Things to Think About When Having a Baby
One of life’s most transformative experiences, having a baby means immense happiness paired with new changes and responsibilities. As you prepare for this journey, we are presenting several key areas worth considering to help you feel more confident, prepared, and supported.
💼 Employment
If you are employed outside the home, it is your responsibility to take care of yourself and communicate your needs with your employer. While we do not place any restrictions on healthy pregnant women, we do recommend you consider these sensible tips:
- Limiting your work hours to 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, if possible.
- Avoiding prolonged standing or sitting (you will feel better if you can take a 5-minute break at least every two hours).
- Limiting lifting heavy items to 25-35 lbs without additional assistance, unless you are accustomed to this sort of heavy work prior to pregnancy.
- Be sure to have adequate ventilation and try to avoid extremes in temperature.
If you choose to stop working before your baby is born, it is your responsibility to discuss this with your employer and make the appropriate arrangements. Most FMLA leave begins when you go into labor.
☝ If there is employment associated paperwork you need completed by our office, drop off the forms and give us at least two weeks to complete the forms.
👩 Doulas
A doula is a labor coach but truly is so much more. A doula is trained and certified in helping you and your partner through the labor, birth, and postpartum period. Many people choose to hire a private who is on-call for them and available at any time. They often work with you prior to the birth to discuss your birth plan and educate you on coping in labor. We are happy to refer you to doulas we have worked with in the past.
🧘♀️ Prenatal Classes
HCA Sky Ridge Medical Center offers an assortment of classes, including childbirth classes, refresher classes for second time parents, a hospital tour, breastfeeding class, baby care class, and infant/child CPR. We do recommend these classes, especially if you are a first-time parent.
We strongly recommend that all our patients partake in the hospital tour. You can register online to make a reservation. They encourage you to schedule these classes prior to the seventh month of pregnancy. We are happy to provide you with several other options for birthing classes in the Denver area.
🛫 Travel
- The physical act of traveling is fine any time during your pregnancy.
- Walk and exercise your legs for 5-10 minutes every 2 hours to minimize your risk of blood clots in your legs.
- There is no problem with flying during pregnancy.
- Always ask for a copy of your prenatal records if you travel during the second half of pregnancy.
- Please be advised that travel should always be avoided when risk of acquiring an infectious disease is higher, including COVID and Zika virus.
- Your chance for delivery increases as you get closer to your due date. Therefore, if you travel late in pregnancy you run the risk of going into labor or rupturing your membranes and delivering in another location. 34 weeks is a good cutoff to stop traveling unless necessary.
✨ Sex in Pregnancy
Most couples have questions regarding sexual intercourse in pregnancy. It is perfectly safe to have intercourse in pregnancy. If there is a reason you should not be having sex, we will be sure to let you and your partner know.
On occasion, sex during pregnancy can cause some light vaginal spotting or mild cramping. This is very normal to experience. If you feel that you are having heavier bleeding or strong contractions after intercourse, please let us know.
🍷 Alcohol
Our professional organization, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), recommends that no alcoholic beverages be used during pregnancy since a safe amount or threshold amount over which problems occur, is not known.
Common sense, cultural differences, and a long history of alcohol use during pregnancy suggest that an occasional alcoholic beverage will cause no problems. Most babies with fetal alcohol syndrome were subjected to daily, large amounts of alcohol interacting with poor nutrition.
🚬 Smoking and Marijuana
Cigarettes
No health care provider can say anything positive about cigarette smoking or marijuana when a woman is pregnant. Smoking is associated with numerous health problems for the mother and is associated with fetal and neonatal health problems. These include:
- Low birth weight infant
- Birth defects, miscarriage
- And long-term health outcomes.
If you are still smoking or vaping, please discuss with us suggestions for quitting. Experts in our field recommend a decreasing dose of nicotine patches or gum to aid you in quitting.
The Colorado QuitLine or 1-800-Quit-now, is an excellent resource and has several forms of assistance, including free diapers!
Marijuana
We now know more about the influences of marijuana in pregnancy. While marijuana may seem like a “natural” alternative to several medications, the data show that marijuana only negatively influences the mother and the fetus in pregnancy and breastfeeding. Studies show that using marijuana in pregnancy can lead to low birth weight, preterm birth, and issues with fetal brain development.
In addition, social services will be notified if you are found to be smoking or consuming marijuana during the pregnancy. Marijuana Anonymous is an excellent place to get support to help you or someone close to you to quit.
💉 Vaccinations in Pregnancy
Currently, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that pregnant women receive three vaccinations in pregnancy: whooping cough/pertussis (TdAP vaccine), the flu vaccine, and COVID vaccine. Pregnant women who get vaccinated are protecting themselves and their baby. Often, the immunity is passed to the baby for the first few months of life.
- The flu and COVID vaccine can be given at any time in the pregnancy.
- The whooping cough vaccine is given at your 28-week visit so that your body has time to build up the antibodies before you deliver the baby.
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🖤 Intimate Partner Violence in Pregnancy
Violence by an intimate partner is manifested by physical, sexual or emotional abusive acts as well as controlling behaviors. Statistics show that violence may escalate in pregnancy. The majority of studies on intimate partner violence during pregnancy measure physical violence during pregnancy, although sexual and emotional abuse during pregnancy is also considered as detrimental for women’s and their children’s well-being. It is important that you communicate with your health care provider if you are experiencing any violence or do not feel safe at home or work.
If you are experiencing any form of violence from your partner, call (800) 799-SAFE (7233) or violencefreecolorado.org.