So you heard her scream for joy! You are going to become a father. That important milestone in your life is here and now. Although your wife is the one bearing the child, and going through 9 long months and dealing with the pain and pleasure of delivering the baby, you have a significant role to play as well. And your role starts the moment you know your wife is pregnant.
For starters, read up on pregnancy and what to expect every trimester. With changing hormones come changing emotions. Your wife may be weepy, happy, dejected, anxious, all at the same time. Nausea and sudden cravings may kick in. Make sure you get hands on in the kitchen, and help the household when she is down and out.
Accompany her to ante natal classes. Get involved in knowing how your precious baby is developing. Watch the scans, scour through name books together, plan on baby gear together. You may want to plan your finances for the future keeping junior in mind.
When the stage is all set, be with her through labor, and watch a miracle unfold. Post delivery can be a challenging period for everyone. Post Partum blues may grip your partner. And all she would want sometimes is to be left alone. Learn to diaper the baby, sit up at nights so she can get some sleep, and take your partner for a short drive.
Time flies so soon, that before you know it, your little bundle of joy will not be so little. And it would be wonderful looking back at the initial days of bonding. You would have given your child that priceless gift of daddy love.
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Female foeticide and dowry have plagued our country for years. Activists have cried hoarse about them. NGOs tirelessly work towards ridding these evils from our society. Yet it takes someone of Aamir Khan’s stature to create a massive ripple in the minds of our people.
The high drama on the issue of female foeticide saw some immediate outcomes. The Rajasthan State Government set up a fast-track court and expedited the process of solving female foeticide cases. Several medical clinics saw their licenses being cancelled. The National Commission for Women set up a 24 helpline in Gujarat, with the promise of creating similar help lines in Haryana and Rajasthan. The issue of Dowry was next. Rani appeared as a fore runner of rebellion and protest. She inspired many. And across the country, there seems to be a minor jolt, but a jolt nevertheless.
Women’s organizations are more encouraged. Women’s causes have found a louder voice in Satyamev jayathe. Appreciating superstar Aamir Khan, National Commission for Women's (NCW) chairperson Mamta Sharma says "The government and NGO volunteers have also been making efforts to curb the social evil and their role is definitely prime, but celebrities have their attraction among people which really works”.
Satyamev Jayathe is, at the end of the day, a televised programme, with Aamir being a superb actor. Let us hope that this, like the n number of shows that have preceded it, will pave the way for a marginally better tomorrow!
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The whole country waited with bated breath when Aishwarya Rai Bachchan delivered. We welcomed Aaradhya Bachan amidst much aplomb. Konkona Sen, Kiran Rao, Lara Dutta are a few celebrities who have made pregnancy a fashion statement.
But what most also watched with keen eyes was how Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and other celebrities dealt with post pregnancy flab.
Celebrity or not, pregnancy and delivery is a momentous time in a woman’s life. Yet what most of us do not realize is that we are not under the same pressure to lose weight drastically as the celebrities are. It took 9 months to put on those calories. Give yourself at least 9 months to lose them.
Here are some pointers:
- Avoid junk. It is bad for the baby if you are breast feeding, and it is just empty calories that love to sit around your waist,
- Breast feed as long as you can. You lose up to 500 calories a day when you breastfeed.
- Load up on plenty of fibre and vegetables. It improves the quality and quantity of milk, and gives your body the much needed nutrients.
- Work out, after you get a go ahead from your gynec. While cardio helps sheds calories, abs and weight training, tones your muscles, which would have lost most of their firmness.
- Finally, stay calm. A calm state of mind is proved to burn calories faster. Focus on your new born, enjoy the baby.
After all, you are not under any pressure to hit page 3 minutes after you delivered!
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You cry without a reason. You vent out raw anger at your available victim – be it your son, the maid or your husband; you feel cranky, irritable, weepy, drained of energy. Add to that dull headaches, abdominal pain and cramps. PMS. That monthly syndrome that signals the arrival of our monthly pal.
Here are some tips to manage PMS.
Husbands, do your bit. For starters, grin and bear it. She may yell, weep, and blame you for everything that goes wrong. Know that it will pass, and she doesn’t really mean it. Don’t defend, argue or explain.
Do pitch in with little chores around the house. Load the washing machine, take the kids out, do the dishes. Whatever you do, please ask. And reserve your two pence on how things are done, for later. Silence - That is the golden rule! Leave her alone. All she probably wants is to curl in the couch and watch a mindless flick. Let her be. Please do not hang around.
Ladies, here’s your share:
Avoid caffeine, alcohol, too much sugar, salt, fizzy drinks, cookies, candy, etc. Load up on fresh vegetables and fruits. Take your fill on whole wheat bread/ pasta, oats. Your body needs plenty of nutrients.
