How long do you stay in the hospital after giving birth?

Congratulations! You must be so excited and can't wait to go home to spend your first day with your newborn. How long you stay in the hospital after giving birth depends on your birth experience and hospital rules. Don't worry, it won't be long.🧐After a vaginal deliverySince vaginal delivery is an uncomplicated and safe process, you'll likely stay in the hospital🏥 for 24 to 48 hours. You need to rest after long hours of labor in the postpartum unit for anesthesia to wear off. Your healthcare provider👩‍⚕️ will check any perineal tears and the progress of the uterus's recovery to pre-pregnant state. Then you may have a chance to meet a lactation consultant to get instructions about breastfeeding.🤱 At the same time, your baby is monitored carefully to make sure that there's no problem. After a C-section The average time you should stay in the hospital🏥  is two to four days. You just go through a long and complicated surgery so you need to stay longer and rest.😃 In the meantime, your doctor will be monitoring you and your baby to make sure that both of you are doing well.👶 You should be able to walk to the bathroom without assistance, urinate without a catheter, eat and drink normally🍲 and pass gas before you are discharged.🤤 You should limit your activities for the first several weeks since your body has not been fully recovered.🙅‍♀️ If you feel pain, consult with your doctor immediately for pain medication.👩‍⚕️ 

3D and 4D Ultrasounds

Why should I take the test?💡Are you anxious to see your growing baby in your belly? 3D and 4D ultrasounds allow you to see your unborn baby in depth and detail which you could not see in a standard 2D ultrasound. Your midwife may offer you an ultrasound if your baby is at risk of complications. Depending on the trimester and your needs. If you have any existing medical conditions or experiences of eclampsia, you are the right candidate for ultrasounds. Ultrasounds in 3D and 4D are performed only to closely examine fetal demise or monitor something specific. These are usually not included in routine prenatal exams. How is the test done?💉A sonographer will put some gel on your tummy and move a transducer over your skin. 3D ultrasoundsMultiple two-dimensional images are taken at various angels and put together to create a three-dimensional rendering. 4D ultrasounds4D ultrasounds provide you with baby's movements in real time. You can see your baby opening and closing his eyes or even sucking his thumbs. TMI from Baby Billy👩‍⚕️: Risks of the procedureThere are no known risks of ultrasounds for pregnant moms. However, ultrasounds should only be performed by qualified medical professionals when necessary. 

Labor positions for active labor (part 2)

Labor positions for active labor🤰Exercise ball kneelKneel on a soft mattress to protect your knees while leaning forwards onto an exercise ball⚽ or your partner. This position is especially suitable for moms experiencing back pain as it helps you endure the pain during labor and takes some pressure off your back.😃🤰Lying on your sideLying on your cozy bed🛏️ gives you the comfort and a much-needed rest. Lying on your left side helps you avoid the compression on your blood flow and allow blood🩸 to circulate better. Slide a pillow between your knees for extra comfort.🤰Side-lying lungeYou can rest yourself on your cozy bed🛏️ while opening your pelvis, particularly if you have an epidural. Stack more pillows underneath your belly for more support.😃 🤰Standing lungePut one foot on your chair🪑 and one foot on the ground. Stand firmly while stretching your muscles and ligaments. This position is only recommended when it feels good and doesn't cause more pain in your pelvis, hips or knees.🤗Other labor positions for active labor🤰Birth pool kneelDo you know that warm water🌊 can ease pain and help you relax? Fill your bathtub or a pool with warm water and lean forward in the water to create more space in your pelvis.🤽 The buoyancy of water can help relieve some of the pressure off your pelvis and your back. 🤰Supported squatGet in the squat position while having your partner at the back holding your upper arms. When your pelvis is open, the gravity will help your baby move down faster.👶 Be mindful that the blood flow down to your legs might be a bit interrupted.🩸 🤰Hanging kneelKneel on a soft mattress to protect your knees. You can grab on a window sill, straps, or a bed rail🛏️ and start stretching slowly while facing downwards. Rock yourself gently during contractions.🤰Supported kneelYou can ask your friends and partner to help you stabilize while you're on your knees and open the pelvis.👨‍👧 Getting into this position encourages your baby👶 to descend and the placenta to come out after delivery.  

