Visualization & Meditation For Fertility and Pregnancy

I'm very proud and excited to announce my new CD on Visualization and Meditation for Fertility. It's a project I've been working on for the last year and I developed it after hearing from a number of women who wanted to know how to visualize and meditate - especially with the goal of conceiving and carrying a pregnancy to term. I'm a firm believer that everything we manifest in our life starts with our thoughts. Here is more information about the CD. The link below has an area where you can listen to a preview.

Listen to a preview here:

You Can Get Pregnant Over 40, Naturally
Visualization & Meditation

Yikes! Toxins In Utero

This article gives another reason why to avoid toxic environmental chemicals as much as you can. The women mentioned actually had their blood tested while pregnant and the results are scary. Read more:

www.sphere.com

From the article:

• Every test subject had at least two and as many as four perfluorinated compounds in her blood. These "Teflon chemicals" are used to create stain-protection products and non-stick cookware and are classified as a likely human carcinogen; in tests on laboratory animals, they have been shown to cause liver, thyroid, pancreatic, testicular and mammary glad tumors.

• Mercury, known to harm brain development, was in the blood of every woman in the study.

• Breakdown products – phthalate monoesters – of at least four phthalates were in the urine of all nine women. Used as plasticizers and fragrance carriers in numerous consumer products, phthalates are linked to reproductive problems and asthma.

Prenatal Stress May Affect Baby's IQ

I've always believed that the prenatal environment is incredibly important for the development of your baby. Here is an article that gives more evidence that women under stress (especially as it relates to their relationship with their partner) may unknowingly be negatively affecting their baby's IQ. Read more:

Mother's rows in pregnancy 'affects IQ of baby' (telegraph.co.uk)

From the article:

They believe high levels of the stress hormone cortisol can affect unborn babies by crossing the placenta.

Lead researcher Prof Vivette Glover, a foetal development expert at Imperial College London, said: "We have known for a long time that both genetics and upbringing have an important effect on how a child turns out.

"Our study shows that what happens while the baby is in the womb is also important.

"When we looked at what kind of stress was most significant, we found that if the woman had a partner who was being emotionally cruel to them while they were pregnant it had a really significant effect on their baby's future development.

Pubic Bone Pain In Pregnancy

I remember have pelvic bone pain toward the end of my pregnancy, especially when walking up stairs. This article explains why it happens and some possible solutions. Read more:

pregnancy.about.com

From the article:

There are a couple of treatments for pubic bone pain:


Stabilize what you can via a pregnancy/maternity binder like the Prenatal Cradle.

Avoid situation that cause pain. For example, sit down to put pants on, sit on the side of the tub and swing both legs together.

Avoid standing for long periods of time.

Use a rice sock to help provide moist heat.

Protect Your Unborn Child From Medical Mistakes

Many healthcare workers aren't as careful as they should be. They're in a hurry and they make mistakes. This story illustrates how pregnant women (and everyone else for that matter) need to double check before allowing invasive procedures. This article gives some suggestions on how you can communicate with healthcare workers to avoid mistakes. Read more:

news.aol.com

From the article:

I started to cry and asked if I'd miscarried, and they said no, I was still pregnant. My husband and I said, 'Oh, that's great!'" she remembers.
But then they told the Higueras there was something else they needed to know. "They said, 'We made a mistake; we did something we shouldn't have done,' and I was like, 'What do you mean?'" Higuera remembers. "They said 'There's another patient here named Kerry, and you two are the same age. We mixed you up. She was supposed to have the CT scan, not you.' "
While no large studies have been done on the effects on the fetus of performing a CT scan to a pregnant woman's abdomen, experts say a fetus exposed to radiation can, in some cases, develop physical and mental growth problems

Interesting Connection Between Male Fertility and Mother's Beef Consumption

I was a vegetarian for many years, but I started eating meat because I though it could help me get pregnant (I've read conflicting information about whether or not meat hurts or helps). Even after I started eating meat, I didn't eat a lot of it (maybe once per week). Here's an interesting article that draws a connection between pregnant women eating meat and its possible connection to low sperm counts in their sons:

Low Sperm Count In American Men Linked To Their Mothers Eating A Lot Of Beef When Pregnant

Pregnancy, Obesity and Uterine Failure

I have a number of posts which link weight with infertility and pregnancy complications. Here is another article which links uterine failure and obesity. According to the following article, women who are obese have a harder time with delivery resulting in more C-Sections. Read more:


Obese Women In UK have more Difficult Births Due To Uterus Failure(medicalnewstoday.com)

"Obese women who gave birth vaginally were also found to encounter other problems in child birth - more than twice as many (6%) experienced excessive bleeding following delivery compared with normal weight women (3%). This blood loss was also attributed to poor uterine activity in the obese group. Heavy bleeding occurs when the uterus is unable to contract well enough to clamp off the blood vessels that are sheared following delivery of the placenta.

Professor Sue Wray commented: "Our research shows overweight women are at considerably higher risk of having to undergo an emergency Caesarean Section birth and find labour a more difficult experience than normal weight women. Interestingly, when we took uterus muscle samples from the overweight women and studied them in the lab they also performed poorly and contracted less well than matched samples from normal weight women".