Understandably, one of the “hot topics” of the moment is should pregnant women accept the Swine Flu vaccine.

On discussions with women I have met with many women who are concerned about the vaccine and unsure whether to be vaccinated

Pregnant women are not known to be more susceptible to catching swine flu but if they do the risk of complications is higher because their immune system is naturally suppressed and the Department of Health is recommending and prioritising the vaccine for pregnant women.  It is important to remember that for the vast majority of people (including pregnant women) that, although unpleasant, influenza is self-limiting and the vast majority of people will make a quick recovery.  Should a pregnant women develop flu the recommended treatment is early instigation of antiviral therapy.

www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/@ps/@sta/@perf/documents/digitalasset/dh_107768.pdf

Recent Department of Health advice is available at: www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publichealth/Flu/Swineflu/DH_107340

Obviously if you are unwell do follow the Government’s advice http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Swineflu/DG_177831 or contact your doctor or midwife for advice.

However a recent Guardian article quoted a survey, published by the website mumsnet.com, confirmed the uncertainty felt as almost half – 48% – of pregnant women who responded said they probably or definitely would not have the jab if it is available. Only 6% said they definitely would and 22% said they probably would.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/02/swine-flu-vaccine-pregnant-women

Another recent article www.examiner.com/x-4079-SF-Sexual-Health-Examiner~y2009m10d23-California-suspends-ban-on-thimerosal-containing-H1N1-vaccine-for-pregnant-women  also raises concerns about the immunisation programme.

I am unsure which vaccine is being given to pregnant women in the UK - this may be something for you to research further.

Good luck with your decision making.

When a mum is breastfeeding she is giving her baby the very best - breastmilk is full of antibodies and is therefore hugely protective.

The Department of Health has issued advice on what to do when breastfeeding if you have contracted the flu.  If a mum is receiving antiviral treatment or prophylaxis, they are advised to continue to breastfeed as frequent as possible and continue to have as much skin to skin contact as possible with the baby.  Ensuring hands are washed as frequent as possible as well as limiting the sharing of toys.

For more information on breastfeeding and swine flu go to www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Children/Maternity/Maternalandinfantnutrition/DH_099965

The Netmums website has teamed up with the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) to discover your most recent experiences of maternity services so we can work together to instigate improvements.  Please take a few minutes to complete the joint survey so that areas for improvement in maternity services can be targeted. Please answer the questions in relation to your most recent birth. The results of the survey will be presented jointly with the RCM and Netmums at the RCM’s annual conference on November 26-27th in Manchester and featured in the media before the conference.

The survey can be found at www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=B6ZD2GutcFLoG8h7MuAMdA_3d_3d

Written by Jenny Cassidy www.hrdept.co.uk Telephone: 0845 290 3910

Plans to allow fathers to benefit from up to six months’ additional paternity leave – three paid – if the mother returns to work before the end of the maternity leave period have been given the go ahead. The new right, due to come into force from 2011, will apply during the second half of a baby’s first year. In practice there is the possibility that this could become an administrative nightmare with the cross over between two people likely to be working in different businesses. We wait and see … the Government has actually shelved plans in the immediate future to increase paid maternity leave to 52 weeks to coincide with the 52 week maternity leave period. It will remain at 39 weeks, first 6 weeks 90% average earnings, remaining 33 weeks at statutory maternity pay £123.06 per week.

Fertility issues or preconceptual guidance is part of the midwife’s role and is something I am often asked about.  Apart from the usual information for someone planning a baby, actually getting pregnant can sometimes be an issue.  The medical profession often do not consider it a potential problem unless you have been trying for a baby for around 18 months, and indeed it can often take longer – this must seem like forever when you aren’t getting pregnant.  I do know that stress (including trying for a baby) and sub-optimal health can lead to difficulty in conceiving, so bear this in mind.

