Emma Howard: Now if you’re pregnant and watching this, you’ll know that pregnancy brings whether it a whole host of unfortunate niggles from constipation to varicose veins, pregnant women endure it all. Sue McDonald from the Royal College of Midwives is here to help you through some of these ailments. Welcome Sue.
Sue McDonald: Thank you.
Emma Howard: Now before I’ve to say that you’re very, very unlucky if you got all of those things in one pregnancy but you usually get a few problems. But tell me so much about the people when’re suffering, it’s really quite awful, isn’t it?
Sue McDonald: Well, that’s precisely it is because as your pregnancy is meant to be a fantastic, exciting, wonderful time and people don’t necessarily tell you about the so called minor disorders which in all textbooks the Midwives and Obstetricians use this as minor disorders. But of course for women, it’s a major misery sometimes and yes you’re right, women don’t get all of those things but they might get one or two and those are enough to make you feel miserable.
Emma Howard: Yes because some of them can dominate through out.
Sue McDonald: They can.
Emma Howard: Let’s start off with a very beginning of pregnancy because we've had a text in from one of our viewers who says, I was due my first baby on Friday nothing yet. So you’re probably watching us now whiling away the time. She asks you, have you any tips to get me started that aren’t old wives tales. Last thing, I want is sex and I don’t eat spicy food. So and she is in a very common position, doesn’t she? It’s her first baby later than the 40 weeks, she is just waiting, what can she do to help move it along?
Sue McDonald: Well, the old wives tale issue, actually having a sex isn’t an old wives tale. It actually will sometimes help labor, the onset of labor.
Emma Howard: And that’s because there is something in the sperm.
Sue McDonald: That’s right.
Emma Howard: What is it?
Sue McDonald: Within the semen, there are actually prostaglandins which are naturally occurring substance which actually are released around the key places in the body. And one of them is around the cervix which is the part of the body you want to stop having some action and opening and starting the labor. But actually if you’re not ready to go into labor even having sex, isn’t going to do the trick. Spicy foods, well, some people like to have spicy food, some people don’t. It doesn’t generally have very much an effect. I now I’ve had women who said well I try castor oil during my – when I wanted to start myself but --
Emma Howard: Spooning it into your mouth.
Sue McDonald: There are all sorts of different ways of having castor oil.
Emma Howard: You can take in capsules?
Sue McDonald: You can or you put it in like a sort of sandwich. You have a fruit juice then a bit of castor oil then fruit juice. The side effect is that sometimes it will help you go into labor but often you will get diarrhea from that because obviously castor oil does have that effect on you. So I mean really the best thing to do is to make use of the time that last few weeks, really use the time to get rested, in between being rested make sure you’re eating properly, get some exercise, go swimming because those will help you really get toned up for labor and delivery and help you.
Emma Howard: Oh, you’re saying in round about way that actually there is nothing you can do that when your body is ready, it’s ready and if it’s not don’t try and make it.
Sue McDonald: Alas, alas!
Emma Howard: Alas! You’re saying.
Sue McDonald: Because the textbooks say 40 weeks, we don’t know. Some women will go into labor 39 weeks of pregnancy, other women 42 weeks. The important thing is that the well being of you and your baby and what will happen after your due date is that you’ll be monitored to make sure all is well. And if it’s seems the baby and maybe the placenta is not working as effectively then things like induction might be discussed. But obviously people don’t want to interfere if you’re normal and healthy and your baby is normal and healthy.
Emma Howard: But they do want to interfere come about 42 weeks, don’t they. Certainly, in this country they feel that there could be a problem with the placenta not working as efficiently you said placenta breakdown, what is that about?
Sue McDonald: I’m not sure that you call it placenta breakdown but after about 42 weeks, the placenta isn’t quite as efficient and especially if you’re someone who smokes, that’s not going to be very helpful or your placenta isn’t that healthy to start with but that would with monitored and will be identified during the pregnancy anyway. But that's why people will expect you to come to clinic or expect one to see you during the last bits of pregnancy to make sure that the placenta is working effectively.
Emma Howard: But in this country, once you’ve reached your 4o weeks plus another two weeks there is pressure on you to start an induction process. Isn’t it?
Sue McDonald: Well, it’s not the pressure maybe -- sometimes the pressure comes from you yourself as a woman by 42 weeks--
Emma Howard: Because you have had enough. You want to see this baby.
Sue McDonald: You’re feeling like an elephant and you want it to be over. Sometimes women actually put pressure on the obstetrician or midwives, so surely I should be induced and sometimes there might be an indication that you do need to be induced so it is taken on very much on an individual basis as it should be.
Emma Howard: That’s quite right and that’s the way it’s moving these days, isn’t it? That we’re looking at the individual much more than actually having a formula because people do things at different times. Lots of ailments listed here, we’ve got viewers with problems. Let’s talk about heartburn. People think does it sound very much? Oh, I’ve got a bit of heartburn but that could be absolute agony for a pregnant woman.
