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With two rowdy kids and a workaholic husband, I definitely need some me time occasionally. Where do I head to? The massage parlor. The knots that gotten me all worked up are unwound and I can face the craziness again. Taking A Closer Look At Statistics And Facts About Home Birth
The idea of bringing your baby into the world in the comfortable surroundings of home is an attractive idea for many moms-to-be, but making the choice as to whether this is the best plan to make can be incredibly difficult for some. If you have been considering a home delivery, you have likely already talked to a nurse midwife about what to expect and what is involved. However, it will be useful if you get to know a few facts and statistics about home birth before you make a definitive decision. 1. The Number of Women Choosing Home Birth Is On the Rise – Even though home deliveries were the norm a long time ago, the advances in medicine and availability of hospitals across the country changed everything, and for many years, the majority of babies were born in medical facilities and offices. However, more and more women are reverting back to tradition for their own reasons. In fact, between 2004 and 2009, there was a 29 percent rise in the number of babies that were delivered at home, according to the Centers for Disease Control. 2. Home Birth When Properly Planned Is Typically Safe and Successful – A study performed by the Midwives Alliance of North America showed that of 17,000 planned home births, only about 10 percent transferred to a hospital or delivery center after the onset of labor. In most cases, the reasons for making the transition were not emergency related, but often caused by slow-progressing labor or even exhaustion of the mother. Therefore, if you are worried about a home birth for safety reasons, it is most likely that you will not have any issues with a good midwife helping you to plan the event. 3. Delivering At Home Could Be More Beneficial to Baby – Some research has suggested that babies born at home are more likely to be healthy. There are several reasons why this could be true, including: the baby will stay with the mother continually after birth, eliminating stress due to separation and encouraging an easier bond. the baby could be born with natural antibodies from the mother to germs in the home surroundings; whereas in a hospital, the germs present could be foreign and cause health issues. less stress during delivery for the mom can often mean a healthier baby at birth. If you have been considering a home delivery, be sure you talk openly with a professional midwife, like those at Women’s Healthcare Associates LLC, about the downfalls and benefits that you should be aware of in advance. Making the right choice is all about educating yourself about every aspect of home birth and what it could mean for you and your...
read moreBreast Enhancement Surgery Questions and Answers
It is an unfortunate fact that many women are unsatisfied with their appearance. In particular, it is common for women to be dissatisfied with their breasts, and whether the dislike stems from genetic size or from the results of a mastectomy, it can create some self-esteem issues. Fortunately, there are breast-enhancement procedures that can create the look that you want for your body. Deciding to undergo this cosmetic procedure is a serious decision, and you may want to have a couple of questions answered before you can confidently decide about this surgery. Will the Procedure Produce a Natural-Looking Breast? You may be concerned that breast-enhancement procedures will be extremely noticeable. Not surprisingly, this can cause some women to avoid undergoing surgery because they do not want to take the risk. However, it should be noted that a skilled surgeon can enhance your breasts in such a way that it will be all but impossible for other people to tell you had surgery. It should be noted that this may limit the size of implant you can receive. The optimal size will depend on the amount of skin and fat in this area of your body. To help you have a better idea of what size implant you need, the cosmetic surgeon may be able to show you a computer generated image of what your body will look like with implants of varying sizes. What Will Your Recovery from Breast Enhancement Be Like? Another concern that some patients may have is that recovering from this procedure will be extremely lengthy and painful. However, this is usually not the case, and patients should expect the worst soreness from this procedure to start subsiding within a few days of the procedure. If you notice the pain worsening or discoloration starting to show, you should immediately contact your doctor because this may indicate an infection has developed. During the recovery, you may be required to return to the doctor for follow-up exams. These exams are designed to ensure that your body is adjusting to the implants, and you should expect to make these visits for at least the first few weeks following this procedure. Undergoing a breast enhancement surgery can be a great way of achieving the body you have always wanted. Yet, many potential patients are uninformed about this procedure. Knowing the factors that will contribute to you having a natural-looking implant and what should be expected while recovering from this procedure can help you decide if this surgery is for you. Speak with a representative from a facility like the Center For Plastic Surgery to learn...