To get yourself into optimal health obviously you need to eat well, be rested.  There are some very good websites, particularly the Foresight website and I suggest you work through this list. 

www.haveababy.com

www.womantomother.co.uk

http://www.foresight-preconception.org.uk

http://www.marilynglenville.com

http://www.zitawest.com

http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/agesandstages/pregnancy/whenyrpregnant/

Also, complementary therapists may help and I have listed some that I am aware of in the Milton Keynes area:

Acupuncture –

Sandra Ah-Peng – Acupuncturist
Milton Keynes 01908 505883

www.mkacupuncture.co.uk

Gabi Stutz – Acupuncturist
Milton Keynes 01908 225051

Homoeopathy -

Gwynne Grayson – Homeopath
Milton Keynes 01908 520546

Jacky Swanepoel – Homeopath
Milton Keynes 01908 585385

Reflexology -

Kelly Holman – Reflexology
Milton Keynes 01908 54266

www.thesunflowerhouse.co.uk

Kinesiology -

Lesley Stephenson – Kinesiologist
Northampton 01604 871225

www.sanctumclinic.co.uk

Hypnotherapy –

Denise Marleyn
Leighton Buzzard 01525 850334

www.persephone-therapy.co.uk

Emotional Freedom Techniques

http://midwifevalerie.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/emotional-freedom-technique-eft-and-fertility/

Sejual Shah

http://www.healthyinmind.com/

Nutrition:

Kim Crundall

http://www.balancenutrition.co.uk/index.htm

How aware you are of your fertile period?  It is usually 14 days before a period, so if you have a 28 day cycle it is day 14, but on a longer cycle it may well be later, and just to confuse things women do not always ovulate on day 14!  There are various things you can use, like predictor and charting your temperature etc, but also by looking at your normal vaginal discharge (!) at your fertile period the discharge will change from a thicker creamier discharge moving towards a clear, stretch discharge like egg white.  To help with conception it is best if you have sex on alternate days around this period.   

Hope that something here will be helpful to you.

A client who has previously suffered with postnatal depression has asked me to research placenta eating (or placentophagy).  Apparently it is traditionally practiced in many cultures, including Mexico, China, and the Pacific Islands, however British consultant obstetrician Maggie Blott dismisses prospect that eating the placenta helps with post-natal depression however there remain a number of women who are convinced that eating their placenta was helpful, indeed it is rich in iron and this alone will be beneficial.  Some women chop it into tablet size pieces, freeze them then swallow them!

Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/health/alternative-medicine/articles/43315.aspx#ixzz0UHDBQjT5

http://havingapoo.blogspot.com/2007/07/placenta-party.html

These are from ‘Mothering Magazine‘ – September 1983:

Work on the basis that each placenta weighs approximately 1/6 of the baby’s weight. To prepare a placenta, cut the meat away from the membranes with a sharp knife. Discard the membranes.

1-3lb fresh placenta (must be no more than 3 days old)
1 onion
1 green or red pepper (green will add colour)
1 cup tomato sauce
1 sleeve saltine crackers
1 tspn bay leaves
1 tspn black pepper
1 tspn white pepper
1 clove garlic (roasted and minced)

Method

(Preheat oven to 350 degrees)

1. Chop the onion and the pepper & crush the saltines into crumbs.
2. Combine the placenta, onion, pepper, saltines, bay leaves, white and black pepper, garlic and tomato sauce.
3. Place in a loaf pan, cover then bake for one and a half hours, occasionally pouring off excess liquid.
4. Serve and enjoy!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup fresh, raw placenta
8oz V-8 juice
2 ice cubes
1/2 cup carrot

Method: blend at high speed for 10 seconds. Serve. A tasty thirst quencher!

Ingredients:

1 fresh, ground, or minced placenta, prepared as above
2 tblspns olive oil
2 sliced cloves garlic
1/2 tspn oregano
1/2 diced onion
2 tblspns tomato paste, or 1 whole tomato

Method: use a recipe for lasagne and substitute this mixture for one layer of cheese. Quickly saut� all the ingredients in olive oil. Serve. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 fresh placenta, prepared as above
1 tblspn butter
1 large can tomato puree
2 cans crushed pear tomatoes
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tblspn molasses
1 bay leaf
1 tblspn rosemary
1 tspn each of: salt, honey, oregano, basil, and fennel

Method: cut the placenta meat into bite-sized pieces, then brown quickly in the butter and olive oil. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 1-1.5 hours. Serve. Yummy!

Instead of cooking your placenta whole, you can dehydrate it and then add it to meals! The following method is extracted from an article entitled “Thinking About Eating Your Placenta?” by Susan James, which appeared in the winter 1996 issue of “The Compleat Mother”. It was discovered posted on a newsgroup noticeboard, so we cannot absolutely guarantee its authenticity, or that it is an actual verbatim account of the magazine article.

Method:

Cut off the cord and membranes.

Steam the placenta, adding lemon grass, pepper and ginger to the steaming water. The placenta is “done” when no blood comes out when you pierce it with a fork.