How is it caused, what’s the problem, why do we suddenly have what’s considered bad indigestion? Although, it’s a lot more painful than that; I know I experienced it was really something else, that’s to do with your ligaments going soft isn’t it?
Sue McDonald: Well, partly. The pregnancy hormones that are helping everything get ready for the pregnancy actually do have an effect on things like blood vessels and also different muscles of the body. So therefore the little sphincter between the food passage or esophagus and the stomach
Emma Howard: It’s like a little flap.
Sue McDonald: It’s more like a sort of muscle and it just closes a little bit lose during pregnancy not for all women but for some.
Obviously, as your uterus is growing, there is kind of less space of your stomach. So if you’re used to having a big meal and you carry on eating big meals, you will tend to get a bit of reflux of the acid content of the stomach back into the esophagus, into the food passage which makes you very miserable when you’re pregnant.
Emma Howard: Can you take something for it?
Sue McDonald: You can take all the usual sort of Renee type products.
Emma Howard: Because I know of a woman who had a bottle in every room in her house, she suffered so badly. And the little size bottle for her handbag as well. So when you suffer from it in pregnancy, it can really overtake things?
Sue McDonald: Absolutely.
Emma Howard: Or as you say you might not get that all.
Sue McDonald: No, not all women get it. You need to avoid things like very spicy foods, very fatty foods and try and make sure you’re eating regularly and not too big meals. So small and regular is a good meal, and if you get something like heartburn and sleeping a little bit upright at night.
Emma Howard: That can help you physically.
Sue McDonald: That can help. Yeah.
Emma Howard: You can buy these fantastic V-shaped cushions now for pregnant women. They can really helps to support you?
Sue McDonald: Absolutely.
Emma Howard: And again, going right back to the beginning of pregnancy when hopefully or you’re going to feel sick for that first period of about 12-13 weeks. I know that there are women who feel sick for longer and it can go five months maybe even the whole way through. But we’re going to be positive and imagine that it is only for that short period at the beginning. In terms of eating little and often do you believe that something that can help?
Sue McDonald: It’s very helpful. The thing about – we always call it morning sickness and women call it morning sickness.
Emma Howard: I don’t know why.
Sue McDonald: But actually a lot of women get it in the evening or also around the day.
Emma Howard: Throughout the day.
Sue McDonald: It can be very debilitating.
Emma Howard: And the other thing you’re not always sick, you could have the so called morning sickness and feel dreadful but never actually vomit at all.
Sue McDonald: That’s right.
Emma Howard: What about, again I’m coming back to this last question about old wives tales, do you think it’s an old wives tale that ginger helps? And often people talk about that relieving sickness or do you think these things do work?
Sue McDonald: It depends. Some women find ginger very helpful and there is sort of crystallized ginger, it can be very helpful. We don’t know fully how these things work but certainly having something very intense not too sickly, sometimes going to help you to feel less nauseatic, so the crystallized ginger.
Emma Howard: Do you think it’s a much of experimenting then to see what suits you?
Sue McDonald: Absolutely.
Emma Howard: You’ll find something to settle your stomach.
Sue McDonald: Making sure if you get it in the morning, sometimes having a couple of biscuits, you have them in the tin by your bed, just have little nibble of the biscuit before you get up. Because sometimes if you have had your suffer not very late in the night before --
Emma Howard: Yes, it’s a long way.
Sue McDonald: Before you wake up your blood sugar is very low and you feel quivery and bit sick. Having a few little biscuits will actually bring your blood sugar up a little bit. Then you’ll get up.
Emma Howard: I found that fantastic. Somebody had told me about that one and that really did work me. My sickness was often about an empty stomach. So I needed to eat all the time, perfect excuse.
Sue McDonald: Well, it’s especially because I think especially nowadays working women are used to getting out, rushing off to work and being busy mum, busy whatever. They don’t necessarily look after themselves and this is the time you have to look after yourself and think about well, I need to feed myself, have a little breakfast and not skip breakfast, not skip the lunch, not skip something.
Emma Howard: It’s not just about you and your eating problem. Brilliant advice. Well, if you have any questions about pregnancy, health or anything, please send them to the Baby Channel. You could ring the number on the screen or text the word BABY followed by your question to 82540 and we’ve got a lots more questions to get through here.
So we go on here about backache, especially lower back. Now this is a really interesting question because when I went through my first pregnancy, my back didn’t bother me. The second time around, I had real, real problems. Somebody suggested that it might be to do with picking up a toddler as well as being pregnant. But again, first time around, you might not get something, second time around, you might, is back pain something that can happen to you at any stage of pregnancy and what do we do to protect ourselves?
Sue McDonald: It can happen anytime and a lot of problems with the back is about posture and about even something simple like getting in and out of bed or in and out of the bath because quite often when you get into bed and you’re non-pregnant you just hop into bed and just lie down.
