Читать книгу You: Having a Baby: The Owner’s Manual to a Happy and Healthy Pregnancy - Michael Roizen F. - Страница 46

There aren’t a whole lot of products out there that really tout their placental benefits. It’s not like yogurt containers, cereal boxes, or jugs of OJ contain such marketing gems as “100% Placentally Fortified!” or “Boost Your Blastocyst!” So you may be unaware that there are indeed things that you can do to improve placental function. Above all, you want to maintain good arterial health yourself—namely, by doing many of the things we list below. And by avoiding exposing yourself to toxic substances, you won’t risk transmitting them through the placenta to your baby.

Follow the Basics. Several things have been shown to contribute to optimal placental function. Not surprisingly, they’re also good for a healthy pregnancy in many other ways. They are:

• Don’t diet during pregnancy.

• Get your extra calories with extra protein.

• Exercise wisely.

• Don’t smoke.

• Avoid exposure to high altitudes.

• Avoid exposure to potentially toxic chemicals such as pesticides.

Follow These Med Rules. On page 342, you’ll see our guidelines for specific medications that have been deemed safe or unsafe to take during pregnancy (most are generally okay). While we recommend using that list as a guide, we also believe that you should follow these basic principles:

• Don’t self-prescribe meds. Any pill you want to pop, run it by your obstetrician or midwife first.

• Don’t stop any medications you’re currently taking. The issue of medicine is often a risk-versus-benefit decision. If you’re at high risk of developing a complication by not taking your medication, you may very well be putting your baby in harm’s way by stopping.

• Don’t rely on the average internet site. It’s easy to get caught up in message boards and the thousands of health sites out there. When it comes to medical info, you need to make sure the source is reliable and respectable. Three sites we recommend for cutting-edge updates: www.motherisk.org, www.realage.com, and www.drugsafetysite.org.

• While your doc will advise you on medication doses, you should know that you may need a higher dose as your pregnancy progresses, because the rate that your body breaks down drugs while pregnant differs from the nonpregnant state.

Note: If you’re interested in complementary medicine, choose a provider who shares your perspective on herbs and other natural remedies; you’ll find our recommendations for herbal remedies that seem to work for some pregnancy-related conditions throughout the book.

Get BP Under Control. If you have high blood pressure and take medication for it, be sure to continue doing so. Why? As you just learned, a mother’s blood pressure greatly influences how blood, nutrients, oxygen, and immune cells reach the fetus and also can affect the surface area available for efficient exchanges to occur. Any excessive fluctuations, both high and low, can negatively influence that process and even contribute to conditions that your child will have as an adult (remember the thrifty phenotype in chapter 1). Follow our general prescription principles from above, but always play close attention to what your ob/gyn or midwife tells you about your BP (for reasons we’ll also cover in chapter 9). Your optimal numbers are lower than 115/75 mm Hg (millimeters of mercury), but BP varies greatly during pregnancy, which is why you’ll want to work closely with your provider to establish ideal ranges for you.

Chill. You hear it all the time: Stress is detrimental to health, regardless of gender. One reason why it’s a problem in pregnancy is that anxiety depletes the immune system. And in a situation that’s already fragile because of the immune changes your body’s going through, the added stress of, well, stress compromises your immunity even further. Moreover, stress puts you at risk of preeclampsia (high blood pressure during pregnancy) and increases your risk of going into preterm labor. Some recommendations:

• It’s a perfect time to try meditation and deep breathing. For detailed instructions, see www.realage.com.

• Find a surrogate worrier, someone who can sweat the small stuff. This is a great task for a husband, friend, or mom who insists on helping with something.

• Find a buddy who’s been through it all before. (Your fertilizing buddy doesn’t count.) Her experience and assurances will help take the edge off during some of your more worrisome moments.

More stress-busting tips in chapter 6 and in our Flight Plan, p. 282.

Lie on Your Side. We know you’re not going to lie on your stomach as your belly grows and you enter the second trimester, but we do want you to avoid lying flat on your back. That’s because when you do so, the weight of your uterus compresses the blood vessels that are feeding the placenta, creating a drought in that blood lake we talked about. Lying on your left side is better than lying on your right side because it allows more blood to flow to the uterus. Either is better than lying on your back, because when you do, you also compress a large vein called the vena cava. The pressure from that compression reduces the flow of blood back to your heart as if you were bending a water hose, and that decreases the blood flow to your uterus and to your baby.

Decide on Vaccines. When you’re in an immunosuppressed state such as pregnancy, vaccinations may compromise your immune system further. The best course of action is to get updated on your immunizations three or more months before you get pregnant. We recommend that you avoid all vaccines during pregnancy, if you can. The one exception is the flu vaccine, which current data suggest has no adverse effect. The flu is more serious in pregnant women than in nonpregnant women and is the leading cause of hospitalization during pregnancy. Plus, serious flu symptoms can compromise the amount of oxygen mom and her baby are getting. Ask for the vaccine that does not use thimerosal (mercury) as a preservative. It’s slightly more expensive (between $4 and $8 more) but worth the price.