Before your childbirth, as expectant parents learning about the benefits of cord blood banking, you decide to bank your baby’s stem cells. Your main focus is safeguarding the baby and family’s health and future. Why not? If as expectant parents you’ve been nurturing another life inside you, so once you hold your little one in your hands you need to ensure keeping your baby’s health safe soon.
Cord blood has enormous life-saving and blood-forming stem cells to treat life-threatening diseases – cancer, sickle cell anaemia, thalassemia, genetic and immune system disorders, and more.
Cord blood banking is the entire process from cord blood collection, processing, cryopreservation, and dispensation as and when it is medically required.
As far as cord blood banking is concerned, there are two types known worldwide – public and private (family). In the case of a public cord blood bank, you need to donate cord blood to help others treat serious medical problems and for other research purposes.
But, here’s what you need to understand private cord blood banking and its benefits:
Benefits of Private Cord Blood Banking
Your newborn baby’s stem cells, like any other stem cells, multiply into other stem cells in the muscles, brain, blood, etc. They repair and regenerate the damaged stem cells and tissues. You choose a private cord blood bank, to save your baby’s stem cells for several reasons:
Easy and Painless Cord Blood Collection
Once you give birth to your child, your healthcare practitioner cuts and clamps the umbilical cord just a few inches apart to separate the newborn from the new mom.
Easy Match Found
For successful stem cell transplantation, stem cell matching is a must. Unlike bone marrow stem cell transplants, for which one has to look for a perfect match from the donor. But, in the case of cord blood stem cell matching, siblings have 25% of being a perfect match and 50% of being a partial match. The parents have nearly 100% possibility of finding a perfect match. However, the baby’s stem cells match perfectly with their own.
Reduced graft-vs-host Diseases
For a successful stem cell transplant, a significant reduction of the risk of graft vs. host diseases (GVHD) is a necessity. The cord blood stem cells are young and primitive. Also, depending on the identical twins, blood-related family members, or unrelated, the risk of graft-vs-host-diseases (GVHD) is reduced.
Perfect Cord Blood Banking Technique
Once the cord blood is collected, and the stem cells are processed, they are stored in the cryopreservation tank for -196 degrees. The stem cells are stored for at least 75 years of your baby’s life so that they can be used during medical emergencies.
However, when you choose a private cord blood bank, look for accreditations, and ensure that it is the largest network of cord blood banks in Asia.
It’s a perfect moment when you see your little one smiling, holding the ball with your hands, or trying to stand. After all, achieving one milestone after another for your baby is a win-win situation for you.
Amidst the other milestones, as your little one turns 1, you will notice them standing on their own, and very soon you’ll be chasing after them. After all, they are getting ready to take the big plunge – start walking.
But, you have to remind yourself that every baby is different. So, if you find your little one is taking his or her first steps later than your neighbour’s or relative’s baby, don’t fret about it.
Here are 10 interesting ways to make your baby start walking:
De-clutter the floor and babyproof the house
Remove all scattered around the floor. Pick up the papers and slippery magazines from the floor to prevent your little one from falling. Your table or the handles of your sofa may have sharp edges. The baby may get hurt by them while walking. So, try to cover those areas by padding them. If your furniture is lightweight and can be easily toppled, let them out of your baby’s sight. If they pull push or walk in support of them, they can cause an accident. Babyproofing the house will keep the baby safe, they will be oozing with confidence and you will further encourage them to explore the floor.
Encourage them to walk along the support of the furniture
Encourage your little one to stand against the support of your furniture – maybe the table or chair. All the types of furniture should be within their reach. You may hold one hand and let the baby walk, while they are walking in support of the furniture. You can also add a fun activity while your little one is cruising. You can keep a ball near their feet and ask them to kick. In this way, they will start raising their feet.
Hold the little hands
Hold the upper part of their arms, while they are in a standing position and support them while they are taking a few steps forward. With your assistance, they will be able to catch up fast.
Make them sit on the stool
To promote your baby’s physical development, a baby-sized stool without back support. This tool will allow your baby to sit comfortably, with her feet touching the ground and directly below her body. Supervision is crucial during this activity. By strategically placing toys within her reach, you can encourage her to bend and pick them up while seated. This exercise effectively strengthens her shoulder, leg, and back muscles, while improving her balance and coordination.
Make them walk barefoot. Their walking barefoot can make them feel the texture. Helps them squat. Support their walking with some music.
This big plunge is nothing greater than a celebration.
Getting a peaceful slumber when you have a bun in the oven is to your advantage. The whole body and mind are at peace. Pregnancy aches are reduced. You dream about all the good things. Maybe the nightmares do not lag. That’s not a problem. It’s just a matter of time.
