Top 5 Pregnancy Problems Pointing to Heart Disease

No doubt that pregnancy definitely hampers a woman's body. During this time, the heart rate increases and blood volume expands. As per the new research, the pregnancy complications may also lead to several heart diseases that may simmer for several years. However, doctors are well aware of this problem and provides complete guidance to pregnant ladies. 

Pregnancy can also be the early stress test for the heart and can even go up to the time of delivery. As per the report, it is cleared that pregnant women with problems often have the high risk of heart disease. So, pregnant women should check with Dr Max Mongelli to get the proper check-up and get out of heart risk if it is involved. Here are five complications  and concerns in pregnant women.

Pre-eclampsia: The report from experts also reveals that women who suffer from pre-eclampsia often experience a sudden increase in the blood pressure late during the pregnancy period. These women also have 2 to 3 folds of the risk of dying from heart disease before the age of 60 when compared to the women who are fit and fine. He also says that pre-existing condition also adds a risk of 6-fold for the heart problems in pregnant women. 

Gestational hypertension: During pregnancy, Gestational hypertension is defined as elevated blood pressure. Doctors also say that this problem usually resolves at the end of the pregnancy; however, it may hit back with subsequent pregnancies. 

Placental dysfunction: Past delivery data reflect that women with placental problems during the pregnancy often double the risk of heart problems and cardiac death. In addition, the risk of heart problem further increases if placental dysfunction also affects the overall growth and development of the baby. 

Low birth weight: Doctors say that women give birth to the low weight babies also have double the risk of heart attack even without the medical complications. 

Gestational diabetes: There are more chances of pregnant women developing diabetes during this period, and they are higher at risk for different heart diseases. 

If we see check the numbers, they are alarming and such women should always consult the experienced doctors. For this, Dr. Max Mongelli is the perfect option where doctors easily define the heart risk in particular women during pregnancy. They also suggest the best healthy diet, manages stress, exercise and sufficient sleep. It is easy to get the pre-alarm of such health issues in pregnant women and take precautions.

Dr Max Mongelli Important Tips for a Healthy Pregnancy

Having a baby is one of the most special feelings that any human being can ever experience.  Not only it is a happy moment but also a point  where women need to be extremely careful about their health.  The first thing about a healthy pregnancy is being educated about pregnancy.  Pregnancy is completely a new feeling that cannot be compared to anything else that human beings experience. Therefore, Dr Max Mongelli says that it is important that a couple gets educated together about the different cautious steps to be taken during the 9 months of carrying a baby.

Read on to find out some important pregnancy tips for to be mothers:

* Even when you are trying to conceive it is advisable to start taking prenatal vitamins.  Baby’s neutral cord, which becomes the brain and spinal cord later, develops within the first month of pregnancy.  So it is important that you keep the supply of essential nutrients like Folic acid, calcium and iron from the very start.  Prenatal vitamins are available at any drugstore.  You can gulp them down at night or with any light snack.   

* Staying active is one of the most important keys to a healthy pregnancy.  Exercise or walk for at least 15 to 20 minutes every day, even if it is at a normal pace it is extremely important.  Pilates, yoga, swimming class, and walking are also a great activity for pregnant women.  The aim should be a 30-minute exercise for at least 6 days a week.  If you really want to know how this will help, you must check out women reviews who say that their pregnancy was a Cakewalk just because they kept their Lifestyle active even during pregnancy.

* If it is your first child, there are chances that you might not know about immediate action during labour.  For this, Dr Max Mongelli suggests creating a birth plan.  Your birth plan can include questions like who do you want to be present during the delivery,  what are the kind of procedures that you want to completely avoid,  what are the special clothes that you would like to wear,  what is the list of possible complications and finally what kind of position will you prefer for delivery.

Teen Issues – Teen Pregnancy and Complications

Apart from the moral dilemma identified with teen pregnancy, it also is bad for both the mother and the child in numerous ways. The most rampant problem with teen pregnancy is a low-weighted-baby. Dr. Max Mongelli say that young mothers laying between the age group of 10 to 19 are likely to deliver babies with low birth weight, then older mothers with age groups of 20 to 24. 

It’s not a surprise now, how much risk an underweight infant is at. There are a number of bodily ailments which may catch up to them, like weak lungs, brain and heart functionality. These problems might surface in the new future. To measure, an underweight baby would be the one who weighs less than 5.5 lbs. Here are a few other problems manifested by teen pregnancy-

Premature Birth-
Teen mothers have a higher risk involved in premature delivery. Babies who are born early are at the pinnacle of infant deaths today. Research convey, mothers less than 20 are more likely to deliver a premature baby than a woman in their 20’s or early 30’s. 

Anemia-
Anemia is the condition caused by the deficiency of iron in one’s blood. The ailment is marked by remarkably low levels of red blood cells in the patient’s blood. Sadly, it is a serious condition and is more likely to develop in teen pregnant women. Anemia during pregnancy can surge a long list of pregnancy complications for both the mother and the infant. The risk list is composed of heavy problems like premature birth, difficulty in labor and delivery. 

Postpartum Depression-
Postpartum depression is a form of anxiety which is common in expecting women. It’s basically a mental disorder or mood swings planted by hormonal changes or overwhelming expectation by the society. Research depicts, teen mothers are more at risk as they are not mature and there are a lot of things to deal with. This syndrome is not limited to delivery but varies from any time between the initial weeks of pregnancy till the baby is completed a year. In extreme conditions, teen mothers might have suicidal tendencies and deadly thoughts of hurting herself and the bay. 

This conundrum of mental hazard is a pure subset of teen pregnancy. Affected women require serious prenatal care to combat these issues and safely keeping the mother and the child healthy. It's very important to get a physician’s attention and then plan the course of your action.

Dr. Max Mongelli tells us Ten facts about conception you may not Know

To be frank, the first 3 months of pregnancy doesn’t seem like a big deal as more emphasis is laid over the latter months. But interestingly it’s the most crucial and beautiful time of the whole phase as per Dr. Max Mongelli. 

The first 12 months marks the development of all the baby’s organs and the body structure. What’s left is just to grow and gain a healthy weight. People generally identify pregnancy as a phase of 9 months, from the day they receive the good news till the baby pops up. Actually, it’s more to pregnancy then just that. To be precise pregnancy is a 1000-day period which is accounted from the day before the conception right to the child's second birthday. It’s a crucial time which many believe is said to shape what type of adult the baby will become.

Conception is the process when the sperm meets the egg inside the female’s body. Generally, couples try to time their conception with their most fertile state, but it’s really hard to tell the exact point when it will happen. After conception, the female body undergoes many hormonal changes. These changes are the nature’s switch to adapt the body to home and nurture a child. Expert Dr. Max Mongelli shares some facts about conception period that you may not know-

• The moment a sperm fertilizes the egg, a chemical signal is passed onto all the other sperms to back off, the race has ended and the victor is crowned.

• After fertilization, the blastocyst rapidly divides and multiplies for the next 4 to 5 days till it makes its way to the womb.

• After the man ejaculates, the sperm travels all the way through the cervix, up to the uterus to the fallopian tubes where the sperm meets the egg.

• Each ovary delivers an egg alternatively. Usually, this cycle takes a month but it largely depends on the women’s genetics.

• An egg is only capable of fertilization till 12-24 hours after ovulation. After that, it dies and is discarded in the next period cycle. 

• A hormone called progesterone is responsible to prepare the uterus for the fertilized egg to implant.

• The most fertile time for a woman is just before ovulation. 
Sperm is expected to last about 3 to 5 days in a woman's body.

• If 2 eggs are fertilized by 2 separate sperms then the women will have 2 non-identical twins. And if one sperm infuses one egg and immediately splits in 2, then the women are blessed with identical twins. 

•The pituitary glands and ovaries in a woman’s body are in constant communication to achieve the suited level of hormones the body needs.

Tips for an Easier Transition to Childcare

Childcare might seem an overwhelming idea for some but if you give it a thought, the practice has been around for quite some time. Remember the time when you left your kids at a friend’s home, or called in your parents or any other relative to watch over, yes, it is practical daycare. It could be a little chaotic transition to daycare for both your child and yourself. 
Here are some tips for a smooth transitional phase-
 
●Visit the center-
Pick a day when you can visit the center with your child. Familiarize them with the caretaker, see how well do they get along and how much does your kid like the place.
 

●Communicate with your child-
Try to implant the idea of a childcare into your children’s head. Use books, tell them stories of kids attending centers, help them build a cool picture of the entire operation.

●Practice sessions-
Any kid would resist a swift transition. Kids like to be around familiar faces, try to encourage your children to befriend the caregiver. Take them to a couple of practice sessions for an hour or 2 and see how it works out.

●Give a log drop off time-
In the initial stage, you have to stay for a while. Dr. Max Mongelli suggests waiting for 20 to 30 minutes before stepping out. Give your children time to blend in with other kids before you leave.

●Send favorite stuff-
You will leave your children for quite some time in a day. So leave something that reminds them of home, Max Mongelli says any favorite item like a toy, blanket or any other item could help them ease up in the transition phase.