read moreThree Great Birth Control Methods To Consider
If you are sexually active, but not ready to have children, you need to look into some birth control options. Thankfully obstetrics and gynecology medicine has developed to the point that you have plenty of options to choose between. For this reason, you should make sure that you look into the birth control method that suits you the best. To get a glimpse of some popular birth control options, read this article. The Birth Control Pill Birth control pills are one of the most proven forms of contraception available. This pill works in a way that controls your cycle and prevents an egg from being released and fertilized. There are a number of different pill forms you should take, some of which work so that you don’t have a period every single month. Other pills allow you to still have regular periods, but you will need to make sure that you take the pill at or around the same time every day. The pill is best used by women who are under the age of 35, because when you get older, the levels of estrogen included in the pill can put you at risk for blood clots. The Cervical Cap If you don’t mind a more hands on birth control, the cervical cap is an excellent option. This cap is applied directly over your cervix in order to prevent contraception. It contains spermicide, which kills sperm cells that would otherwise fertilize the egg. This cap should not be worn for more than two days at a time. For best results, you will need to get this cap from your doctor, to make sure that it does not slip or give you discomfort. The Birth Control Sponge When you want a birth control method that is easy to apply, consider the birth control sponge as an option. This sponge is infused with spermicide, so that your eggs and the man’s sperm don’t combine. The sponge is made of foam and can easily installed inside of your vagina before having sex. These sponges come in packs and typically won’t cost you any more than $15. You should always check with your doctor to make sure that this form of birth control is suitable for you based on your health history and your current records. If you are looking to protect yourself during sexual intercourse, consider the birth control methods in this article. To learn more, visit an office like Bee Ridge Obstetrics...
read moreYour Frequent Heartburn May Be A More Serious Problem
If you’re going through so many antacid tablets each week that they are a regular item on your grocery list, it’s time to uncover the real problem. You may have gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD. If left untreated, this condition can lead to cancer of the esophagus. Here is what you need know about GERD and how to find the right help. More Than Just a Reaction to Spicy Food Heartburn is one of the symptoms of GERD, but it’s much more than that. A small muscle at the end of your esophagus opens to allow food to enter your stomach. It then closes to prevent the stomach contents from coming back up into the esophagus. If the muscular valve fails to close, stomach acid can leak into the esophagus and all the way up into your throat. This acid irritates the tissue lining, causing that burning feeling. In severe cases, the valve doesn’t close at all, so every meal can result in this leaking of stomach acid. Long Term Effects of GERD As the condition continues, the stomach acid eats away at the lining of the esophagus. This causes the development of ulcers and bleeding. Swallowing may become difficult. Antacids may give some relief but eventually will be ineffective. You’ll have difficulty being comfortable either sitting or standing. The damaged tissue in the esophagus can produce cancer cells if the irritation continues. Getting Help for GERD You can go to a family physician, but they will refer you to a specialist for a complete examination. Physician owned specialty hospitals and clinics offer gastroenterologists who are experienced working with all stages of GERD. These facilities have the latest in endoscopic technology to look into your esophagus and evaluate the extent of the damage. These doctors will do X-rays and blood tests to check for the presence of ulcers. They will examine the muscular valve through an endoscope inserted into the esophagus. Once they understand the severity of the esophageal damage, they will recommend one or more of the following treatments: Changes in diet to reduce the GERD symptoms – Avoiding acidic foods, coffee, tea and alcohol will prevent the production of excess stomach acid. Lifestyle changes – Eating smaller portions, drinking plenty of water with meals and eating several hours before you go to bed will decrease the symptoms. Prescription antacids – Some of these you’ll take before meals to reduce the amount of stomach acid produced. Surgery to repair the valve – If the muscular valve is damaged, surgery can be done to repair or replace it. Understanding the seriousness of GERD is the first step. Finding the right help in a gastroenterology clinic is the next. Don’t allow this condition to become serious enough to require surgery. Contact a specialty hospital such as Nueterra for more...
read more3 Surprising Health Benefits Of Coffee
Did you know that over 400 billion cups of coffee are consumed every year? In some circles, coffee has a reputation for being bad for regular drinkers. It is true that a seven dollar blended and whipped-cream topped beverage might not be doing you a lot of favors, but black or minimally sweetened coffee actually packs a punch with a variety of great health benefits. In addition to increased energy, listed below are three surprising health benefits of coffee that you can start experiencing today! 1. Feel Great, Lose Weight It seems that everyone wants to lose weight and feel better. Well, coffee can help you do both those things. According to a Harvard study, drinking 4 or more cups of coffee regularly decreases a woman’s chance of becoming depressed by twenty percent, and decreases anyone’s chance of committing suicide by 53 percent. Additionally, the caffeine in your coffee can help increase your metabolic rate by 3-11 percent and aid in fat burning and weight loss. Think about it: your coffee habit can help you lose weight and look great! 2. Prevent Type 2 Diabetes and Other Serious Diseases Coffee has also been shown to aid in preventing type 2 diabetes, which affects 29 million people in the United States, by 28-35 percent, depending on the number of cups consumed daily. If caffeine doesn’t agree with you, don’t worry; recent studies suggest that decaffeinated coffee has the same benefit without the jitters. Coffee contains a bevy of antioxidants and minerals that help your body use insulin and prevent tissue damage. In addition to type 2 diabetes, the nutrients in coffee can decrease the risk for Parkinson’s disease, heart disease, and liver disease. You can lower your risk for these serious, life-changing diseases simply by drinking coffee. Who knew? 3. Get Smarter Coffee consumption can positively affect the brain as well as the body. The caffeine in coffee causes your brain to work more efficiently and improves all kinds of brain functions, including reaction time, attention, and logical reasoning. So if you’ve got a big study session or test coming up, keep on sipping! Drinking coffee in excess, or adding too many sweeteners to it, can be bad for your health, but coffee itself is really quite good for your mental and physical health. If you’re struggling to lose weight, feeling depressed, or trying to reduce your risk for disease, try increasing your coffee intake to start seeing some great health benefits. It’s never too early to start a new, healthy habit. For more information about coffee, contact Loft 950 or a similar...
read moreHow A Home Care Nurse Can Assist You With Stroke Complications
Have you been struggling to get around after a stroke had an effect on your ability to move your legs? You may need a nurse to come to your house and help you stay active, as failure to move your legs regularly can lead to other health problems. In this article, find out what kind of services a home care nurse can provide to aide with your healing progress and personal needs. How Can a Home Care Nurse Help with Stroke Complications? A home nurse can help with the stroke complications that you already have like partial leg paralysis and can also help you prevent further complications. For instance, failing to move your legs to keep blood circulating can lead to a condition called deep vein thrombosis (DVT). It is a condition that can raise your blood pressure and cause blood clots in your legs that can travel to your lungs. A home care nurse can help by giving your legs a massage on a regular basis to keep blood moving through your veins. A home care nurse can also help you keep your blood pressure down by making sure you are taking your medication. If a problem arises with your blood pressure, the nurse will take notice before it leads to you having another stroke or even a heart attack. He or she will call for an ambulance or transport you to the hospital if your blood pressure does not reach a safe level. You can count of the nurse to check your vitals each time he or she visits your home. What Kind of Personal Services Can a Home Care Nurse Provide? You will receive personal services that include light cooking, help cleaning up .and errand running. The nurse will make sure that you are transported to and from your medical appointments, which can be helpful when you don’t have full use of your legs to drive. You can also been driven to shopping centers, movie theaters and other leisure activity outings. Help with bathing and dressing is also provided by a home care nurse. The nurse can bath your body completely, or he or she can just assist you with getting in and out of the bathtub. You can get help with brushing your hair, picking out daily outfits and keeping your teeth clean. Hire a home care nurse to assist with your stroke complications as soon as possible! For more information, contact a company such as Accu-Care Nursing Service...