The extra blood flows through your body. It reaches the baby inside and supports their growth and development. Sleeping keeps your immune system strong and controls your body’s reaction to insulin.
But, with the growing baby bump, achy body, and frequent bathroom trips, finding a comfortable position in bed becomes very difficult, thus making you feel sleep-disrupted.
Which side would you take while sleeping during pregnancy?
Your favourite sleeping position is on your stomach, or your back, during this phase, just like it was in your pre-pregnancy days. A few studies may have revealed that sleeping on your back may be associated with the risks of c-section delivery, and stillbirth. Lying on the back may also contribute to back pain, digestive problems, and less blood circulation. You may also feel dizzy as you rest on your back. Pressure on the main artery and spine increases.
But the moment you hit the second or third trimester and develop a baby bump, you feel uncomfortable and may have to change sides.
Discuss your sleeping positions with your doctor during your pregnancy, you will know that, your healthcare practitioner recommends you rest either on your right or left.
Sleeping on either side – preferably on the left is considered ideal by medical experts
It can help optimize blood flow from the inferior vena cava. Inferior vena cava (IVC), is a large vein parallel to your spine. The inferior vena cava (IVC) is a major vein that brings oxygen-poor blood from the lower body back to the heart. Once the blood reaches the heart, it is then pumped to the lungs to pick up oxygen and continue circulating throughout the body.
- That means the blood and nutrients flow to the placenta and help the baby develop in this position.
- Proper blood flow to the liver and kidney enhances their functions, further eliminating the waste product from the body.
- The swelling in the legs and ankles also tends to reduce.
- A 2019 review revealed that sleeping on your right side may not be ideal for pregnant mothers, as there is a risk of compression. So, you can lie down on the right side only for a short time frame.
To make your slumber peaceful you get yourself a wedge – a shaped pillow. But, if the pillows don’t help, try lying down on either of the sides of the recliner.
Autism is a permanent neurological developmental disorder characterised by cognitive deficits, as well as impaired communicative and social development. Having said that, the word “spectrum” includes social, and communication skills and repetitive behaviour.
Some such varied autism symptoms are associated with pregnancy. Parental exposure to adverse environmental factors, non-prescribed drugs, obesity, gestational diabetes, and insufficient pregnancy diet are some of the factors that have been linked to an increased likelihood of autism. Therefore, expectant parents need to take necessary steps to prevent autism during pregnancy, such as maintaining a healthy lifestyle and avoiding exposure to harmful substances.
Here’s a list curated for you:
Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle
Plan a healthy diet, be active, be hydrated, and get enough rest during pregnancy to reduce the symptoms of Autism.
Intake of Folate or Folic Acid
Folic acid inclusion in the early stages of pregnancy can help in boosting the foetal brain as well as the spine. According to the healthcare practitioner, intake of 600 and 800 mcg can prevent birth defects in babies
Staying Active
Your weight should not be more than BMI ≥30 kg/m2. If, by chance, your weight is more than what has been mentioned, the chances of autism in the developing baby is high. So, including low-impact activities like swimming, brisk walking, and prenatal yoga can keep weight in control.
Stay Hydrated
Dehydration during pregnancy can give rise to serious problems like less breast milk production and volume of amniotic fluid. Preterm labour is also a part of feeling dehydrated. So, drink at least 6 to 8 glasses of water daily. Including smoothies, juices, and broths can do a lot.
Reduce Maternal Stress
Feeling stressed out and depressed is a part of your pregnancy. It’s not unnatural to feel worried and anxious about your slowly developing little one inside you. The stress hormones can pass down from the placenta to the developing baby. The risks of autism in the foetus are also high. To deal with it you need to be active, practice yoga and meditation, join support groups and attend counselling sessions.
Be Imunised
Since your immune response is closely related to the autism symptoms of the baby-to-be, getting immunised, or vaccinated can help. Vaccines for rubella, measles, and mumps are associated with the reduction of the signs of Autism.
Stay Away From Pollution
Air pollution is linked with the signs of autism. So, passive smokers, or smelling alcohol. It’s always better to stay away from pollution.
Getting regularly checked by the healthcare provider in the first trimester and going through chorionic villi sampling (CVS) or amniocentesis.
By the time you hit the 41st Week of your pregnancy, you’ll mentally and physically feel that you’re about to give birth to your child. You’re in the 9th month of your pregnancy and you can expect your baby to arrive at any time at this stage of your pregnancy with their hands and legs formed.
Visiting the healthcare practitioner at this stage is an absolute must!
Find out how your baby-to-be is in the 41st Week of Pregnancy
In the 9th month, however, the size of the little one inside you is impressive. It’s about the size 19 and 22 inches, and the baby-to-be may weigh close to 8 pounds. That’s about the size of the pumpkin or watermelon.
