Category Archives: Pregnancy

September 9: Fetal Alcohol Awareness Day

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September 9 is Fetal Alcohol Awareness Day. At 9 a.m. the bells of the St. Augustine Cathedral in downtown Tucson will ring, so we can remember on the ninth hour of the ninth day of the ninth month not to drink alcohol during the nine months of pregnancy.

Fetal alcohol syndrome is entirely preventable.

I became aware of fetal alcohol syndrome the way many parents do — by dealing with a child affected by a mother’s drinking while pregnant. I had to learn about it to parent my son, who had come to me when he was 7 years old, and who, in his teens, had regressed in his emotional and cognitive functioning. I needed to understand the outbursts that resulted in holes punched or kicked in the walls; broken mirrors, broken windows, broken china; stolen jewelry, my winter jacket that I saw walking down the street worn by his friend, who had given money for it; the daily swearing and the inability to understand that his behavior had consequences.

What is fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)?

Fetal alcohol syndrome is the leading cause of IQ scores below 70 in this country (though most people with FAS have normal intelligence), and is entirely preventable. You have probably seen ads talking about the importance of not drinking during pregnancy. But it is not only women of childbearing age who need to be educated. Doctors, especially ob/gyns and pediatricians, teachers, and social workers — everyone who works with children, in fact — need to learn about the effects of prenatal exposure to alcohol. Also judges, probation officers, and others working in the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems need to be educated; most of them have quite a bit of contact with the victims of fetal alcohol exposure, whether diagnosed or not. Continue reading →

STD Awareness: Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Pregnancy

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Every month since January 2011, we’ve been sharing installments of our STD Awareness series, and each month, we’ve encouraged you to protect yourself from sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) by using dental dams and condoms. But what if you’re trying to get pregnant? In that case, you’re probably not using condoms! However, it is very important that partners know their STD status — being screened and treated for STDs prior to pregnancy is a good idea for your health, and can protect your future baby.

If you and a partner are trying to get pregnant, you might consider being screened for STDs together.

When present during pregnancy, certain STDs can have negative health effects for you or your future baby (including preterm labor, stillbirth, low birth weight, pneumonia, certain infections, blindness, and liver disease), especially if they are not cured or treated in time. Receiving prenatal care can help prevent these problems, so it is important to be screened and treated for STDs prior to or early in your pregnancy.

During pregnancy, the immune system undergoes changes, which are probably necessary to ensure that the body doesn’t reject the fetus — normally, the immune system recognizes non-self cells as potential pathogens and attacks. These immune system changes might make a pregnant person more susceptible to disease. Latent viral infections, like genital warts or herpes, might come out of dormancy. Additionally, anatomical changes lead to a larger exposed area of the cervix, which is potentially more vulnerable to initial infections. Continue reading →

A Spotlight on Folic Acid

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A cup of cooked lentils contains 358 micrograms of folate.

In the late 1920s, the London School of Medicine for Women graduated a brilliant student named Lucy Wills. This newly minted physician embarked on a trip to Bombay to investigate reports of anemic female laborers whose condition seemed to be exacerbated by childbirth. Thinking the anemia could be a sign of a nutritional deficiency, she fed her patients Marmite, which at the time was a fad among British and Australian health nuts. It seemed to help, and because she didn’t know which chemicals in Marmite were responsible for her patients’ improvement, she called that unknown ingredient the Wills factor — which we now know is folic acid.

Prenatal folic-acid supplements are thought to prevent 50 to 75 percent of neural tube defects.

January 8 marked the start of Folic Acid Awareness Week. Folic acid is essential in cell division, so we need it in order to grow or simply to repair damaged tissues. It is especially important that anyone who might become pregnant consumes at least 400 micrograms of folic acid daily, as it can help prevent certain types of birth defects.

Neural tube defects, including anencephaly and spina bifida, occur in about 1 in 1,000 births, and can affect an embryo when it is just a few weeks old, often before pregnancy is even detected. Anencephaly is an especially tragic and usually fatal condition in which an embryo fails to develop parts of its brain or skull. The prognosis for spina bifida is better — some people with spina bifida are unable to walk, while other cases are so mild that they might never be diagnosed. Continue reading →