Читать книгу Blooming Birth: How to get the pregnancy and birth you want - Lucy Atkins - Страница 21

Obstetrician Lucy Chappell says, ‘As a general rule, simply think about the health care system of the country you are going to and whether you would like to be in it, should any complications arise. Avoid islands – where you can’t easily get to a hospital – and developing countries where possible.’

VACCINATIONS | This is a legitimate worry. Some ‘live’ vaccines, like those against chickenpox are unwise to have when pregnant; others such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis A, and tetanus are OK for pregnant women who are at risk of getting these diseases. Talk to your doctor about vaccinations if you’ve had them before you knew you were pregnant, or if you are thinking of having them before travelling.

AIR POLLUTION | Thousands of healthy babies are born each year in inner London, one of Europe’s most polluted areas. Books will warn you about lead in traffic fumes, but really, if you live in an urban area, there’s not much you can do about this short of ceasing to breathe or wearing a Michael Jackson mask. City life is not going to harm your unborn baby. If it did, half the babies in Hammersmith would have birth defects.

PESTICIDES IN FOOD | You will probably hear, at some point, that you should eat only organic food when pregnant or you will poison your unborn child with pesticides. Some women have the money to do this. Most of us, however, don’t. The vast majority of us eat normal supermarket food when up the duff and our babies emerge just fine. According to the UK Government’s 2002 Committee on Toxicity, pregnant or breastfeeding women are unlikely to be any more vulnerable to the ‘cocktail’ effect of low-level pesticides in food than anyone else. You should, however, wash fruit and vegetables thoroughly. If you peel fruit, by the way, you will reduce the vitamin and fibre content.

BENDING AND LIFTING | Your midwife or health visitor will be able to give you tips on how to avoid back strain, what you should and should not lift, and how to cope when you have to carry bigger children or toddlers. It’s handy to pretend that you can’t lift anything at all, so that your partner has to do all the supermarket shopping etc., but it is fine for a pregnant woman to lift moderate weights (i.e. a shopping bag or two) from the car to the house. The main problem is back strain, so bend from the knee rather than your back when lifting. Having said that, most mothers of more than one child have, at some point, been forced to wrestle a howling, kicking, 30lb toddler out of the toyshop/supermarket/playground while heavily pregnant with no bad consequences (other than to our mental health). The basic rule is: if it’s heavy, try to avoid lifting it, and if you have to lift it, try to lift it with a good posture and try not to lift it above waist level. A physiotherapist-run class at your hospital will give you tips for bending and lifting. You can also divide your shopping into smaller, lighter bags: more trips, in general, are better than heavier bags.

HOT BATHS | The baby inside you does not have a temperature regulation of its own so if you get overheated your baby can’t do anything about it. For this reason, hot tubs, saunas and Jacuzzis are not a good idea in pregnancy as they can raise your temperature too high for too long (above 39C/102F) which may affect your baby’s heart rate. Normal baths (unless you go mad with the hot tap and sit there sweltering for hours) will do you and the baby no harm (and probably some good, as you’ll relax).