Week 26 of your Pregnancy
Coping with bed rest
Most pregnancies are healthy and allow you to be active. Sometimes, however, complications require a mother to be inactive instead. If your doctor says you must rest-even staying in bed until you deliver-to prevent premature labor or another possible danger to you and your baby, take heart. Many women and their families have found ways to cope.
How much bed rest a mom might need varies. In strict bed rest, a mother must remain in bed at all times. In some cases, she is allowed to get up to go to the bathroom. And in limited bed rest, a mother may get up for part of the day or take meals with her family. Some women are asked simply to take it easy, to avoid walking, lifting, or standing for long periods.
In any of these situations, you’ll need support from family, friends, and neighbors. If you are a single mom, consider asking a friend or relative to stay with you for the time of your bed rest. Let people know how they can help, and why it is so important for you to limit your activity. You can also find valuable support online. Many websites include message boards where you can communicate with other women in the same situation. You can share concerns and advice on adjusting to horizontal living.
If bed rest is prescribed for you, hang in there-it will help you to reach your goal: a healthy baby.
Flu shots
The Centers for Disease Control recommends the flu shot for women who will be pregnant during flu season. Call your doctor to make an appointment sometime between September and December, before flu season gets underway.
Your Baby’s Development
* Approximate length 14 inches, weight 2 to 2.5 pounds.
* Babies will kick most frequently in the seventh month, usually at night and early morning.
* Her eyelids have opened.
* Her lungs are capable of breathing in air. The alveoli begin secreting “surfactant,” which keeps them from collapsing.
* At this point, she is only taking in small breaths of fluid in the womb, but she could survive and breathe outside the womb with medical assistance.
Parenting Q&A
Q:“According to one of my books, mothers discover that their babies who hiccupped a lot in utero may be sensitive to certain foods. This discovery on fetal hiccups enabled them to figure out the particular foods causing the baby’s colic. Is there medical truth to this?”
A:Hiccups are a poorly understood reflex involved with diaphragm stimulation and intestinal function. Common and harmless, fetal hiccups can be felt by a mother as a slight, rhythmic thump, thump, thump in her uterus. Since your baby is not using its intestinal tract for nutrition yet, your diet is not likely to be a factor.
Research Briefs from The Parent Review
Want a shorter labor? Try walking
Spending the first stage of labor lying down in bed has become common practice in the developed world. Could being in upright position during this phase have an effect on total labor time? To find out, researchers reviewed 21 studies, involving more than 3,700 pregnant women. One group was randomly assigned to walk around, stand, sit, kneel, or squat in early labor, and the other group to lie in bed. Among women who maintained an upright position, the first stage of labor was about an hour shorter compared to those who reclined. In addition, mothers who started their labor upright were about 17% less likely to require an epidural for pain relief, though there was no difference in the use of other pain medications. The authors conclude that women in the first stage of labor should be encouraged to take whatever position they find most comfortable-and may wish to avoid long periods of lying down.
Source: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (2009): doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD003934.pub2.
Courtesy: University of Virginia Health System
Tags: bed rest, flu shots, hiccups, pregnancy, shorter labor, walking, week 26