Anemia and its complications to pregnancy

Anemia is one of the most common health conditions that people experience. Frequently, women are most at risk of developing anemia due to monthly blood loss during menstruation and during pregnancy. In fact, most women do not know they are anemic unless they manifest symptoms of dizziness and paleness and consulted their doctors. Anemia can complicate pregnancy. Let us further understand what is anemia and its complications to pregnancy.

Anemia is a health condition that arises due to lack of iron in the blood. Lack of iron in the blood causes less hemoglobin to be produced. The hemoglobin is responsible in distributing oxygen to tissues of the body and when this fails, symptoms of dizziness, extreme fatigue, paleness, labored breathing and rapid heartbeat manifest.

During pregnancy, the blood supply requirement increases by 50% for the development of the baby while inside the womb. Anemia during pregnancy can cause complications to the growth and development of the baby as there is less supply of iron in the blood. The most common type of anemia that an expectant mom may experience is iron deficiency anemia.

Iron deficiency anemia happens when there is less hemoglobin produced in the blood. This may be as an effect of improper nutrition or when there is less iron stored in the bone marrow of the expectant mom that it is not able to meet the requirement for fetal development. As a result, low birth weight, preterm birth and poor fetal growth may happen to the baby.

Anemia due to iron deficiency is treatable by proper iron supplementation and proper nutrition. Some sources of iron are leafy green vegetables (broccoli, spinach), eggs, red meat, liver, dried beans or tofu, and iron-fortified bread, pasta, and cereal.

Most doctors would recommend iron supplements when anemia is diagnosed. If you suspect anemia and you are pregnant, consulting your doctor is a must and taking iron supplements is insufficient or may even worsen your condition without a prescription from your physician. Iron supplements can cause LBM and constipation to some.

In diagnosing anemia, your medical history is taken along with your family medical history to ensure that the type of anemia that you have is not hereditary. Blood smear and other laboratory tests may also be required by your doctor to properly diagnose your condition especially when you have a sensitive pregnancy.

Anemia can be treated with proper nutrition. Make sure that you have healthy body prior to pregnancy to ensure a healthy baby and a blissful pregnancy experience.

Why smoking is harmful to the health of a pregnant woman?

When we read the title of this article, unconsciously, you may think that smoking is in fact harmful without even considering the health status of a person, whether she is pregnant, sick or has a healthy body. Smoking kills a person's body gradually until it is destroyed. But in this particular topic, let us discuss why smoking is especially harmful to pregnant moms.

Pregnancy is an exciting experience to a woman. Whether it is the first, second or third, the excitement that you feel is always like the first time. It is an overwhelming experience to carry a life within you and during the pregnancy period you have to take good care two lives, yours and that of the baby.

But there are instances you may have some habits that you need to eliminate totally for the sake of the baby in the womb and one particular vice that you should give up is smoking. Smoking kills and yet although most people knew these fact smokers may unconsciously not fully aware of it. If you are one of those who pick a piece of cigarette to light, you should think twice before lighting the cigarette that you hold.

Smoking can have different effects to persons. It can pose high risks such as having respiratory problems and failure of organs to properly function such as the lungs. Among the ailments that you may acquire are emphysema, allergies, lung cancer and so forth.

Since the nicotine that you take through a stick of cigarette travels through the bloodstream, this substance directly affects the baby in the womb when you are pregnant.

A piece of cigarette has 2500 substances and among these are those that causes developmental problems in a baby. Also in a study conducted, babies whose mom smokes has high possibility of developing congenital heart disease. Meanwhile, the mother faces higher risks of miscarriage.

Aside from developmental problems, the baby in the womb also runs the risks of having low birth weight as an effect of low pace of development of the baby while inside the womb. There is no safe level of smoking so when you are pregnant, you should quit it if you want to have a healthy pregnancy.

Given some of these hard facts, you should have thought of quitting smoking by now. However, to quit smoking might be an easy idea but hard to do. Here are some ways you can try to help you quit smoking.

Find ways to relieve stress. Most people would smoke to get relief from stress. But this idea should never be an excuse to smoking as there are other wholesome activities you could try if you are trying to get relief from stress.

Stay away from caffeinated drinks and alcohol. They say that the best partner for smoking is drinking alcohol especially during occasions. Yet both of these tandem in making you less healthy. Moreover, although caffeinated drinks may not have the same effect as that with the alcohol, drinking caffeinated beverages may urge you to smoke.

Have a smoke-free home. If you are trying to quit smoking, you should throw away the lighter, stack of cigarette and the ash tray at home. This same goes when you are not smoking but your partner does. If you have visitors coming and you know that they smoke, you can request them politely not to smoke at your home.

Get motivated with a support. Most quit-smoke efforts fail because of lack or diminishing motivation. Having someone to support you to get going will keep you motivated.

With this information on hand, you should rationally understand why smoking is not good especially for pregnant women. Understand your health and live a happy pregnancy experience.

Cancer and pregnancy

While a woman feel blissful and blessed as being an expectant mother, there are situations where you cannot avoid worries about pregnancy complications and other health challenges during pregnancy. And one of these is cancer during pregnancy.

An expectant mother especially in the late middle ages are likely to develop cancer than that those of the young age, as most observations predict. Some of the most common are cervical cancer, breast, blood or the lymph system. However this seems rare in occurrence.

Serious questions are raised on this situation and some are:

• Is the cancer treatable?
• Is the treatment compatible with continuing pregnancy?
• Will the cancer affect the baby?
• Will the treatment affect the baby?
• Should a termination be performed and is this an acceptable proposition? These and many more.

Also many fears that cancer will likely to spread to the fetus. Nonetheless, this does not happen and the assumption is that this is not possible.

More information are available at pregnancybliss.com