The other night I watched a wonderful new documentary called Being Dad. The tagline, "40 Dads - 6 Experts - 9 months - 80 minutes" pretty much sums it up well. A father to be, in an attempt to learn more about the new journey upon which he will soon embark, sits down with dads all over the country and learns all about what it's like during pregnancy, delivery, and parenting. The guys talk candidly about everything from sex during pregnancy, to miscarriage, to premature labor, to epidurals, to caesarian section, to the feeling of elation that comes when the baby is finally born.
The film simultaneously follows Troy and his wife, Stacey, from morning sickness to first ultrasound, and finally to delivery. It actually shows the birth of their child, and it's amazing. I don't think I've ever watched a birth without crying. It is such a miracle. And it brought back memories of my own daughters' births and made me feel strong all over again for all the hard work I did to get them safely out!
Posted by: drchang in Pregnancy Delivery on
Jul 24, 2008
Hello, again. It's been awhile since my last entry. My parents have been in town, and the weather has been great. I haven't spent nearly as much time in front of the computer!
Anyway, I was reading some of the comments readers have left in response to my ramblings, and one stood out to me. A lady was speaking of how difficult a miscarriage was for her. I've seen many women through this horrible time. Being a dad, I can hardly imagine a harder time. I've had people say to me that a miscarriage is easier than losing a child. I agreed with that until I spoke with so many women who have gone through miscarriages early in pregnancy or fetal demises later on in pregnancy. That fetus is every bit a person's child. The loss is just as great. What can I say? There really is nothing to say. I hold my patients' hands; I pray with them, but in the end, they have to go home and be alone with their feelings.
For any of you who know people going through this, just be there for them if
Posted by: drchang in Pregnancy Delivery on
Jul 05, 2008
I know, I know. A lot of you are thinking, "Uh, I'm not very active when I'm NOT pregnant much less during pregnancy..." HA!HA! Well, that may be true for a lot of folks, but believe it or not there is a significant population of women that doesn't want to stop exercising during pregancy. To y'all, I say.."Go for it."
Exercise during pregnancy is not only OK, but good for you. Ever wonder why they call it "labor" at the end? Cuz it's work. It's nice to be in good cardiovascular shape when you ahve to strain with all of your strength for 3 hours straight. Also, exercise during pregnancy is perfectly safe. There are certain complications of pregnancy that will preclude you from exercising. Your doctor should obviously know what those are.
A couple of other things to remember are the following. Number one - use common sense. Falling is a bad thing in pregnancy. Therefore, any activity that results in possibly losing your balance is bad. Skiing, skating, biking, just to
Posted by: drchang in Pregnancy Delivery on
Jun 12, 2008
Ahhh..the birth plan. A blueprint for how you want your delivery to be. A declaration of how your birth experience is going to be. This may surprise you, but....
The declared birth plan probably comes to fruition in one of ten deliveries. Pregnancy, birth, and the 18 years that come after will not fall into any "plan." I've often been asked about the birth plan and what I think about the various aspects of it. "It's so confusing. There are so many things! How can I decide??!" YOU DON'T HAVE TO. Really. In all honesty, not only do you not need to, you really shouldn't marry yourself to one idea or another. This is not to say you shouldn't think about the issues and possibilities. You definitely want to have thought about pain control, episiotomy, etc. All I'm saying is that when the time comes for labor and delivery, your experience depends mostly on how your labor is going and how your baby is doing. Is has very little to do with how you originally planned for the
Wow. That title could mean anything, huh?! HA!
What I'm actually going to talk about a bit is intimacy - specifically, between you and your husband. In the process of chatting with my pateints, the subject of the husband's desire for intimacy with them often comes up. It actually goes both ways. What I mean is - some husbands seem to have found some long lost aphrodisiac during your pregnancy, some husbands seem to withdraw.
First, the ones that can't get enough. (OK, OK; I know. For some you, that's pretty much the way it is pregnancy or no....!) Many men actually find a pregnant woman very attractive. That's not weird! A lot of my patients think that their husbands are somehow crazy for finding them MORE attractive during pregnancy - a time when most women are thinking, "Man, I'm totally awkward and decidedly UNattractive." Your husband really doesn't think so. Sexual intercourse is actually safe and healthy during pregnancy (with some exceptions, but your doctor will be
