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Things my mother thinks......

8/24/2017

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​Today I came across this
The Pregnancy Diaries: Things My Mother Did That We Now Know Not To
Although there is “pregnancy” in the title the “things my mother did that we now know not to,” are all related to caring for the new baby.
I did think that this might be about busting some pregnancy ‘old wives tales”  and as it actually wasn’t I thought maybe I’ll blog about it instead?!
Baby’s move less close to term as they are running out of room
This is not true, in fact the unborn baby should continue to move strongly, often, and to the same kind of pattern all through the last 3 months of the pregnancy.
If a baby is not moving drink a cold drink to wake it up
This is not true. There is no possible way that drinking cold water can possibly ‘wake’ an unborn baby as both the stomach and uterus are at body temperature and are at least 10cm away from each other! Even if it was possible that this strategy could make the baby move it is completely impossible that it could make a sick baby well!
If you put your hands above your head it will strangle the baby
Lifting your hands above your head does not strangle the baby with its umbilical cord.
It’s safe to lie on your back in pregnancy if it doesn’t make you feel dizzy
The thing about this ‘old wives tale’ is that it disregards what this position might be doing to the baby! Just because you don’t feel dizzy doesn’t mean that your baby isn’t feeling the effects of you lying on your back. When you lie on your back, the weight of your uterus presses on the major vein that returns blood from your lower body to your heart and the one that supplies blood to the placenta and baby! It is therefore best to avoid lying in this position during the day and also not settling to sleep in this position at night.
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Any wives tales I’ve forgotten?? 
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Offspring

8/18/2017

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I LOVE Offspring, it’s one of my favourite shows. It’s an Australian comedy-drama which follows the life and loves of a 30 something obstetrician (Nina Proudman) and her impossibly zany family.
As a midwife I cannot help but critique the maternity ward scenes. While it depicts exactly the same team working day and night! It is usually impressively accurate in the maternity management side of things. Certainly when the lead character suddenly lost her partner, the love of her life, Patrick the grief depicted was profound and very true to life. So when I heard that Offspring was tackling the topic of stillbirth I was really looking forward to how they might do it.
This link provides a really good summary of the episode

While there were some inaccuracies and outdated practices depicted in the baseline story the impact of the stillbirth on Nina was incredibly well done and as a maternity care provider who has been in that situation more than once myself I actually don’t think it could have been better done. As the show is actually about Nina and not meant to be about current evidence based practice I think the writers can be forgiven and actually congratulated for being prepared to acknowledge that stillbirth happens and that it is devastating to everyone (including care providers) when it does. So my absolute congratulations to the writers of the show for the episode.

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The dangers of listening to your baby's heart

8/7/2017

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I have often spoken on this blog about the dangers of hand held doppler devices in the hands of lay people. On the weekend a pregnant mum I know sent me this screen shot from a popular App that she subscribes to.

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I concerned (not because her battery was flat :)) but because of the flippant and completely careless way this piece of medical equipment is spoken about, as if there is no downside to a lay person attempting to use a device they are not trained to use. Imagine if you were to read in a do it yourself gardening book “ if a large tree is blocking your view just pick up a chainsaw at the local hardware store and cut the tree down” many people might get away with doing this without injury but it doesn’t mean it isn’t stupid dangerous advice. The thing that alarms me the most about this app is the statement “hearing the heartbeat lets you know that your baby’s developing and growing” this is simply NOT TRUE. All that the presence of a heart beat tells the mother, or anyone else for that matter, is simply that there is a heart beat! Babies who are not developing or growing very well at all can still have a heartbeat. So MUCH better careful advice would be “on days you are worried call your maternity care provider and express your concerns, if you don’t feel reassured by what they say immediately seek a second opinion.”

Similarly the statement that there are "perks" to an amnio- centesis left me gob smacked. If a maternity care provider orders an amniocentesis this is for very serious concerns about the mother or baby and no-one should EVER imply that this procedure should be done to get a good long look at the baby.   
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