When you’re pregnant, you need to look after the ligaments and bones, muscles of your back.
Emma Howard: Again, they become softer.
Sue McDonald: Of course with the hormones -- so you need to sit on the edge of the bed at a right angle and then lie down, put your shoulder up down and your legs up and then turn yourself around to lie on your back, if you’re going to lie on your back.
Emma Howard: I never did that as well.
Sue McDonald: Then when you get out of bed in morning, same thing. You turn on your side, and then swing your legs over as you push yourself upright and you support -- you find your back is much better supported in that way. The issues about lifting up toddlers that’s absolutely -- you have to take care of your back and do all the things you should be doing anyway like keeping your back straight and then lifting.
Emma Howard: I wished I had known. But busy mums second time around often say what else I’m going to do, I have to look after this child. It’s like I know I’m pregnant. But you kind of abuse your body more second time around. Don’t you?
Sue McDonald: You do and especially if you don’t have very much support from people to help you at home but certainly to look after your back.
Emma Howard: Yes and be aware they’re just picking up your child. So maybe an alternative will be to come down to that level and deal with the situation without picking them up.
Sue McDonald: Absolutely.
Emma Howard: Something I wished I had known earlier, certainly. Somebody has emailed to say how can I stop stretch marks during pregnancy? Is it possible to stop stretch marks or again, are we’re going to get in there for that type of personal note?
Sue McDonald: Alas, you probably will get them. If you’ve got that sort of skin.
Emma Howard: Right.
Sue McDonald: Because it’s about the stretching of the skin. You can reduce the risk of getting stretch marks by not putting on weight quickly. So this is a time that you don’t take eat for two or three and you try not to put too much weight on. Moisturizing will help your skin’s tone but not to that level.
Emma Howard: Because there are thousands of products in the market.
Sue McDonald: Absolutely.
Emma Howard: There are thousands of them. They are more promising; the most beautiful taut skin. But a lot of times women can go through a whole pregnancy often and that we see these beautiful modeled bellies and they haven’t got a mark on them. And people will say that they didn’t put anything on. So do you think it’s worth investing in some kind of oil, it can make you feel a little more comfortable. Can’t it?
Sue McDonald: I think that’s the key there. It’s making your self feel well and pampered and using moisturizer for our own well being rather than trying to prevent stretch marks. I wouldn’t invest a huge amount of money in getting fancy stretch mark cream. I think there was one stretch mark cream which is available in Spain which they’re researching currently which suggests that the findings are quite positive but it is not available in the UK and it hasn’t being fully finished, the research has not fully finished anyway.
Emma Howard: Yes, I often think of them as battle scars there. You’re having a baby, you need to be sort of proud of them, maybe not with all the extra weight, you are not proud of that.
Sue McDonald: Well they and they do fade because they go so very well. As long as you got the weight off, after you’ve had your baby they do fade. So they’re not and sometimes they can look quite angry when they’re first there, very red but then they should fade to a sort of silvery.
Emma Howard: Brilliant news. Let’s talk about varicose veins. Oh, lucky us. Now on the leg cross, possibly like I’m conscious, I’m sitting here with my legs crossed which I probably shouldn’t be doing because that’s not very good for circulation, is it?
Sue McDonald: No, you’ll notice my legs are crossed in a different way.
Emma Howard: They are differently way -- a beautiful example of how you should be sitting. Why is it that we get varicose veins in pregnancy? I didn’t but lots and lots of women do then there are lots of other problems that the women do get. So again, is that lottery you get something, don’t get others. Why do varicose veins appear as a problem in pregnancy?
Sue McDonald: Well, again we’re back to the hormones of pregnancy which are dilating the blood vessels and some of them are the veins of the leg. They are more common in the leg but you can get them in the vulva, you can get them as hemorrhoids and so wherever they are you might get them and there might be a familial tendency. So if your mum had varicose veins on her legs, you may get them as well.
Emma Howard: Well, they go or is it once you’ve got them, you’ve got them?
Sue McDonald: If they appear during the pregnancy, quite often after the pregnancy hormones go back to normal or the hormones get back to normal after you’ve had the baby, six seven, eight weeks afterwards generally they might go. Sometimes they don’t.
If you’ve done all the things like avoiding putting too much weight on, done some exercise.
Emma Howard: You probably don’t cross your legs like me, uncross them.
Sue McDonald: Don’t cross your legs and also when you’re resting, take the opportunity to put your feet up because that’s going to help the Venus return back to your heart is much better.
Emma Howard: So if you are on a sofa, you can sort of wrap one of the cushions and put your feet up on that.
Sue McDonald: You could do or you could have a chaise lounge.
Emma Howard: Well, we are focusing on that, aren't we, we would all love a chaise in the room away from the children. Absolutely, Sue, we have run out of time. Fascinating, and hope we’ll see you again to talk through more problems and it’s lovely to have a Midwife come on the program. Thank you.
Sue McDonald Okay, my pleasure.
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