Screening for Maternal Depression

Why should I take the test?💡Pregnancy is a time of joy and celebration. However, stress and depression are inevitable parts of the journey for some moms. In fact, about 7% of pregnant women are reported to experience depression during pregnancy.Depression causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Healthcare providers and even you tend to pay more attention to physical health during pregnancy rather than mental health. Because some symptoms of depression are similar to those of pregnancy, they are often overlooked and not getting treated. How is the test done?💉During screening, your healthcare provider will ask you questions from a standardized screening questionnaire. Your answers to these questions will be scored and your total score will be used to determine whether you need mental help. Alternatively, psychiatrists may ask you questions about your feelings, worries and interests recently.TMI from Baby Billy👩‍⚕️: Risk factors for depressionSome risk factors for depression include anxiety, life stress, unintended pregnancy, and intimate partner violence. Little support or history of depression can make you fall into depression again easily.Signs and symptoms of depressionOther than symptoms that are similar to depression in the general population, additional clues are excessive worries about your baby, low self-esteem, inability to find pleasure in favorite hobbies. If you do not find yourself drawn to prenatal care and reassurance or you even have thoughts of suicide, you should definitely seek help.Treatment for depression Treatment for depression is extremely important! If you are sad all day long and you don't want to eat healthy foods that your baby needs, you can't have the energy to take care of yourself. Hence, you are at increased risk of postpartum depression and have difficulty bonding with the baby. Depending on your conditions, the doctor will prescribe you to help boost up your moods. You may be offered psychotherapy or antidepressants in addition to therapies. 

Delayed cord clamping after delivery

Waiting a minute or two to clamp the umbilical cord after delivery is extremely beneficial to the baby.👶 Do you know why you should delay cord clamping? Delayed cord clamping🤰What is delayed cord clamping?Delayed cord clamping means the umbilical cord isn't clamped immediately after birth. Instead, it's cut after one to three minutes.✂️ 🤰Benefits of delayed cord clampingWaiting for a minute or two allows extra blood🩸 to flow from the placenta to your baby, lowering the risk of iron deficiency and anemia in infancy. Also your baby👶 is less prone to the need for blood transfusion, necrotizing enterocolitis and brain hemorrhage. 🤰How does delayed cord clamping work?After delivery, your baby is covered with a blanket to keep warm as soon as she comes out.🤗 At this point, the cord remains to be attached and continues to pulse for a few more minutes as blood flows from the placenta to the baby. When your uterus contracts again for the placenta to detach, your provider can clamp and cut the cord.✂️ Disadvantages of delayed cord clamping👶JaundiceOne possible downside of delayed cord clamping is linked to a higher risk of jaundice. Your preterm baby👶 is prone to jaundice, which is an inability to break down excess red blood cells. The liver fails to process and eliminate bilirubin, leading to accumulation of the pigment in your baby's blood and making her skin yellowish.💛 Since delayed cord clamping results in a greater amount of red blood cells, the baby can't process them all; hence, the jaundice condition can't heal itself but requires treatment.👩‍⚕️ 👶Advices from expertsDelayed cord clamping outweighs the risks as long as phototherapy treatment for jaundice such as UV lamps is available.😃 It is possible whether you have a vaginal or cesarean delivery.Most US hospitals🏥 are choosing early cord clamping to prevent you from over bleeding. If you want to delay it, you should consult with your doctor. Just keep in mind that early cord clamping is necessary in some circumstances to keep both you and your baby safe.😃

Hospital bag checklist for parents

You must feel anxious and excited at the same time when it's closer to the due date. Packing all necessities in your hospital bag👜 in advance will save you lots of time and energy when that moment comes.Hospital bag checklist for moms👜Essential items and documentsLet's pack all your necessary stuff first! Your driver license or any other identification card is fine.💳 You should check with the hospital or birth center🏥 regarding any hospital paperwork that you should bring. You need to bring your doctor's contact and birth plan if you have one.Medical records can be helpful to show your current status of health. Chargers and cell phones📱 are two things you can't live without. You might bring a cord blood kit if you're planning to donate your baby's cord blood.🩸 👜Personal itemsPack your favorite toothbrush and toothpaste, lip balm, deodorant, makeup, hair ties, shampoo and lotion🧴 if you prefer using yours.🧼🧺 The hospital will provide sanitary pads to absorb your blood after delivery, but if you prefer using your favorite brand, feel free to bring them with you.If you wear contacts, remember to bring lens solution and a lens case. Glasses are also an essential if you need them.👓 👜ClothingThe hospital provides gowns but you can bring your daily nightgowns or pajamas. Backless slippers🥿 and a lightweight robe may come in handy if you want to take a walk after delivery.🚶 Bring a comfortable and loose outfit or two to change.👚 You also need several pairs of postpartum underwears that are suitable for wearing with maxi pads. Your breasts are likely to be tender and swollen especially when they leak some colostrum so you might need nursing bras to help absorb leaks and provide comfort.😃 👜Miscellaneous itemsBring your favorite snacks because you will feel hungry after labor and probably are bored of hospital food.🥨 Eye masks can help you sleep safe and sound at night after a long day. Also you might need a camera📷 to record these historical moments of you and your baby! Hospital bag checklist for baby👜Baby nail file and nail clippersAfter birth, your baby👶 often has sharp nails that can hurt and scratch the baby's face. You may want to trim tiny nails and make them softer a little bit.👜Coming home outfitLet's dress your baby up with comfortable clothes, socks and booties.👗 Welcome home, little angel!👜Baby blanketYou need a blanket to tuck around your baby around the car seat on the way home to make sure the little one is warm and cozy. The hospital will likely provide you blankets but you can bring one by yourself.🤗  