Make a note of your last period. The first day is day 1. Watch out for PMS symptoms ten days ahead. And ask yourself –“is it really that bad, or is it just PMS?” Awareness goes a long way in arresting drastic behavioral patterns.
Never stop exercising. Swimming, aerobics and cardio are known to uplift moods. Yoga and meditation will calm your frenzied nerves.
Some vitamins and minerals that appear to be helpful are B-6, calcium, magnesium, zinc and vitamin E.
Once it’s over, you are bound to feel silly about yourself. Of course it’s not your fault. Blame it on the hormones!!
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All of a foot or two; wrinkled skin, tightly clenched fists, closed eyes, puckered lips – a new born apparently looks so helpless, so endearing. Once the initial euphoria of marveling at the brand new creation subsides, the “O my god, he’s so much work” realization kicks in. Diapering, colic, feeding, vaccinations, car seats, strollers, bath time … the list is pretty long for a human being this size!
Crying and colic:
In the first few weeks, the digestive and nervous systems of new borns are getting used to the environment outside. There are bound to be periods of wailing at a particular time of day, every day. This is termed as colic. This often subsides, when the baby passes gas or burps. Holding her close and rocking or walking, might offer comfort.
Sleep:
Growth hormones are released when babies sleep. Little wonder then why nature lulls newborns to sleep most of the time. Here’s a checklist when the new baby naps:
- Always make babies sleep face up, unless there is a medical reason not to do so.
- Remove too many blankets, pillows, crib bumpers – they increase the risk of suffocation.
- Avoid over bundling the baby. Excessive heat can be harmful.
Diapering:
Before you change diapers, make sure you have everything you need within hand’s reach - Cotton balls, fresh diapers/nappies, wet wipes, access to the dustbin, cream, etc. Choose a well lit, quiet place in the house. Check for rashes or marks caused on the skin by too tight a diaper.
Bath time:
As babies grow older and begin to move, squirm and splash, take along a few toys, fill up the tub with luke warm water, and give her a few minutes of water play as you get clothes, diapers, etc ready.
Do remember to take your little one for short walks, pause to see the flowers nodding and feel the fresh breeze. With the demands that babies place, moms often forget there is a world outside to be cherished.
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Man seems to be making giant strides in overcoming fertility issues and enabling procreation. Scientists in Japan have successfully created mice by creating sperms from embryonic stem cells. These sperms were fused with the eggs in vitrio. The fertilized eggs were implanted in female mice. Perfectly able mice that in turn could reproduce normally were born.
This is how the process took place:
- Scientists used a process of inducing the protein BMP4 into embryonic stem cells. This protein is known to play an active role in the creation of germ cells.
- Epiblast cells were produced with the help of growth factors, embryonic cells and the BMP4 protein.
- These early embryo cells or epiblasts were developed into primordial germ cells.
- The primordial cells were injected into the testes of sterile mice.
The research demonstrates that viable sperm cells could indeed be created. Allan Pacey, a male fertility expert at the University of Sheffield, says, "this is a quite a step forward in developing a process by which sperms could be made for infertile men, perhaps by taking as a starting point a cell from their skin or from something like bone marrow. Clearly more work needs to be done, but it's hugely exciting."
Sure, there is a long way to go before it could find its way into the human race. However, the whys, hows, ifs and buts, are issues that loom large.
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"I knew I would probably need another kidney at some point. The opportunity to have a transplant that would last for the rest of my life and to avoid all of those drugs was very appealing”, says 47 year old mother and actress, Lindsay Porter.
She was referring to the path breaking kidney transplant that did not require a lifetime of imuno suppressant drugs.
Ideally in most kidney transplants, the donor and recipient have to share a similar blood group, and be HLA (Human Leucocyte Antigen) compatible. While this is not always possible, the recipient has to take a lifetime of immunosuppressant drugs. These drugs enable the body to not fight the new organ as foreign. Nevertheless, they cause plenty of harm to the body’s natural workings.
A new study reveals that kidney transplants can be done without the use of immunosuppressant drugs. By infusing the stem cells of the donor along with the transplant, the body will accept the new organ, thanks to the stem cells that would have integrated with the recipient’s body. How the transplant was done:
- The recipient's body was prepared using radiotherapy and chemotherapy to suppress their own immune system.
- Transplant came from a live donor, who also underwent a procedure to draw stem cells from his bone marrow.
- Then the transplant went ahead, with the stem cells put into the recipient’s body a couple of days later.
“It's almost surreal when I think about it because I feel so healthy and normal”, comments Lindsay Porter. This technique holds a lot of promise to improve the lives of those receiving other organs as well.
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