read moreThree Tips To Help You Talk To A Family Member With Hearing Difficulties
If you have a family member who is showing signs of hearing loss, it can be challenging to know how to bring up the issue. On one hand, you know that the person’s quality of life would greatly benefit from receiving one or two hearing aids, but on the other hand, you might be tentative about raising an issue that is so personal. It’s possible to be helpful and tactful to get the ball rolling; after all, the longer the person goes without seeking professional help for his or her hearing, the longer it will be before the issue is resolved. Here are three ways you can gently intervene to help out. Find An Appropriate Time Although someone struggling with hearing loss might show more symptoms of the issue during crowded family get-togethers, this isn’t the time to bring up the situation. Voicing your concern over the person’s ability to hear clearly is best to leave for a private moment. Take note of some instances and relay them to your family member in a calm manner. For example, you could recount a time in which the family member didn’t hear a grandchild calling for help after falling or an example in which a meal was burnt because the person didn’t hear the buzzer ringing on the oven. Offer Your Assistance Telling the family member that he or she needs to get a hearing aid can feel hurtful and judgmental. Take a lighter approach by expressing that you’re concerned about some incidences in which the person has seemed to struggle to hear and suggest visiting a hearing specialist to undergo some tests. Offer to not only take the family member to the appointment, but to also stay in the room for moral support. Through this approach, you can count on the medical professional sharing the message that hearing aids might be appropriate, rather than trying to have this conversation yourself. Act As An Ally Attending an appointment with the family member can help the person avoid feelings of isolation. If you’re concerned, however, that the family member feels alone or ashamed because of the hearing loss, be an ally by booking your own hearing checkup, too. This approach can be valuable if you realize, honestly, that you have occasional trouble hearing things clearly. See if you can make back-to-back appointments at places like the Hearing Health Clinic and then go out for lunch afterward to discuss the options presented to...
read moreHow To Know If You Are Having The “Big Stroke”: Important Facts About Brain Aneurysms
The frightening aspect of having a brain aneurysm is how you can have one quite suddenly and without a big, painful obvious warning. Some of the symptoms associated with brain aneurysms are ignored, thought to be normal headaches from stress or normal nausea from eating foods that are too spicy. Maybe you have had a headache for a couple of days, not a bad one, just a nagging that you take several aspirin for over the course of a day or so. You may have also had a spell of dizziness, right before the start of another headache. Maybe you blame all of these symptoms on stress or sleep deprivation, but before you do, learning more about brain aneurysms is a good idea. A Huge Determining Factor For Your Survival Of A Ruptured Brain Aneurysm If you suffer with chronic headache pain, checking your family history for brain aneurysms is important for learning more about your chances of having one. If your grandmother or uncle had one, seeing your physician about your headaches is vital. One tip to remember is be sure to maintain a healthy diet with plenty of green, leafy vegetables for increasing the health of your blood. In the event you have a brain aneurysm, your best chances of survival is in your blood being able to clot fast and strong at the site of rupture, so taking good care of your healthy and diet is extremely important to remember if you are dealing with headaches. Headaches And Nausea Are Only A Couple Of Symptoms To Consider If an aneurysm ruptures in your brain, you may have significant trouble breathing right away. However, some patients do not experience breathing difficulties at the presentation of the rupture. If you experience sudden difficulty breathing and a stiff neck after the onset of a severe headache, you should seek medical treatment as soon as possible to avoid serious or even deadly repercussions of a hemorrhagic stroke, a brain aneurysm. Early Detection is Important To Catch Aneurysms Before They Rupture Having surgery for the repair of a ballooning brain aneurysm increases your chances of surviving it. However, if your aneurysm ruptures, you risk suffering a major stroke or worse, death. If you are having headaches, do not put off seeing your doctor about what is causing them. Doing so could save your life if you have a brain aneurysm developing and ballooning. The prospect of willingly having brain surgery is a terrifying thought for most people. However, you should know that because of the advancements made in medicine, surgical procedures in the brain are as common as the ones that are not. Visit a surgeon at Cedar Surgical Associates PC for more...
