst during yourpregnancy. But the truth is that this potent cocktail of chemicals really is guilty as charged, and everything that’s happening to your body these days — both the good, and the not-so-good — can be …
Continue ReadingScientist Who Lost Daughter Champions Cord Blood
Saving umbilical cord blood from childbirth is a growing practice, and those in the field credit a former NASA astronomer with raising national awareness about cord blood’s potential for providing life-saving stem cells. “There’s been a huge upswing in interest in cord blood banking,” said Danielle Winner Koontz, a childbirth educator and doula—or …
Continue ReadingPreeclampsia, Premature Birth, and Cord Blood Banking
This article originally appeared in the newsletter of the Parent’s Guide to Cord Blood Foundation, http://parentsguidecordblood.org/newsletter_archive/newsletters_2012-03.php#preeclampsia Preeclampsia is a life-threatening medical condition that complicates about 5% of the pregnancies in the United States. Onset of this disease commonly occurs after 32 weeks gestation but can occur late in the second trimester, and …
Continue ReadingCord Blood Stem Cells to Treat Type 1 Diabetes
In order to understand how to treat Type 1 Diabetes with cord blood stem cells we’ll begin with what cord blood stem cell is. Cord blood is the blood that remains in the newborn’s blood after birth. Collecting cord blood cells is a simple, safe, painless procedure that usually takes less than five …
Continue ReadingChildren Cured With Cord Blood Transplant
An extremely rare and often fatal disease —Malignant Infantile Osteopetrosis — was the basis of an unlikely friendship that formed between the Shaffers from Landsdowne, Pa. and the Albornoz’s from Ecuador when both of their sons were diagnosed. You can read the whole story here. While this story has a happy ending …
Continue ReadingChildbirth: Limited Gains From Supplemental Calcium
Most doctors encourage women to increase their calcium intake during pregnancy to protect against birth complications and thinning bones caused by the loss of calcium to developing babies. But supplemental calcium does not prevent preterm birth or improve bone density in pregnant women, according to a new report, and may be helpful only in lowering …
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