DOMESTIC VIOLENCE and PREGNANCY

Domestic Violence and Pregnancy

Intimate partner abuse, also known as domestic violence typically occurs to women who are abused before pregnancy and, in some cases abuse begins during the pregnancy. The form of abuse can present itself as physical, emotional, verbal, psychological, sexual, financial and medical. It can happen to anyone. Domestic violence knows no boundaries. It happens to students, stay-at-home moms, cashiers and corporate executives. Women of all ages, ethnicities, faiths, economic status and levels of education can find themselves in an environment where their intimate partner, or former partner, is abusing them. It is more common than people believe. According to the Domestic Violence Intervention Program, as much as 35% of women experience some form of intimate partner violence. That is equivalent to 1 in 3 women.

The impact of intimate partner violence during pregnancy presents countless health risks to the pregnant woman and to the health of the fetus. Some of the physical complications for the woman include low weight gain, bleeding, infections, high blood pressure, placental abruption, uterine rupture and anemia. Left untreated, major complications can result during the pregnancy and/or childbirth. While these effects may seem temporary or manageable, the effects on the fetus can extend to childhood and even into adulthood.

Women in an unintended pregnancy are burdened with the additional weight of choosing between a relationship with the father of the unborn child and the desire to live in a safe and secure environment. Pregnant women experiencing intimate partner violence are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, have a higher incidence of suicide, and engage in substance abuse, which include the abuse of illicit and prescription drugs and alcohol. These coping mechanisms may enable temporary escape but have long-term effects. Best practices point to professional counseling and early medical attention as soon as pregnancy is suspected. A visit to a doctor's office or medical clinic will help verify a pregnancy and its viability through a laboratory grade urine test and an ultrasound and help women in an unplanned pregnancy find a safe environment to discuss their concerns.

Women considering parenting are encouraged to secure prenatal care as soon as possible. Lack of prenatal care affects not just the pregnant woman, but the baby as well. It can lead to immediate complications including premature birth and low-birth weight. Low birth weight and premature birth could have long-term effects on the child including attention problems, behavioral difficulties, language delays, decreased IQ, motor function delays. These effects often create difficulties in school and on into adulthood.

What can you do to protect yourself?

Seek help immediately. Facing an unplanned pregnancy can be complicated or confusing under less stressful circumstances. An unplanned pregnancy while living in an abusive environment or while in an abusive relationship is overwhelming. Developing a support system that includes individuals that will support and advocate for you while you make your final pregnancy decision will help you remain safe.

Big Belly Pregnant

Experts recommend losing weight before getting pregnant, doing light exercises and eating a balanced diet. NEW YORK - Women who have large waistlines before pregnancy may be more likely to have a larger-than-normal newborn than women who are trim around the middle, a new study suggests. The findings, reported in the obstetrics journal BJOG, are in line with what experts know: Women who are obese before pregnancy are more likely to have a baby with an abnormally high birthweight — known as macrosomia.

Depending on how macrosomia is defined, it affects anywhere from one percent to 10 percent of all pregnancies.  By one definition, babies born weighing more than four kilograms (about eight pounds, 13 ounces) are macrosomic. Another definition puts the threshold higher: 4.5 kilograms, or nine pounds, 15 ounces.  In the new study, UK researchers found that women with the biggest pre-pregnancy waistlines were more likely to have a macrosomic newborn, whatever the definition.  Of nearly 3,100 women who gave birth over one year, about 10 percent had a baby weighing more than four kilos, while about one percent of newborns topped 4.5 kilos.



Those odds were highest among women who fell in the top 25 percent for pre-pregnancy waist-hip ratio. They were 57 percent more likely to have a baby weighing more than four kilos, versus women in the bottom 25 percent for waist size.  And they were 2.6 times as likely to have a newborn weighing more than 4.5 kilograms. That was with the mother's pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) — a measure of weight in relation to height — taken into account.  "We know that total body fat is associated with pregnancy outcome," senior researcher Dr. Gordon C.S. Smith told Reuters Health in an email. "This study suggests that the distribution of the body fat may also be important."  That fits with what's known about "visceral" fat (deep fat within the abdomen) and other types of health problems, noted Smith, who heads obstetrics and gynecology at Cambridge University.


Studies have shown that having a large belly may be more closely connected to the risks of conditions like diabetes and heart disease, versus excess body that is concentrated around the hips and thighs.  Right now, experts use BMI as the basis for weight-gain recommendations to pregnant women. The Institute of Medicine (IOM), an advisory panel to the U.S. government, says that obese women (BMI of 30 or higher) should gain 11 to 20 pounds during pregnancy.  That's less than the 15 to 25 pounds recommended for overweight women (BMI between 25 and 30). Normal weight women (a BMI between 18.5 and 25) are told to gain 25 to 35 pounds.


And those recommendations still stand, Smith said. But if further studies point to the importance of waist size, he added, weight-gain recommendations during pregnancy may need to become "more sophisticated."  One recent study, for instance, found that if a woman starts out at a normal pre-pregnancy weight, gaining more than the IOM recommends while carrying twins seemed to benefit the babies. (See Reuters Health story of November 2, 2011).

In general, experts recommend that women try to attain a healthy weight before becoming pregnant — and they don't advise dieting to lose weight during pregnancy. Instead, the advice is to eat a balanced diet and get regular moderate exercise, like walking.  The billion dollar house that's not quite a home After 46 years, man reveals he's been a secret satellite designer Empathic genes can be spotted in seconds, study suggests Living, and coughing, downwind of smoke stacks in Texas belly pregnant ,belly pregnant week by week ,belly pregnant 14 weeks,belly pregnant week 12,belly pregnant weeks 13,belly pregnant week 16,belly pregnant week 8,belly pregnant 3 ,itchy belly pregnant , belly pregnant