Haley or Matthew's Story: Planned Pregnancy, A
There is much a woman needs to learn prior to conceiving a child and during the 38 weeks of pregnancy. For example, the risk of neural tube defect is reduced by taking folic acid in the pre conceptual and early conceptual period. Good nutrition and ...
Haley or Matthew's Story: Nutrition During Pregnancy
Women often become more health conscious when they become pregnant, and that translates into a more healthy diet. Undernourished pregnant women have a higher risk of miscarriage, premature birth, and babies with birth defects. From a physical point-...
Haley or Matthew's Story: Labor and Delivery: First Stage
The first part of labor is cervical dilation, rhythmic contractions of the uterine muscles that cause the cervix to dilate and efface. Expectant parents Tracey and J.P. leave for the hospital when her contractions are only minutes apart, but it soon...
Haley or Matthew's Story: Impact of Stress During Pregnancy
Reading Greek poetry or listening to classical music may not influence the developing brain of a fetus, but controlling stress certainly does. Research shows that women who experience stress during their pregnancy have a greater risk of having a bab...
Haley or Matthew's Story: Labor and Delivery: A Caesarian Section
At the end of the first stage, during the period of labor called transition, contractions occur every 1 to 2 minutes. In the second stage of labor uterine contractions move the baby into the birth canal. But in some cases there are complications, as...
The Growing Years: Early Motor Development
As the infant's muscles and nervous systems mature, more complex skills emerge...first sitting, then standing, and walking. The brain uses the sensory feedback it receives to guide the development of movement. The age at which a baby acquires variou...
Final Chapter: Prolonging Life: A Patient's Choice
Some patients faced with a terminal illness do not want to prolong an existence that to them is subhuman. In the 1970s and '80s the medical profession felt it was their professional and legal obligation to do everything possible to prolong life. Cou...
Final Chapter: Children with Terminal Illnesses
Studies reveal that children who are given information about their terminal condition fare better than those who are shielded from such information. Sandra McDonald, head of Outreach, Inc., talks about a ten-year-old boy who was diagnosed with A.I.D...
Final Chapter: Helping People Through the Dying Process
The subject of death is often as uncomfortable for doctors as the general public. Their focus is on healing and saving people; death is the enemy. There was a time when doctors did not always reveal that a patient's condition was terminal. Today pro...
Weighing In: Obesity in Childhood
Obesity is no longer confined to those who are middle aged or older. Increasingly patterns associated with obesity are found in the very young. From a health perspective, most fat babies grow up to be fat adults. Stopping the progression of obesity ...