Every parent-to-be hopes for a healthy baby. But these dreams often are accompanied by moments of worry. What if the baby has a serious or untreatable health problem? What would I do? Would it be my fault?
Concerns like these are completely natural. Fortunately, though, a wide array of prenatal tests for pregnant women can help to reassure them and keep them informed throughout their pregnancies.
It’s common for many women, especially first-time mothers, to watch their baby’s due date come and go without so much as a contraction. The farther away from the expected delivery date (called the EDD) you get, the more anxious you may become. You may start to feel like a ticking time bomb. You may wonder — is this baby ever going to come?
Late pregnancy can be challenging — you may feel large all over, your feet and back may hurt, you might not have the energy to do much of anything, and you’re beyond ready to meet the little one you’ve nurtured all this time. Which is why waiting a little longer than you’d expected can be particularly hard.
Gone are the days when women had no choice but to literally scream through labor and delivery without any medications to ease the pain. Now, techniques like epidurals can make an otherwise very painful experience more calm, controlled, and even comfortable.
Of course, many women hope to get through childbirth without having to ask for medications. But once labor starts, it’s common — and completely understandable — for a woman to change her mind and request some sort of relief to make things easier or, at least, more bearable. No matter how prepared you are, physically and mentally, giving birth is hard.
Every pregnant woman hopes for a short labor and delivery with no complications — manageable contractions, some pushing, then a beautiful baby — but it doesn’t always work out that way.
These days, almost 30% of all babies in the United States are delivered via cesarean section (C-section). In fact, there’s a lot of debate and concern about their increasing number, with some health professionals wondering how many are medically necessary. Federal officials have even set a goal of reducing the cesarean rate to 15% by the year 2010.
If you are having a child for the first time, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by questions, fears, and just not knowing what to expect. Many new parents find that birthing classes can really help calm their worries and answer many questions.
These classes cover all kinds of issues surrounding childbirth including breathing techniques, pain management, vaginal labor, and cesarean labor. They can help prepare you for many aspects of childbirth: for the changes that pregnancy brings, for labor and delivery, and for parenting once your baby is born.