●Build a routine slowly-
Kids are gentle, any harsh changes for a reason they don’t understand and can be a disaster for them. Take it slowly by starting 2-3 days in a week. Continue it for a week and then extend one day every week. Soon a routine is build up, you can see a happy transition.

Check-Ups and Tests to Get During Pregnancy

Getting a positive result confirming your pregnancy is an unforgettable experience but it's only the first among a series of tests. Pregnancy occurs in phases and for each phase, there are specific tests. With the help of tests and regular checkups, congenital diseases and other severe birth defects can be identified beforehand. In addition to clinical evaluations, Dr. Max Mongelli emphasises the sheer importance of these checkups and tests that confirm whether your baby is developing properly. Gynaecologist, Dr Max Mongelli, recommends these checkups and tests for all pregnant women:
 
Blood, stool and urine test
When pregnancy is diagnosed, a checkup is performed to analyse the health situation of the mother. In addition to the blood count and glycemia, the RH factor, & HIV/AIDS tests are also performed to obtain signs of any disease that might affect the pregnancy. These diseases include- Syphilis, Rubella, Hepatitis B, etc. Stool and urine tests detect urinary tract infections and parasites.

Ultrasound test
Usually, women must take a series of four ultrasound examinations during a period of nine months. In the first trimester of pregnancy, an ultrasound test will verify the embryo count and their precise location to determine if they are in the Uterus (sometimes, the embryo may descend to the fallopian tubes.) This test is typical for a mother who is 18 to 20 weeks into pregnancy.

Gestational diabetes test
On the 24th week, a sample of blood is collected from the expecting mother to check for the blood glucose level. If the results are not satisfactory, then a gynaecologist might recommend a complete examination for the same.

Amniocentesis (15th to 20th week)
Amniocentesis investigates known genetic diseases, such as Down's syndrome by collecting a sample of amniotic fluid from the amniotic sac. It is performed between 14 and 20 weeks of pregnancy. In 72 hours, it is possible to evaluate the five major chromosomal diseases accounting for 95% of the birth defects.

Echocardiography (from 20th week onwards)
It checks the heart of the baby, if a pregnant woman has a history of heart issues or when there is a suspicion of cardiac malformation.

Cardiotocography (after the 26th week)
It checks for oscillations in the fetal heart rate to see if the baby is in distress. In the final stretch of pregnancy, this test is used to observe the regularity of uterine contractions that cause acceleration of heart beats in the baby.

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Differential effects of cigarette smoking on birth weight by maternal body mass index

Does the cigarette smoke have any impact on the birth weight of an unborn child? This question led Gynaecologist Dr Max Mongelli of the Nepean Hospital from Penrith, New South Wales, Australia and his colleague Dr G.Condous of the Early Pregnancy and Endosurgery Unit, Nepean Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia to conduct a research on soon-to-be mothers with varying body mass index all of whom were smokers.

Methods implemented in the study
This research was published on 1 October 2013 after studying an obstetric database of 13,473 live singleton pregnancies delivered at the Nepean Hospital between 1998 and 2003.

 For the purpose of this study, pregnancy characteristics included in the research were self-reported figures given by expecting mothers such as the number of cigarettes smoked, age, parity, weight, height, and BMI.

Also, the maternal body mass index was broken into three distinct categories: 

BMI<25
BMI>30
BMI 25-30

This offered the researchers a simpler understanding of the effects of cigarette smoke on the birth weight of a fetus.

Another important decision made by Dr Max Mongelli and Dr G.Condous was to perform a multivariate regression analysis for each of the three categories of maternal body mass index. This helped them identify any important predictors of the changes in fetal birth weight caused due to the adverse effect of smoking.

Results obtained from the analysis
An essential consideration made in this study was to include the mean maternal age, which was 27.2. Whereas, mean birth was 3377 g (or 7.445 lbs) with a standard deviation of 588 g, and the mean body mass index was 27.1 with a standard deviation of 6.1.

It was also found that there was no correlation between the body mass index and the number of cigarettes smoked. In fact, the regression analysis performed by Max Mongelli and G.Condous clearly displayed that for women with BMI<25, the effects of cigarette smoking on the fetal birth weight was -13.4 g per cigarette, for BMI 25-30, the effect was -12.9 g per cigarette and for BMI>30, the effect was -10.9 g per cigarette.

Conclusions from the research
The researchers found that the untoward effects of cigarette smoking on the fetal birth weight are altered by the mother's body mass index. The fetuses of obese mothers were found to be less receptive to the effect of tobacco smoke than the mothers who had a leaner body shape.

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