Pregancy
Welcome to Pregnancy !!
You are embarking on an lovely and incredible journey. This page and website will offer some information
about the some of the decisions and preparation you will have to make before your baby arrives.
Pregnancy
and Child birth preparation
Books
Pregnancy books are a great way to prepare and
understand the changes you go through during pregnancy.
These are some good books on pregnancy:
Child birth
classes
Child birth classes are
a good way to prepare for labor. A little education can help a lot in boosting
your confidence and help you take informed decisions.
Most hospitals offer
these. You can also take these classes from organizations like Lamaze, Bradley
etc or an independent instructor.
These classes cover:
- Biology of child birth
- Signs of labor and when to call the doctor
- Pain management techniques
- Different delivery types - natural, assisted and c-section
- Newborn care
- Child birth Plans
The
classes offered by the hospitals tend get full very quicky. So book you class in
advance. It’s best to take the class in the first half of your third trimester.
Labor Bag - What to carry to the hospital for Delivery
Make sure you pack your labor bag with below items. Labor bag must be prepared atleast 10-15 days before the due date.
- Personal identification and health insurance card.
- List of phone numbers for people you want to contact after the delivery.
- Camera and/or camcorder with film and batteries.
- Copy of your birth plan.
- Water bottles.
- Clothes for mother (You will probably need something that you fit into when you were 6 months pregnant)
- Clothes for baby.
- Slippers and socks
- Baby book
- Snacks
- Nursing bras and nursing pads
- Nursing pillow or boppy
- Blanket for baby
- Personal hygiene items required for a 2-4 day stay at the hospital (tooth brush, tooth paste, shampoo, brush etc.)
- Car seat
- Any books, music CDs, videos for labor and later
Buying Guide
Cord Blood banks
What is it Cord Blood?
Umbilical cord blood is up to 180mL of blood from a newborn baby that is returned to the neonatal circulation if the umbilical cord is not prematurely
clamped.
Earlier after the delivery the placenta and umbical cord were just discarded. However around 1970 it was discovered that umbilical cord blook could supply
same kinds of blood-forming stem cells as bone marrow donor. So the storing of the blood started.
What is a Cord blook bank ?
A cord blook bank may be a private enterprise or public medical agency that stores the cord blood.
Why do you need bank the cord blood ?
Some serious illnesses (such as certain childhood cancers, blood diseases, and immune system disorders) require radiation and chemotherapy treatments to kill
diseased cells in the body. Unfortunately, these treatments also kill many "good" cells along with the bad, including healthy stem cells that live in the
bone marrow.
Depending on the type of disease and treatment needed, some children need a bone marrow transplant. Blood-forming stem cells from the donor are transplanted
into the child who is ill, and those cells go on to manufacture new, healthy blood cells and enhance the child's blood-producing and immune system
capability.
What are my options ?
You can choose to store the cord blood in a bank and the cord blood is reserved for you. It can cost around $1000-$2000 for collection, kits, initial
processing etc. After that there is $100 fee for maintenance every year.
Another option is to donate the cord blood to a public cord blood bank. In this case, the cord blood is not reserved for you. This is free and the the bank
takes care of all the procedure. These public banks use it for research purposes or sell it to anybody who needs it.
Do you need to store in private bank ?
AAP recommends that if you dont have a history of disease in your family, you dont have to store the cord blood. Also it has not been proven that a child
will need his cord blood.
This transplant will only be helpful when the child is young, as blood forming cells in cord blood will be insufficient for a grown up.
