Healthyvives Health Blog

The means of “safe motherhood” to creating circumstances within which a woman is enabled to choose whether she will become pregnant, and if she does, ensuring she receives care for prevention and treatment of pregnancy complications, has access to trained birth assistance, has access to emergency obstetric care if she needs it and care after birth, so that she can avoid death or disability from complications of pregnancy and child birth.

There are three stages of pregnancy. They are Antenatal, Intra-natal, and Postnatal.

Care for Intra-natal stage.

Child birth is a normal physiological process but unforeseen complications may arise which required urgent management. Effective antenatal care reduces the hazards of delivery significantly to get an optimum outcome; the need for effective intra-natal care is indispensable, even if the delivery is going to be institutional and a normal on time.

How to know true labour of a pregnant woman

Pain felt at regular intervals which increase in frequency and last longer. Appearance of small quantity of blood stained mucus per vagina. regular painful uterine contractions which gradually increase in duration, frequency and intensity. Obtain accompanied by backache, abdominal tightening and discomfort. Dilatation and taking up of the cervix. Pain is not relieved by enema.

How to know false labour of a pregnant woman

Irregular painful uterine contractions which does not increase in duration frequency and intensity. Not accompanied by backache, may or may not be painful. Without any effect of dilatation of the cervix. Usually pain is relieved by enema and administration of sedative.

The labour is divided into three stages

First stage: from the time labour pain starts to the time cervix is fully dilated.

Second stage: from full dilatation of cervix to the delivery of the baby.

Third stage: from birth of baby to expulsion of placenta and membranes.

The three stages of labour together usually take up to 12 hours for the first delivery and about 6 hours for subsequent deliveries.

What should done at the first stage of labour for health staff

Admit the pregnant woman and ask for the card for her past and present pregnancy.

Ensure privacy for the woman.

Diagnose the onset of labour maternal well being, normal foetal presentation and position, normal foetal heart rate.

Shave public hair and the area should be washed with soap and water.

Encourage frequent emptying of the bladder.

Avoid pushing down to take deep breath.

Pregnant woman may be walk between labour pains till the bag of water ruptures.

Don’t leave pregnant woman alone.

Avoid taking solid food, tea, coffee, and milk once she starts labour.

Encourage a positive attitude.

Provide supportive care

Find out pregnant woman physical and psychological condition.

What should done at the second stage of labour for health staff

Help to pregnant woman to come and lie on delivery table in semi reclined dorsal position.

Swab the perineum, drape the delivery area with sterile towels and use pad to cover the anus.

Check the maternal pulse every 15 minutes.

Need to wear apron, plastic mask, cap and gloves.

Keep ready the sterile equipments which include warm antiseptic solution, cotton, wool, and pad, cord scissor and clamps.

Deliver the head slowly to prevent the tearing the perineum.

See whether the cord is around the neck.

Wait for the cord pulsation to stop and than tie the cord with cord ties at 2.5 cms from umbilicus and cut in between. Separate the baby.

What should done at the third stage of labour for health staff

The third stage starts after the delivery of the baby and ends with the delivery of the placenta and membranes. This normally takes 10 to 15 minutes and the placenta is usually delivered by the time it takes to cut the umbilical cord, wipe, dry, weigh baby and put the baby to the breast.

The means of “safe motherhood” to creating circumstances within which a woman is enabled to choose whether she will become pregnant, and if she does, ensuring she receives care for prevention and treatment of pregnancy complications, has access to trained birth assistance, has access to emergency obstetric care if she needs it and care after birth, so that she can avoid death or disability from complications of pregnancy and child birth.

There are three stages of pregnancy. They are Antenatal, Intra-natal, and Postnatal.

Care for antenatal stage.

Antenatal care is the care of the woman during pregnancy. Your aim in providing antenatal care is to achieve at the end of a pregnancy a healthy mother and a healthy baby. It is ideal if you begin the care soon after conception. Remember that the regular monitoring during pregnancy is essential to detect the complications early before they become life threatening emergencies.

Antenatal care.

What we need to do.

Enumerate the aims of antenatal care

Diagnose pregnant woman, register her early and explain the importance of early registration.

Elicit proper history, do clinical examination and routine investigation during the antenatal period and to ensure quality assurance.

Assess the risk factors and take appropriate action.

Give T.T. immunization and advise to take iron and folic acid tablets depending on hemoglobin level.

Identity the common complications of pregnancy and know how to manage them.

Maintain records.

What are the aims of antenatal care?

Detect and give special attention to the high risk woman.

Promote, protect and maintain the physical and mental health of the mother during pregnancy.

Anticipate complications and prevent them.

Provide health education regarding diet, exercise, rest and avoidance of unnecessary travel during pregnancy.

Prevent maternal as well as neonatal tetanus.

Explain the normal process of labour.

Educate the woman for delivery, breast feeding and subsequent care of her child and appropriate spacing of birth.

Ensure birth of a mature live and healthy newborn.

Diagnosis of Pregnancy

Diagnose the pregnancy by the following signs and symptoms

Up to 20 weeks

Early breast changes, breast may be grow bigger, darken and painful nipple.

Amenorrhea i.e. missed of menstrual period.

Morning sickness, i.e. Nausea and vomiting.

Frequent passing of urine.

Quickening felt by the mother.i.e. Movement of baby may begin.

