1) What's Happening
Happy Holidays!!! The main page of the Pregnancy Community at Mother's Nature now has a "Tip of the Week". Send me your tips for easing pregnancy discomforts and I'll send you 4oz of Erbal Anna's Pregnancy Tea!!!

Check out the Info Alley for all the latest articles and information. There's a new article every week!

Remember to send in your birth announcements to be featured on the main page of the Pregnancy Community. Feel free to send me a photo as well! Email: pregnancy@mothersnature.com

Have a safe and happy holiday season!
Hannah

2) Chiropractic Care in Pregnancy
I always recommend that a new mother be checked for spinal subluxations after the delivery to make sure the spine and pelvis are aligned well. After the pregnancy has ended and the relaxin hormone decreases, the ligaments start to tighten up. This is a great time to help the spine return to a natural and more balanced state.
-Dr. C. Karl Krantz, "Chiropractic Care in Pregnancy," Midwifery Today Issue 52

3) In the News
A Spanish study of calcium consumption concluded that women who don't consume enough calcium in their last trimester may have less of the mineral in their breastmilk. Women who took in less than 900 milligrams daily during the last part of pregnancy produced less calcium in their milk compared with those who consumed more than 1,100 milligrams daily in the last trimester.
-Fit Pregnancy, Fall 1999

4) Premature Rupture of Membranes (PROM)
Two Abstracts from Henci Goer's book, Obstetric Myths Versus Research Realities

Lenihan JP. Relationship of antepartum pelvic examinations to premature rupture of the membranes. Obstet Gynecol 1984; 63(1): 33-37. Women with uncomplicated pregnancies were randomly assigned to one of two groups: weekly pelvic exams beginning at 37 weeks gestation or no pelvic exams before 40 weeks in multipara and 41 weeks in nullipara. Eighteen percent of those having routine pelvic exams had PROM versus 6% of those having none. The author theorizes that the probing finger carries up and deposits on the cervix bacteria and acidic vaginal secretions capable of penetrating the mucous plug and causing sufficient low-grade inflammation to rupture membranes.

If your membranes rupture on their own prior to labor, you must believe that this is exactly the way your particular body needs to start this particular labor. Accept it as a sign that labor will begin sometime within the next hours or days. Stay close to home, relax, eat well.... Increase your vitamin C and fluid intake. Before agreeing to be induced, you can try several natural induction suggestions: visualization, herbs, or castor oil (under the direction of a qualified midwife), for example. Lovemaking (without sexual intercourse) and orgasm may encourage labor to begin....

Many physicians worry that an infection will begin now that the protection around the infant is gone. Some prescribe antibiotics prophylactically. Others ask you to take your temperature and report any rise. Some take blood tests to check your white blood cell count. Most tell you that if you haven't had the baby in 12 to 24 hours, a c-section will be performed to prevent an infection from occurring.... A cesarean to *prevent* infection? You already know the risk of infection from cesarean section is very high. Most women can go days without an infection after their water has broken, especially if they stay out of the hospital and refuse internal exams. (In a single year, 1.5 million patients were victims of hospital-acquired infections.)
-Nancy Wainer Cohen, Silent Knife, Bergin & Garvey 1983

Reprinted from Midwifery Today E-News (2:46 November 16, 2000)
To subscribe to the E-News write: enews@midwiferytoday.com
For all other matters contact Midwifery Today:
PO Box 2672-940, Eugene OR 97402
541-344-7438, inquiries@midwiferytoday.com

We hope you enjoyed the November edition of the Pregnancy newsletter!