Cut the placenta into thin slices (like making jerky) and bake in a low-heat oven (200-250 degrees F), until it is dry and crumbly (several hours).

Crush the placenta into a powder – using a food processor, blender, mortar and pestle, or by putting it in a bag and grinding it with rocks.

Put the powder into empty gel caps (available at drug and health food stores) or just add a spoonful to your cereal, blender drink, etc.

The recommended doses vary, some suggest up to 4 capsules a day, others just one. Perhaps the best advice is to take what makes you feel good.

It is also possible to have your placenta made into a homoepathic preparation contact www.ainsworths.com

This article has been written by Sejual Shah is a Hertfordshire, UK base practitioner. She works in person, by phone, and webcam with clients on over 4 continents. She loves seeing the joy her work brings to her clients. She can be contacted @ healthyinmind.com

Wanting to conceive a baby is a natural part of our growth and development as humans. However, many find starting their families difficult. Using controlled practices such as timing intercourse to ovulation can lead to a lot of stress for both parents and conceiving even the first baby becomes a nightmare instead of the anticipated joy.

Pregnancies attempted late in life are perceived in the medical field as difficult since a woman’s fertility declines heavily after her mid-30s. What many Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) practitioners, myself included, are finding is that these and other problems can be neutralised with tapping to enable a healthy conception leading all the way to realising that cherished birth of innocent joy.

The support I give is of help to both people in the relationship. Men’s stress levels and worries about conceiving are equally important as the problems a woman experiences as both parents need to be healthy to create a baby.

Common Problems with Fertility
The most common problems I encounter in my practice and have success in helping with EFT are:

• Unresolved grief about earlier miscarriages, stillbirths and traumatic loss of loved ones
• High stress levels
• Residual post-natal depression
• Previous problematic births
• Couple problems – relationship and communication issues.

This article will deal with the first two.

Unresolved Grief
Conceiving a child is an act of joy. When we are harbouring a deep-seated grief it is too far removed for the joy and happiness to come in. It is like the two sets of emotions are incompatible and as the grief has been there longer it stops the new possibilities from coming in.

This grief comes in so many shapes and forms. “Heather” was 44 and was still waiting to conceive her first child. She felt the pressure of not being able to, conceive. She had tried natural approaches and IVF, but nothing was working. When we talked about her personal history it quickly became evident that she’d never finished grieving over the loss of her beloved mother ten years before. She still had her mother’s ashes in a cupboard in the bedroom.

Very gently we tapped away the grief. We created emotional space so Heather could express all the things she never got to tell her mum before she passed away. Over several sessions Heather went through a gentle clearing process to lastingly let go of the grief. With this approach she was able to create mental space within herself to bring in new life. Four months ago she gave birth to a healthy set of twins that have brought countless joy and new opportunities for growth in her life.

Lasting grief often accompanies pregnancies lost before the baby reaches full term. One client shared, “I miscarried at ten weeks. The doctors just said it happens to everyone and that I should get over it”. Yet, in those ten precious weeks that same woman was already connecting from the heart with this longed-for baby. While it may have been as tiny as a beetle, that baby was still real and alive for her. If we can’t grieve properly over what could have been, then it’s difficult for us to make way for what we wish to realise.

It’s equally important to clear that grief over stillbirths, or other upsetting losses like losing a sibling when they were young.

High stress levels
Stress can be a huge barrier to conceiving. Stress can come from high-pressured jobs, draining situations in our lives, and feeling that we must be perfect at everything we do.

Some of the women who come to me for help have very full active lives. They feel empowered by their successes – and they have every right to – but nobody has yet taught them how they can release the accompanying stress that constantly builds up. Keeping up their work successes turns sour – they’ve fought for their career progression but now it is cruelly taking away a cherished goal.

In this situation, I help them address their work stress so that instead of constantly fire-fighting, their bodies can relax and get on with conceiving.

“Diane” came from a background where her parents were proud of her high-flying achievements. She had gone further than her brothers and sisters in her studies and was a well-paid executive. That hard work attitude had helped her create huge success, but hard work didn’t pay off when it came to conceiving. She and her husband had been trying for years and wondered if the time had come to give up. But it wasn’t in her nature to quit – hadn’t she fought for each promotion?

Initially she came to see me for help in moving up the next rung of the ladder up to the boardroom. She saw the glass ceiling and was determined to crack it.