Skin condition may be changes.

Up to 20-36 weeks

Enlarged uterus

Foetal parts felt per abdomen

Foetal heart sound.

Risk factors of pregnancy

Age less than 18 years or more than 35 years.

Weight less than 38 kg at first trimester or more than 70 kg.

Height less than 145 cm. or 4 feet and 10 inches.

More than 4 deliveries.

Illness such as heart disease, diabetes and problem in previous pregnancy, as like operative delivery, still birth, prolonged labour, retained placenta, ante partum and post partum hemorrhage and sepsis.

Problems in present pregnancy such as:

Bleeding any time during pregnancy

Eclampsia or Pre-eclampsia

Abnormal presentation

Twins over or distended uterus.

Very big or very small baby.

Severe anaemia.

Floating head in a primigravida at 38 week or later.

Pre mature rupture of membrance.

Preterm labour.

Danger Factors of pregnancy

Bleeding or vaginal discharge.

Jaundice.

Excessive vomiting.

Excessive or less number of foetal movements.

Epigastria pain.

Blurring of vision.

Breathlessness.

Convulsion.

Severe headache.

Swelling of face and hands.

High grade fever.

Labour pain more than 12 hours.

Advise for pregnancy

Pregnant women to be in bed for about 10 hours.hard and strenuous work should be avoided specially in the first trimester and the last 6 weeks.avoid long travel during early or late pregnancy., diet rich in protein, fibre and vitamins,such as milk, egg, plenty of green vegetables, cereals and fruits as available, encourage more fluid intake, check the weight, test urine for albumin, maintain fluid intake, check the BP Frequently time to time, check the foetal heart rate. Daily bath should be taken but to be careful against slipping in the bathroom due to imbalance. Teeth should be cleansed two times a day.  Breast should be kept clean by washing with water regularly. Retracted nipples are lifted up by fingers from 28 weeks onward. Arrange breast feeding early as care of newborn. Smoking and alcohol is avoided as it affects the growth of the baby. Intercourse should be avoided during the first trimester and last 6 weeks.

We need to laugh to keep ourselves healthy and moody. Without a sense of humour life can be a colourless procession of tasks and duties. With it life takes a vigour and vitality. We enjoy it. We have more enthusiasm to share with others. We are more fun to be with.

Mainly the children who grew up without a sense of humour are frozen in a state of defensiveness and anxiety. Their self esteem collapses in their worry about being wrong. They are afraid to laugh, and especially at always wondering about what people thinks about me.

How can you benefited by laugh:

Lighten up yourself

You can say you are stuck in traffic, your frenemy whispers behind your back; you are hauled over the coals by your boss. What do you do? Shout abuses? Rail against fate? Let it ruin your day?  Or just make it just funny when recounting it to somebody else?

When you are at home and your kids throw up on your bed, break your neighbor’s window, paint a mural on your front door, smear Vaseline on your prized leather sofa. Screaming, shrieking, smacking is counted-productive. After a suitable punishment, reminisce about own bad old day’s and chuckle about the present misdeeds. Write it up in a journal to be opened ten years hence.

Turn trouble into fun when your child does something strange or stupid, like clogging the toilet with play Doh, by cracking a silly bodily function joke. Try not to blow your top when your daughter is cheeky; a quip will breach her resolve to make you miserable.

Sharing children misdeeds, not in a complaining way but with humour at bedtime with yours spouse is a perfect ending to a day.

How to spark smiles

If you feel that your child is not laughing enough

Start a chuckle provoking collection of books which are suitable for them, mad magazine, comics, cartoons and DVDs. Dip into one of them together when you feel that your child is taking himself too seriously, or is feeling low.

Be spontaneous. Bundle up the kids for a trip to the zoo, and watch the antics of the monkeys.

Teach her/his to look at the lighthearted side of the situation. So she has broken her/his leg and cannot take part in the school play, but ask her friends to come over to decorate the cast.

Stick cartoons on the fridge and on the study table.

Sing funny rhymes which require touch and tickling such as this little piggy goes to the market.

Gives everybody pet names, the sillier the merrier. As they like.

Learn to see the humour in everyday situation.

Have each one tell a joke or a riddle at dinner time.

When waiting for your doctor, plane, train, choose a stranger and weave a comical story around him.

Laugh out loud even when life sucks. Your boss lamed you for messing a deal. Create silly scenario around him.

When an argument gets too serious, have a make-up puppet perform a dance.

Jokes Aside

Tell your children what kind of jokes and words you do not want used in yours presence and preferably not in your absence.

Communal jokes are very popular in school and people even children. Pass them around without blinking an eyelid.

For starters you have to believe that group and community jokes can be demeaning to the target, which are seen as objects of derision. Only then can you rein in your kids.

The first thing that you need to do is avoid telling touchy incentive jokes yourself. Let other people know that you are uncomfortable when they use words and spout jokes that can offend others, even at the risk you being called a goody-goody killjoy.

Ask your child how you would feel if you are at the receiving end of a put down joke.

Tell your child that it is unkind to make jokes and pass remarks that poke fun at people about something that they can do nothing about community, colour, culture, that you need to laugh with and not at people that belittling somebody wrong.

Response to and talk about incidents of insensitivity.

Tick your child off if she makes fun of somebody who walks with a limp or talks with a lisp.