Surviving the heat wave

Hazy, hot, humid… and possibly humungous if you’re pregnant. Ugh! Summer heat waves can be exceptionally tough on pregnant women. When pregnant, you can be extra sensitive to the harsh rays of the sun, to heat, to dehydration. Here are some tips on surviving nature’s torments.

- Stay inside in the air conditioning, but if you feel you must go to the beach, take a big umbrella with you and sit in its shade. Spritzing yourself with water from time to time may feel great and help cool you.
- Exercise in the cool of the day if you are doing something outside. Swimming is excellent, but if the air quality is bad or you have asthma, try to stay indoors.
- Slather on the sun block before going out, using an SPF of 30 or higher. Reapply it regularly – goopify!
- Wear a wide brimmed hat to protect not only your face, but ears and neck. Caps don’t protect as well.
- Wear sunglasses that block UVA and UVB rays, even with a hat.
- Wear light-weight, breathable, loose-fitting clothing.
- If you wear sandals to help keep your feet cool, be sure to keep suntan lotion on your feet. And put those piggies up for a rest whenever you can.
- Walk on the side of the street that has shade. (The sun is hottest between 10 AM and 4 PM so try to avoid going out then.)
- Drink water throughout the day. Carry a refillable water bottle with you and leave one in the car. Drinking slightly warm water is better than drinking no water. Sport drinks and OJ can help replace electrolytes that you may be sweating away. Remember, despite the heat, pregnant women just sweat more to begin with.
- Reduce your level of activity when heat and humidity are high. Now might be a good time to practice being a couch potato!
- If you do overheat, apply a cool damp cloth to your forehead and back of the neck. Ice cream is good for helping to lower your temp, but fruity pops are better.
- If you feel weak, dizzy, or lightheaded, or you’re overly thirsty, go indoors immediately. Drink some cool water or a sport drink and lie down. If you don’t feel better soon, call your health care provider.

Due Date Calculator

Pregnancy usually lasts 280 days (40 weeks) from the first day of the woman’s last menstrual period. Here’s a link to our interactive Due Date Calculator that will help you estimate the date your baby will arrive.

Remember, though, that this calculator is a general guide: every pregnancy is unique, and sometimes babies arrive sooner or later than expected. Always talk to your health care provider about your due date. And be sure you know the signs of preterm labor and what to do, just in case.

Study shows we can reduce unnecessary early deliveries

A study published today in Obstetrics & Gynecology shows that hospital-based quality improvement programs across many states can be remarkably effective at reducing early elective deliveries of babies.

The rate of elective early term deliveries (i.e., inductions of labor and Cesarean sections without a medical reason) in a group of 25 participating hospitals fell significantly from 27.8 percent to 4.8 percent during the one-year project period, an 83 percent decline.
The March of Dimes, which partly funded the study, calls the findings good news, because babies delivered before full-term are at increased risk of serious health problems and death in their first year of life.
“This quality improvement program demonstrates that we can create a change in medical culture to prevent unneeded early deliveries and give many more babies a healthy start in life,” says Bryan T. Oshiro, MD, of Loma Linda University School of Medicine and lead author of the study.
“Reducing unnecessary early deliveries to less than five percent in these hospitals means that more babies stayed in the womb longer, which is so important for their growth and development,” says Edward R.B. McCabe, MD, medical director of the March of Dimes. “This project saw a decrease in the proportion of babies born at 37 and 38 weeks and a corresponding increase in the 39-41 week range during the one-year period studied. Additional studies, perhaps over a longer period of time, could clarify whether such quality improvement programs can also bring down a hospital’s overall preterm birth rate.”
This was the first project of a collaborative with perinatal quality improvement advocates from state health departments, academic health centers, public and private hospitals, and March of Dimes chapters from the five most populous states in the country: California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Texas. These five states account for an estimated 38 percent of all births in the United States.
The March of Dimes urges hospitals, health care providers, and patients to follow the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists guidelines that if a pregnancy is healthy, to wait for labor to begin on its own. The final weeks of pregnancy are crucial to a baby’s health because many vital organs, including the brain and lungs, are still developing.
“A Multistate Quality Improvement Program to Decrease Elective Deliveries Before 39 Weeks,” by Dr. Oshiro and others, appears in the April 8 online edition of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Vol. 121, No. 5, May 2013.

Vaccinations during pregnancy

Some infections can harm you and your baby during pregnancy. This is why vaccinations are so important. They help protect your body from infection, and you pass this protection to your baby during pregnancy. This helps keep your baby safe during the first few months of life until he gets his own vaccinations.

Vaccinations also protect you from getting a serious disease that could affect future pregnancies. You probably got vaccinations as a child, but they don’t all protect you for your whole life. Over time, some childhood vaccinations stop working, so you may need what’s called a booster shot as an adult. Plus, there may be new vaccines that weren’t available when you were young, like the flu vaccine, recommended each year, or the Tdap vaccine that is recommended during each pregnancy. Talk to your health care provider to make sure all your vaccinations are up to date.

Not all vaccinations are safe to get during pregnancy. Here’s a link to a chart to help you know when you can get certain vaccinations if you need them. It includes the latest recommendations from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and from the CDC. Talk to your health care provider about vaccinations you need before, during or after pregnancy.