The baby may lose most of their vernix or the waxy white coat by this time and that prevents the skin of the baby inside you from drying in the amniotic fluid. If you give birth to your baby at this stage and give a bath to your baby, the skin may peel just a little bit.
Baby’s hair (part of the skull or head) has thickened and become coarse.
A baby’s head or skull has been soft enough to squeeze through the birth canal, ready to emerge from your womb. The skull bones, however, have hardened at this point. As per research, the baby sends out signals to the placenta thus triggering labour.
Find out how is your body in the 41st Week of your pregnancy
When the labour starts, digestion gets reduced or stops completely, and there’s a chance of making you feel sick to the stomach. You might also feel nauseous. So, just like the morning sickness during the first trimester, you’ll get a similar feeling, when you’re in active labour. Nausea and vomiting can be symptoms of preeclampsia or blood pressure by the end of your pregnancy journey.
Dilation and effacement may occur before labour. While dilation may refer to the gradual cervical opening to make your baby go through the cervix easily, cervix effacement can make the cervix short, and thin to keep your body ready for childbirth. The moment the cervix is 10 centimetres dilated, and 100% effaced, it’s time for you to give birth to your baby.
Your due date is drawing close, and your baby bump looks big enough. It’s quite natural for you to feel anxious during this time.
Your baby shall remain active till such time that you’d deliver your baby. At this stage, pay attention to your baby’s movements.
Your baby has dropped down into the pelvis and getting ready to go out of the womb, with the head on the bladder. At this stage, you may be feeling the urge to go to the washroom quite often.
At this stage, when the baby has descended into the pelvis, there may be a pink or brown tinge of mucus discharge (bloody show) in your underwear or the toilet.
You may also experience diarrhoea, haemorrhoids, pelvic pain, and nesting instinct.
Take it easy, while you wait for the little one.
You’ve endured several challenges during the nine months of your pregnancy. Once you’ve given birth to your baby, start the postpartum phase. Having said that, the postpartum phase starts with the “Golden Hour” – the first hour of connection of love and bonding with your newlyborn little one. But the making a heart-to-heart connection with your baby, both your body and mind are going to undergo a sea change. Along with this, you’ll go through several changes in the first month of your postpartum.
Here’s what you need to know:
First 30 Days of Postpartum: Physical and Emotional Changes
In the first 30 days of your postpartum, while you’re busy nuzzling and cuddling your baby, your hormones are going through a constant change making you:
Bleed
In the first week of your postpartum, you’re expected to bleed heavily. The blood is bright red with a combination of mucus and tissue in it. However, over time, the vaginal discharge may be watery.
Lose Your Weight
During your pregnancy, your weight is inclusive of the weight of your baby and the placenta, amniotic fluid, diet, and less physical activity. So, after your baby’s birth, with the baby, there’s the placenta and blood that comes out makes you lose 10 to 15 pounds of your weight.
Uterine Contractions
During your pregnancy, the uterus weighs around 2.5 pounds. Once you’ve given birth to your baby, it takes its own time to shrink back down. Having said that, it takes around 6 weeks.
Breast Changes
Breast engorgement is a common occurrence during your pregnancy, as your body is preparing yourself to give birth. But breast engorgement is also a noteworthy symptom in the first week of your postpartum. Your hormones start declining after the delivery of the baby and the placenta, and your breasts will feel full, tender, as well as sore.
Tired
Since you’ve been through so much in the nine months of your pregnancy, once you give birth to your baby, you’ll feel tired as well as sleep-deprived.
Hot Flashes
Due to the changes in hormones and the increase in milk supply, it’s common to experience hot flashes or night sweats in the first week after childbirth. As you start feeding your baby more frequently, you may also notice an increase in sweating.
Swelling
Due to the soaring pregnancy hormones, and preeclampsia or pregnancy-induced hypertension, you must have felt pregnancy swelling or oedema. This happens, as 50% more blood as well as fluids are needed for the placental as well as the baby’s growth. Even after a week of your baby’s birth, the swelling doesn’t reduce.
Baby blues or postpartum depression, c-section scars, as well as bowel movements are also common postpartum symptoms.
The Second, Third, and Fourth Weeks of Postpartum: Physical and Emotional Changes
By the time you enter the second, third, and fourth week of your postpartum, you’ll start feeling much better. Thanks to the declining hormones. But, during this time, the physical and emotional changes that you’ll be undergoing will be the following:
- The vaginal tears will feel a little itchy
- Nipple sores will be common, due to improper latching of your baby
- The signs of depression seem to be fading by now
- The C-scars may feel itchy
Changes in your body after the birth of your baby, along with the stretchmarks are the rewards of motherhood. The new mommy journey has begun. Enjoy it to the core!