Diane and I worked to help her relax in these work situations and so have more energy to put into her work. She learned to thrive without high levels of stress in her demanding role by using EFT in sessions with me, and then learning how to do basic structured tapping exercises outside of our work. Her body realised she didn’t need to feel stressed all the time.

In that process of releasing the stress she conceived naturally and used our work to help her manage her still hectic schedule with the demands the growing baby was making on her physically, so that she could still nurture the foetus. Her baby son was born bouncingly healthy one year ago. With the work we had already done she was able to devise a healthy strategy for balancing her return to her career while enjoying motherhood in a balanced way.

EFT as a stress management tool can also support a man experiencing problems with sperm health as a result of a pressurized life-style.

Conclusion
There is a very complicated connection between our physical and emotional health. Many times the emotions we are carrying prevent the body from fulfilling its potential. By doing work on these core emotional issues we can see transformation in our physical health.

Just wanted to share with you all two amazing websites:

The Belly Project

Dr. Karen Rayne’s and Midwife Christy Tashjian’s Belly Project! Karen is a sex educator for parents and teenagers and Christy is a homebirth Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) currently working on her nurse practitioner degree. Both are located in Austin, Texas.

http://thebellyproject.wordpress.com/

Beautiful Cervix Project

A 25 year old woman who has never given birth wanted to better understand her menstrual cycle and the changes in her cervix throughout the month.  It shows how a  cervix might look different throughout the cycle

www.beautifulcervix.com/cervix-photo-galleries/photos-of-cervix/

Suzanne Colson’s

Biological Nurturing

Laid-back breastfeeding™ ~ Workshop

Enhancing breastfeeding support skills

“Going to the Next Level: Upgrading Your Breastfeeding Skills for the 21^st Century”

Tuesday 27th October 2009

Registration 9am for 9.30am prompt start

Venue: SIA House, 2 Trueman Place, Oldbrook, Milton Keynes, MK6 2HH

Cost: £50 to include buffet lunch

Limited places available, please send cheque payable to “Valerie Gommon”

Valerie Gommon, 19 New Road, Castlethorpe, Milton Keynes, MK19 7EH

More info: info@3shiresmidwife.co.uk

Please mention dietary requirements

I have just “appeared” on 3 Counties Radio to discuss a local news item.  A Sainsbury’s employee refused to sell local woman, Janet Lehain, unpasteuried cheddar because she was pregnant!

Whilst applauding the employee for pointing out the recommendation that pregnant women do not consume unpasteurised products I have to say that I believe they overstepped the mark by refusing to sell her the cheese!  The woman could have been buying the cheese for her husband and whatever happened to freedom of choice? 

I am a firm believer in Informed Choice, we are very cautious where pregnancy is concerned because although the risks are very low there could be serious implications for the baby SHOULD the mother contract food poisoning.

The Department of Health guidance in early pregnancy is to be extra careful with hygiene; food poisoning is bad news for your baby. They suggest that women don’t eat any unpasteurised foods – most food is pasteurised, but some speciality milks, cheeses/diary are not.

The recommendation is to avoid moulded or veined cheeses and pate/salami. Eggs should be well cooked not runny. Fruit and vegetables should be washed prior to eating. It is suggested that you don’t eat swordfish or marlin and limit the consumption of “oily” fish to twice weekly. Sea food should be cooked not raw. Liver is not recommended for pregnant women.

Whilst pregnant the current recommendation is not to drink alcohol at all, and it is better to limit the amount of caffeine you take (tea, coffee, cola and fizzy drinks), and obviously it would be wise to stop smoking and avoid any “recreational” drugs prior to getting pregnant.

We are still evaluating the evidence regarding eating peanuts in pregnancy – the best current advice is that if you have nut allergies in the family it may well be best to avoid eating nuts in pregnancy; it there are no nut allergies then use your own instinct and judgement as to whether you feel safe to eat nuts (bearing in mind they are a good source of protein, particularly if you are vegetarian or vegan).

Having made a huge list of foods to avoid, you are encouraged to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables (aim for at least five a day), plenty of protein (at every meal if you possibly can) and plenty of iron rich foods (red meat, pulses, green vegetables).

You can read articles I have written at:

www.birthindex.co.uk/Planningababy.pdf and www.birthindex.co.uk/SOYOUAREPREGNANT!.pdf or

http://midwifevalerie.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=59

http://midwifevalerie.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=64