Posterior position

As your baby is growing bigger, there's not much space for the baby to easily turn and wiggle. Sometimes, the baby might get into the posterior position which is also called 'face-up' or 'sunny-side-up' as your due date nears.👶The posterior position🤰What does it mean to be in the posterior position?A baby👶 that is facing head down, but their face is positioned toward your abdomen instead of your back is said to be in the posterior position. This is typically called occiput posterior (OP) position.🤰How common is the posterior position?  Depending on how close you are to delivery, your baby can change position during labor even more than once.😃 Although many babies are posterior when labor starts, only a few of them are posterior at birth. 🤰How to detect your baby's position?When the cervix is completely dilated, your caregiver can manually put her hands✋ into your vagina to check your baby's head and gently rotate it to the right position. An ultrasound can be done routinely to confirm the position.🩺Risk factors for posterior positionYou're more likely to have your baby posterior if this is your first baby, you're over 35 years old, your placenta is attached to the front of your uterus, or you're obese.😔 If you've had a previous OP delivery, or your pregnancy is overdue, or your baby is quite chubby more than 4000 grams, your baby is also likely in the OP position at delivery.😟 How the posterior position affects the motherIf your baby is posterior, you are more likely to have a prolonged delivery with severe back pain. You might need oxytocin to augment contractions and an epidural to ease some of the pain during delivery.🤰 You are more subjected to an assisted vaginal delivery or C-section, also episiotomy, severe perineal tears, and postpartum hemorrhage than moms whose babies are in the favorable anterior position.☹️How the posterior position affects the babyThe posterior position at birth is associated with some complications such as lower five-minute Apgar scores and a longer stay in the hospital.🏥Your baby might be admitted to the intensive care unit to be looked after and observed for more days.📅

Late pregnancy warning signs (part 2)

Premature rupture of membranes (PROM)🤰SymptomsWhen you deliver your baby👶, membranes rupture, the amniotic sac🌊 that surrounds your baby breaks and flows out. While rupture of membrane is a normal phenomenon during labor, if it happens too early, it can cause serious complications for the fetus.🤰TreatmentWhen PROM occurs at 34 weeks or more and the amniotic fluid shows that the lungs of your baby have matured enough, doctors may recommend you to deliver the baby👶 because possible signs of infection can lead to more serious complications.🩺 The risks associated with prematurity diminishes significantly as the fetus is reaching the due date. When your baby comes out early, your little one will be intensively taken care of by nursery services and stay healthy.😃 Problems with placenta🤰Placenta previaIf you have placenta previa, you will notice bright red, profuse, and painless vaginal bleeding.🩸 It often occurs after the 28th week of pregnancy and is detected by ultrasound.🩺 Since the placenta abnormally comes out first and blocks the opening to the cervix, the doctor usually suggests cesarean delivery.👩‍⚕️ If labor is unstoppable and the baby is in distress, you and your baby are in life-threatening hemorrhage, immediate cesarean delivery is conducted despite the fetus' age.⚠️ If the bleeding is under control and the labor can be postponed, the doctor👩‍⚕️ will try to prolong your pregnancy days to let your baby have more time to fully develop. 🤰Placental abruptionThis is a rare condition in which the placenta detaches from the uterus prior to labor. It can result in fetal death and cause serious bleeding🩸 and shock in the mother. Sometimes placental abruption doesn't always show harbingers, but some moms experience heavy bleeding and strong contractions.👩 The doctor can evaluate your symptoms and the baby's heartbeat💓 to determine fetal distress and rapidly conduct cesarean delivery if necessary.Post-term pregnancy🤰Post-term pregnancyAny pregnancy lasting longer than 42 weeks is considered post-term or post-date pregnancy. Although it's not dangerous to the mother, it can cause some problems to the baby.👶Since the placenta is designed to effectively function in 40 weeks, starting from week 41, the placenta is less likely to work well.🙁 Decreased amniotic fluid around the fetus, decreased oxygen supply to the fetus, compression of the umbilical cord are reflected on the fetal heart monitor in a pattern called late decelerations. Fetal death can be one of the possible outcomes when the pregnancy is post-term.😢 🤰Meconium aspiration syndromeMeconium is your newborn's first poop.🚻 Most fetuses that have this first bowel movement inside the uterus have no problems. However, if your stressed fetus inhales the meconium, your baby may have trouble breathing because the meconium is stuck in the lungs.😮‍💨 Doctors will have to clear the airways as much as possible for your baby to breathe. Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR)🤰SymptomsIUGR refers to abnormal growth when your baby in the womb👶 does not grow as much as expected to a certain age. There are two main types of IUGR. Symmetrical IUGR indicates that all parts of the baby's body are similarly small in size, while asymmetrical IUGR means the baby's head and brain are normal-sized but the body is smaller. 🤰TreatmentUltrasound🩺 is done over and over again to determine whether the fetus is small for gestational age. IUGR babies tend to have less body fat and be less able to tolerate stress of labor and maintain body temperature and body glucose after birth. If your baby stops growing in the womb, the doctor may recommend induction or cesarean delivery. Luckily, most growth-restricted babies will catch up their growth by two years old and develop healthily afterwards.😃 