read moreSimple Solutions To Relieve Your Child’s Ear Pain Before Seeing Their Doctor
As a parent, you have most likely seen your child suffer through many colds, stomach bugs, and infections. While common, seeing your child in distress can be overwhelming. Considering an estimated 10 million ear problems occur in babies and children each year, learning the signs of a possible infection is smart. If your child is having pain in the inner or outer ear, they may have an ear infection that requires immediate attention by their doctor. Thankfully, you can relieve some of your child’s ear pain before visiting a clinic or doctor’s office. Cold or Warm Compress To alleviate some of your child’s discomfort before heading to their doctor, consider using a cold or warm compress on the outer area of the ear. Wrap a few cubes of ice in a clean cloth and have your child hold the ice against the ear that is in pain. Allow them to hold the cold compress to their ear for 10 minutes before removing. The ice will soothe the pain by numbing the area for a short period. A warm compress is also a great option for reducing ear pain. If using an electric heating pad, turn the pad on to warm up. Be sure to test the pad’s temperature before allowing your child to hold it to their ear. If preferred, make a warm compress by soaking a clean cloth in a bowl of hot water. Wring out the excess water and allow your child to hold the cloth against their ear for 5 minutes. Olive Oil While surprising to hear, a few drops of olive oil in your child’s ear can reduce pain and help heal an infection. Olive oil contains phenols, which are anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial, so it is an effective ingredient for helping ease the symptoms of an ear infection. Complete the following steps to ease your child’s ear pain with olive oil: Add a few teaspoons of olive oil to a microwave safe bowl. Place in the microwave for 15 seconds. Test the temperature of the oil to make sure it is safe for your child’s ear. Use a dropper to suction a small amount of the warmed olive oil from the bowl. Allow your child to lie on the couch or their bed with their problem ear facing up. Place 2 to 3 drops of the warmed olive oil directly into your child’s ear canal. The olive oil will soak the ear canal, reducing inflammation and pain. It is important to note that these methods will not cure your child’s ear infection, so visiting the doctor immediately is essential. Using these techniques, you can reduce your child’s ear pain before seeing a medical professional like those at West Ocean City Injury & Illness...
read moreShould You Delay Cord Clamping After Your Child’s Birth?
Whether you’re a soon-to-be first-time parent or are expecting your youngest child, you may be amazed at the advances in medical technology that are improving the birthing process. From cord blood banking to hospital birthing tubs, the array of options now available to you can seem incredible and even overwhelming. One trend that has sparked a great deal of media attention recently is delayed cord clamping. What is this, and how can it help your baby? Read on to learn more about some of the benefits that may result from delayed cord clamping, as well as some situations in which this option may not be feasible. What are the benefits of delayed cord clamping? When a child is born (either vaginally or via a cesarean section), his or her umbilical cord is clamped almost immediately, preventing blood flow to and from the placenta (a process thought to reduce the odds of hemorrhage or other bleeding complications for the mother). Within the next few seconds, the father may then be asked to “cut the cord,” which permanently stops this blood flow. Once the placenta has been removed, both it and the remaining umbilical cord are discarded as medical waste. There is now some scientific evidence that leaving the umbilical cord alone for a few minutes after birth can improve infant health. By allowing iron- and oxygen-rich blood to pass back and forth through the umbilical cord for a minute or two after birth, delayed cord clamping can decrease a baby’s risk of anemia or low blood oxygen levels, sometimes even helping your baby avoid a short stay in the NICU. Delayed cord clamping also won’t prevent you from having nearly instantaneous access to your child after birth — the cord can be moved or shifted so that you’ll be able to hold your child against you without worry. Are there any situations in which delayed cord clamping is a bad idea? Although delayed cord clamping can provide many benefits — particularly to babies who are at high risk for anemia — it’s not a good idea in every case. If you’re planning to give birth in a hospital that doesn’t have extensive neonatal care options (such as jaundice treatment), you may want to abide by the more traditional process, as in some rare cases, delayed cord clamping may cause or exacerbate infant jaundice. However, for the majority of hospital births, delayed cord clamping can improve an infant’s health with very little potential downside. If this idea appeals to you, ask your obstetrician or another doctor that specializes in newborn care whether delayed cord clamping is a good idea for you and your...
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