By Penelope A. Domogo, MD
Last Sunday, we discussed how it is important for a pregnant woman to take care of her diet and make sure she is active physically so that she will be healthy. A healthy pregnant mother begets a healthy baby. Even before she gets pregnant, a woman should be mindful of her health because health is not an instant condition. Health is a product of many years of healthy eating, physical activities and positive attitude and let us not forget, a grateful heart. As we discussed last week, the health of any person starts at the time of conception- in the womb. Thus women who keep themselves healthy during pregnancy are giving the best legacy to their child’s long-term health and happiness. That’s an enormous responsibility and blessing. Pregnancy should not be taken for granted. And it is not only for the child that women should be healthy. It is also for themselves also, lest some women out there will say otherwise. Because who else benefits when you, yourself, are healthy?
Being healthy during pregnancy will ensure a normal childbirth, as designed by nature. Childbearing is a phenomenon of nature – it has been designed that way. I don’t believe that God, whom we profess as Christians to be our Creator, would design something that will be detrimental to our health and life. In fact we believe He even died for our sake. So, by nature, we are designed to be healthy, at all stages in life including pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. I would like to emphasize this because some vested interests would like to scare society, especially women, to think that pregnancy and childbirth are not safe. Thus some women are scared to get pregnant. Well, this is good for population control.
Physically active pregnant women who eat well will have an uneventful labor and childbirth. Some women are so blessed that childbirth is just like pooing. Dalawang ere e lumabas na ang bata. Normally, only the mother can push the baby out of the womb into Mother Earth. The baby, though, helps in worming her/his way out – they naturally turn their head to the exit. See how nature works its way for good! The birth attendant only tells the mother to push, not the baby, but apparently, the baby also knows what to do. Awesome nature!
Many of the complications in pregnancy occur during delivery. With unhealthy lifestyle, some mothers need the knife to get the baby out thus we have cesarian section (CS). There is an alarming increase in the number of women undergoing CS because of uncontrolled hypertension, too big a baby or many other reasons not present 20 years ago. CS puts the mother at risk for infection and other complications. And it has been discovered that going through the normal birth canal squeezes the chest of the baby and this is good for proper lung function of the child. We cannot underestimate the long-term implications of this natural childbirth.
Another dangerous complication of an unhealthy pregnancy is hemorrhage after birth, also termed postpartum hemorrhage. This is one of the most common causes of maternal death. And this can happen if the mother’s diet is rich in sweets and refined processed foods. Too much sugar in the blood makes the blood vessels fragile and easily broken. Sweets can also glue the placenta in the uterus so it cannot be extracted- this can cause massive hemorrhage. High blood pressure can also cause hemorrhage. So to all the women out there, please take care of your diet.
After birth, the mother’s role for the baby remains the same – survival and health. The baby still is totally dependent on the mother for survival and development. A mother needs, therefore, to breastfeed the baby until such time that the baby can eat solids. Again, women should understand that breastfeeding is best not only for the baby but for the mother as well. When the nipple is suckled, the uterus contracts. This is very important just after birth as it prevents hemorrhage. What more, in the long term, breastfeeding prevent breast cancer in the mother.
Pregnancy and childbirth are safe, normal, natural occurrences. A province-wide community survey we did in Mountain Province in the early 1990’s revealed that some mothers were strong and brave enough to choose to deliver by themselves. After delivery, they would deliver the placenta then put on their “bakget” (wide belt) and clean and nurse the baby. There were no hospitals then and the home was the birthing place. For the majority of mothers, though, they were assisted in childbirth by the husband, mother, father, mother-in-law, father-in-law, neighbors, etc. And they were fine. No big fuss. No additional expense. Communities flourished. Now, many women cannot deliver normally. They have lost confidence to deliver at home as they are pushed to deliver in a health facility where there’s much expense (if it is free, somebody, like the tax payer, paid for it). Self-delivery is a rare occurrence. Now, some mothers die from post-partum hemorrhage or from effects of unhealthy lifestyle. The good news is that we know our