Cholestasis of pregnancy

Cholestasis of pregnancy is a liver problem that occurs in late pregnancy. The condition triggers itching without a rash and leads to worrisome complications such as preterm birth, respiratory distress syndrome, or meconium aspiration.😟👶Cholestasis of pregnancyCholestasis causes severe itching and yellow skin🟡 when bile starts building up in the liver. Bile is made up of cholesterol, bile acids, bilirubin, water and electrolytes. After it passes out of the liver, it is stored in the gallbladder and released into the small intestine to break down fats.🥩 If the bile transportation to the gallbladder is inhibited or slowed down, bile acids accumulate in your liver and spill out into the bloodstream🩸 and tissues, causing severe itching and yellowing of your skin, eyes👁️ and mucous membranes.   Symptoms of cholestasis🙁Intense itchinessSevere itching without a rash is the most noticeable symptom of cholestasis.🙁 Although itching affects your palms✋ and feet🦶, you can possibly see it anywhere on your body. 🙁Lack of appetiteYou may feel nauseous🤢 or uncomfortable, and you don't feel like eating🍲🙅‍♀️. You may also experience pain in your upper right abdomen.🙁JaundiceWhen bile acids go to your bloodstream🩸, bilirubin also enters your blood. You soon notice your skin or eyes turning yellow.🙁 🙁Abnormal urine and fecesYour urine may look darker than usual. Your stool turns lighter and grayish.🚽Treatment of cholestasis🙁 Diagnosis of cholestasisBlood test🩸 and liver test are two main criteria to determine whether you have cholestasis. The doctor👩‍⚕️ will check whether your liver is working well and examine the level of bile acid in your blood. You may also have an ultrasound exam of the bile ducts. 🙁 Treatment of cholestasisCholestasis treatment often uses ursodeoxycholic acid to reduce the amount of bile acid in your blood🩸 and improve liver function. Try to wear soft and loose clothes👚 to feel more comfortable. You can also apply an ice cube🧊 over your itchy skin for relief. 

Skin darkening during pregnancy

When you're pregnant, it's normal for you to have some dark spots and skin pigmentations. Don't worry, they will disappear on their own after delivery.Skin darkening during pregnancy👩🏽What is skin darkening?Skin discoloration, also called melasma or chloasma, includes dark patches👩🏽 on your cheeks, your forearms or any part of the body that is exposed to the sun. Skin that's already looked pigmented such as your areolas, freckles, scars, your underarms and inner thigh will also look more darkened.😃 👩🏽Causes of skin darkeningPregnancy hormones are the culprit to blame. They temporarily increase the amount of melanin in your body, giving your skin more pigmentations and colors.🤰 Sun☀️ exposure also causes the skin to produce more melanin and darken. If you already have dark skin complexion, you are more likely to have melasma than other moms having lighter skin. Skin darkening prevention👩🏽Use sun protectionSince the sun's ultraviolet☀️ triggers melasma and makes skin pigmentation more noticeable, you should use sunscreen. Wear a hat👒 that shades your face as well as a long sleeved shirt to cover your arms.👩🏽Don't waxUsing wax to remove hair can intensify skin inflammation and worsen melasma.☹️ Consult with your doctor to figure out the best hair removal technique for you while you're pregnant.👩‍⚕️👩🏽Use hypoallergenic skincare productsCleansers and creams that irritate your skin may make melasma worse.🧴 Choose products that are pregnancy friendly and recommended by dermatologists.👩‍⚕️