Childbirth deaths from regional anesthesia rising

From Reuters:

Researchers stress that such deaths remain rare. But they also say the results point to an area where anesthesia can be made safer for women.

In the new study, researchers found that between 1979 and 2002, childbirth deaths related to any anesthesia complication dropped by 59% among U.S. women.

Per million live births, there were three anesthesia deaths between 1979 and 1990, vs just over one between 1991 and 2002, the researchers reported online December 20th in Obstetrics & Gynecology.

However, while deaths related to general anesthesia kept falling in the 1990s, deaths related to regional anesthesia rose slightly, from 2.5 deaths for every million C-sections in 1991-1996 to 3.8 per million in 1997- 2002.

"It is concerning," said lead researcher Dr. Joy L. Hawkins, of the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora.

For their study, she and her colleagues used a U.S. government database that collects information on pregnancy-related deaths nationwide. Between 1991 and 2002, the system received 56 reports of anesthesia-related deaths during childbirth.

Most of the women who died - 48 of the 56 -- had undergone a C-section. In the rest of the cases, the type of delivery was not reported.

How to naturally increase progesterone

Does your menses start before 14 days have past following ovulation?  If so, you may have something called Luteal Phase Defect, which has to do with insufficient progesterone.  PRO-GEST erone as you can probably guess, is necessary for nurture a pregnancy.  Your doctor can take an endometrial biopsy to look at your levels, but what might be simpler is looking at you basal temps and seeing if they  are falling too quickly post-ov.

The good news is, you can supplement with vaginal suppositories (need your doctor to write you a script) and there are many herbs such as wild yam that can help and there are foods that will help.  Here's a great article on the food, which includes things like soy, walnuts, etc:  http://www.ehow.com/facts_5008973_foods-naturally-increase-progesterone.html

Newest Research on treating Breast cancer During Pregnancy

I actually know a few women who had cancer and pregnancy discoveries at the same time: 

From Newswise, the journalists'-only site:

Newswise — Do not delay treatment of breast cancer just because a woman is pregnant, said lead researcher Sibylle Loibl, Dr. med, of the German Breast Group.
This suggestion is based on study results detailing the effects of different treatment options on the infant. Loibl presented this data at the 33rd Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 8-12, 2010.
“At the time we started the study in 2003, there was hardly any information on breast cancer therapy during pregnancy, but we felt there was a medical need for it,” she said.
Although the incidence of pregnancy among breast cancer patients is small (about 2 to 3 percent), women are delaying childbirth until later in age, which may increase the instances of cancer cases among pregnant women, according to Loibl.

Swine flu vaccine causing miscarriages?

I'm not a big fan of vaccines in/around pregnancy because your body is going through so many intense hormonal changes.  Here's an article you might want to read about the H1N1 vaccine being implicated in miscarriages.  In our area the H1N1 vaccine is mixed into the "regular" flu vaccine. 

p.s. because my husband and I teach at a college, we get "free" flu vaccines, which we used to totally take advantage of.  We've stopped in the past 5 years and have interestingly not only not gotten the flu, but been healthier than even, even as our students sneeze on us...buyer beware!

(NaturalNews) Recent data presented to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Advisory Committee on Children's Vaccines has revealed some shocking information about the effects of the H1N1 / swine flu vaccine on pregnant women. According to the report, the rate of miscarriage among pregnant women during the 2009 H1N1 / swine flu pandemic soared by over 700 percent compared to previous years, pointing directly to the vaccine as the culprit -- but the CDC denies the truth and continues to insist nobody has been harmed.

According to the CDC, nearly 50 percent of all pregnant women were vaccinated with the H1N1 vaccine during the 2009 / 2010 influenza season. Those whose physicians instructed them to get a seasonal flu shot were three times more likely to get it, while those instructed specifically to get the H1N1 shot were ten times more likely to get it. And the numbers clearly show that along with the rise in vaccinations due to the H1N1 scare came the sharp increase in miscarriages, including a slew of actual reported adverse events.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/030657_vaccines_miscarriages.html#ixzz17X1TI3tM

Even LOW doses BPA in plastics disrupts fertility

Another reason you MUST avoid any products with  Bisphenol-A (found in soft plastics) if you want to get pregnant and have a healthy pregnancy!

The latest fresh off the press from Newswise, the journalists'-only news site:

Newswise — Exposure to a ubiquitous environmental chemical during pregnancy may impair reproductive capacity of female offspring, according to a study published online in advance of print on December 2 in Environmental Health Perspectives. Fertility decreased over time in female mice that had been exposed during fetal and neonatal (perinatal) development to doses of bisphenol-A (BPA) that were lower than or equal to human environmental exposure levels.

“Mice exposed to BPA in the womb and during nursing subsequently had fewer successful pregnancies and delivered fewer pups over the course of the study,” reported one of the study’s co-senior authors, Ana M. Soto, MD, professor of anatomy and cellular biology at Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM) and member of the cell, molecular and developmental biology program faculty at the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences.