As an OBGYN, how could I inspire minority mothers to follow up with their prenatal visits and help them achieve a healthy delivery?
In today’s society, teens showing up pregnant isn’t much of a surprise anymore. Many of them party and drink, and when they get drunk, they make stupid decisions. Sometimes they end up pregnant because of it. Teenagers are not ready for children. They think about all of the high school fun they’re going to be missing out on, and even the thought of abortion crosses their minds. Others don’t even consider it being a big deal. Having a baby is a huge deal, and going through all the prenatal care is extremely important. Prenatal care benefits not only the baby, but also the mother because their health is just as critical as their child’s. The chances of a baby having complications during birth or even just in the womb are way higher if the mother doesn’t go through prenatal care than if a mother did. Many mothers don’t even have to think twice about not going to get prenatal care, but the ones that don’t receive care that will regret it in the end. Gynecologists can help influence mothers to seek prenatal care and recognize the benefits, the negative outcomes that can come without prenatal care, and beneficial outside activities for pregnant moms outside of appointments.
Prenatal care is so much more than just checking up on the baby’s health, but the mom’s health is just as important as the baby’s. The benefits that come from the trips to the doctor are so great, that every appointment scheduled is beneficial to the mother. According to Banner Health, one of the greatest benefits that come from prenatal care is the fact that even the smallest defect in your baby can be spotted in an appointment. If it’s nothing too extreme, the defect can be treated or even fixed before the child is born (Benefits of Prenatal Care). All mothers should want to keep up with how the baby’s health and development is coming along. Through prenatal care, they can get all of that information and more. First of all, what exactly is prenatal care? It’s a series of doctors appointments with an OB/GYN throughout a mother’s pregnancy that lets moms know the health of their child, how they are developing, the gender of the baby, and almost everything you need to know about staying safe and healthy before birth. Prenatal care ensures mothers that themselves and their baby are healthy. These appointments will normally include weight checks, urine samples, sometimes a physical exam at the beginning, discussions over the health of the mother, the infant’s health, blood tests, ultrasounds, and even listening to the baby’s heartbeat (What is Prenatal Care). Babies without prenatal care are actually 5 times more likely to die than the ones whose mother’s seek care from their obstetrician/gynecologist (Schmitt). Dr. John W. Schmitt explains that most doctors are able to “spot health problems [earlier] when they see mothers regularly.” The National Institute of Health supports mothers who seek prenatal care, and claims that “having a healthy pregnancy is one of the best ways to promote a healthy birth.” Also, from the Overlake Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the 5 major benefits from prenatal care are:
“ 1. Mother’s overall health really depends on it
- They will get accurate nutritional information that they need
- They can keep track of their child
- They can find out aspects about their child through scheduling the appropriate testing
- Mother’s get to learn inside and out about labor and delivery.”
Lastly, how many times should mothers try to see their doctor? According to Dr. Schmitt, mothers should see their doctors “once every month from weeks 4-28, twice a month from weeks 28-36, and weekly from week 36-birth.” Through these examples, moms of all ages can really get a feeling for what prenatal care really is and how it can be extremely beneficial to her. Prenatal Care is important, not only for the baby’s health, but the overall being of the baby and the mother.
In order for mother’s to fully benefit from prenatal care, they have to do everything they can that their doctor suggests for them to do outside of the appointments. For example, eating healthy, participating in appropriate exercises for a pregnant woman, and not making childish decisions like smoking or drinking alcohol. According to Prenatal Services, prenatal care is more than just going to the doctor every so often, but also taking care of yourself as a mother and the mother’s baby before the delivery. Especially young mothers. From the CDC: Teen Pregnancy, in 2014 alone, 249,078 babies were born to mothers between the ages of 15 to 19. In addition, many young moms who are still teenagers can barely take care of themselves. That’s why it’s important that when they get pregnant, they completely understand that they now have a living, tiny human being inside of them that they absolutely have to take care of. The moment the mother hears the baby’s heartbeat, it all becomes real. Young mom’s need to realize that eating right, exercising appropriately, and making the right choices are extremely important for the safety and well being of the baby. There are many conditions that can affect the baby from the beginning, such as, high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease, autoimmune disease, thyroid disease, infertility, obesity, and HIV/AIDS. Lifestyle factors such as drinking, smoking, or doing other drugs can affect the baby tremendously (What Are the Factors That Put A Pregnancy at Risk?). Age also puts a big impact on how the pregnancy will turn out. According to Tween and Teen Health, “A pregnant teen can improve her chances of having a healthy by taking good care.” She would need to seek prenatal care, get tested for sexually transmitted infections, eat a healthy diet, stay physically active, gain weight wisely, avoid risky substances, and even take some childbirth classes to fully understand what they are going to go through with their new child. Overall, there are several aspects that can affect a mother’s baby, but going through the proper prenatal care and doing everything she can outside of the appointments, she and the baby are well benefited.
I personally want to become a Obstetrician. The thought of being able to bring a child into the world is just heart-warming. As an OBGYN, I want to influence young mothers to seek prenatal care by showing them the benefits for their baby and explain the high risks of them not getting the proper care they truly need. For mothers to genuinely achieve a healthy delivery, they need all the prenatal care they can get, and I want to help them get that.
Works Cited
“What Is Prenatal Care and Why Is It Important?” What Is Prenatal Care and
Why Is It Important? National Institute of Health, 19 Mar. 2013. Web. 19 Apr. 2016.
www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/pregnancy/conditioninfo/pages/prenatal-care.aspx
Schmitt, John W., M.D. “EPublications.” Prenatal Care Fact Sheet. Womenshealth.gov, 6
July 2012. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
http://womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/prenatal-care.html
“Prenatal Services.” Prenatal Services. U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
http://mchb.hrsa.gov/programs/womeninfants/prenatal.html
Overlake.”5 Important Benefits of Prenatal Care – Overlake.”Overlake.
Overlake Obstetricians and Gynecologists, PC, 17 June 2014. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
http://overlakeobgyn.com/5-important-benefits-of-prenatal-care/
“Tween and Teen Health.” Teenage Pregnancy: Helping Your Teen Cope. Mayo
Clinic, 10 Jan. 2015. Web. 22 Apr. 2016.
“About Teen Pregnancy.” CDC: Teen Pregnany. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, 26 Apr. 2016. Web. 06 May 2016.
http://www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/about/index.htm
“Prenatal Care – PublicHealth.org.” PublicHealth.org. Public Health. Web.
25 Apr. 2016.
http://www.publichealth.org/public-awareness/prenatal-care/
“What Are the Factors That Put a Pregnancy at Risk?” What Are the Factors That
Put a Pregnancy at Risk? US Department of Health and Human Services, 17 June 2013.
Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/high-risk/conditioninfo/Pages/factors.aspx
“Prenatal Services.” Prenatal Services. US Department of Health and Human
Services. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
http://www.mchb.hrsa.gov/programs/womeninfants/prenatal.html
“Benefits of Prenatal Care.” Banner Health. Banner Health, 05 Apr. 2013. Web. 29
Apr. 2016.
Current Event: “What Are the Risks of Flu Vaccine?”
We all as kids had the experience of getting flu shots and never wanting to get those awfully helpful shots even if they prevented us from getting sick. Flu season always seems to be the most dreadful. However, flu vaccinations may not always be as helpful as you think. In 1997, a man in college died from a reaction to the swine flu vaccine. Having two different flu vaccines, the shot and nasal spray, each having few different risks. The vaccine in a shot version of it, is grown in eggs and anyone with an egg allergy can have an allergic reaction. Another possibility with the shot it the development of a nerve disorder, although it affects very few. The spray, on the other hand, can actually cause the virus to happen to anyone with a weak immune system and nasal spray is also connected to Reye’s syndrome. Although these two vaccines have few risks, the flu itself kills thousands every year. Therefore, getting the vaccine and chance facing the risks of it, is better than possibly dying from the flu. To me, dying of the flu is definitely not the way I want to die. I get the shot vaccine every year around this time. Risking the chances of having side effects sounds better than getting the actual flu itself. Not only do I get the shots every year, but not one time have I had any of these side effects happen to me (knock on wood). But, there’s always the “what if?” thought that pops in your head, especially after reading that someone died from the vaccine. Not only does this affect me, but reading this article, it can cause people to not even think twice about their lives. Yes, getting the vaccine you have a chance of dying to a reaction, but wouldn’t you want to risk that instead of actually getting the flu? People have a higher risk of dying from the flu itself than dying from the vaccination. Seeing the beginning of this article, it may scare people from buying the vaccination at the thought of dying from it, but when you read further down in the article it explains that having the flu itself is more risky than the vaccine. Dr. Doron explains that “When you get the flu shot, it’s for yourself and it’s for everybody else.” So, going to get that pesky, yet helping vaccine may not be such a bad idea after all.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/16/ask-well-flu-vaccine-risks/?ref=health
Captions: First Attempt
5 Guys and Ice Baths
After a hard driven practice of running what seems like a million miles, Dylan Harris, Michael Laughlin, Garrett Stephenson, Thomas Herndon, and Zach Herring receive a cold rush of ice water from their cross-country coach, Coach Hutchins Boyett. Ice baths come in handy when your muscles need to be relaxed and released of the agonizing pains. The boys had to run no telling how many miles and were definitely building up pain in the their muscles. Coach Hutchins explains the importance of ice bath’s because they “help relieve muscle soreness and fatigue in the runner’s legs,” and because of that, the runners take ice baths twice a week.
Photography Definitions
35 Photography Definitions- Madison Sigmon
pixels – a minute area of illumination on a display screen, one of many from which an image is composed
image resolution – is the detail an image holds.
megabyte- a unit of information equal to 220 bytes or, loosely, one million bytes.
megapixel- a unit of graphic resolution equivalent to one million or (strictly) 1,048,576 (220) pixels.
gigabyte- a unit of computer information equal to 1,073,741,824 bytes
jpeg- a type of computer file used for storing images; also : an image that is stored as this type of file
bitmap- a representation in which each item corresponds to one or more bits of information, especially the information used to control the display of a computer screen.
exposure- the amount of light per unit area
tiff- a computer file format for storing raster graphics images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and both amateur and professional photographers in general. The format was originally created by the company Aldus for use in desktop publishing.
png- a raster graphics file format that supports lossless data compression.
White balance- the process of removing unrealistic color casts, so that objects which appear white in person are rendered white in your photo.
Histogram- A diagram consisting of rectangles whose area is proportional to the frequency of a variable and whose width is equal to the class interval.
Aperture- A device that controls the amount of light admitted through an opening. In photography and digital photography, aperture is the unit of measurement that defines the size of the opening in the lens that can be adjusted to control the amount of light reaching the film or digital sensor.
Shutter speed- exposure time is the length of time when the film or digital sensor inside the camera is exposed to light, also when a camera’s shutter is open when taking a photograph.
Depth of field- focus range or effective focus range, is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene that appear acceptably sharp in an image
Aperture priority- on a camera mode dial, is a setting on some cameras that allows the user to choose a specific aperture value while the camera selects a shutter speed to match, thereby ensuring proper exposure.
Shutter priority- a setting on some cameras that allows the user to choose a specific shutter speed while the camera adjusts the aperture to ensure correct exposure.
Bitmap- A representation in which each item corresponds to one or more bits of information. The information is used to control the display on a computer screen.
Exposure- a tool to create beautiful photo narratives
Watermarking- originally faint imprints on paper that could only be seen at a specific angle. This process was designed to prevent counterfeiting and is still used today.
optical zoom- on a digital camera, optical zoom is a true zoom feature. It allows you to zoom in (or out) on the subject in the LCD or viewfinder. This will enable you to get a closer view of the subject before taking your picture.
digital zoom- Digital zoom is a method of decreasing the apparent angle of view of a digital photographic or video image. Digital zoom is usually accomplished by scaling portion of the image data (usually center) to have same aspect ratio as well as pixel dimensions compared to the original image.
bracketing- the general technique of taking several shots of the same subject using different camera settings
light meter- An instrument for measuring the intensity of light, used chiefly when showing the correct exposure in photography.
image stabilization- a family of techniques used to reduce blurring associated with the motion of a camera or other imaging device during exposure.
noise- a sound, especially one that is loud or unpleasant or that causes disturbance
lag time- the period of time between two closely related events, phenomena, etc., as between stimulus and response or between cause and effect: a time-lag between the declaration of war and full war production. Origin of time-lag Expand
hot shoe- A hot shoe is a mounting point on the top of a camera to attach a flash unit and other compatible accessories.
fisheye being- having, or produced by a wide-angle photographic lens that has a highly curved protruding front, that covers an angle of about 180 degrees, and that gives a circular image
macro- short for macro lens
telephoto- a lens with a longer focal length than standard, giving a narrow field of view and a magnified image.
wide angle- In photography and cinematography, a wide-angle lens refers to a lens whose focal length is substantially smaller than the focal length of a normal lens for a given film plane.
DSLR- A digital single-lens reflex camera (also called a digital SLR or DSLR) is a digital camera combining the optics and the mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a digital imaging sensor, as opposed to photographic film.
dynamic range- the range of acceptable or possible volumes of sound occurring in the course of a piece of music or a performance. The ratio of the largest to the smallest intensity of sound that can be reliably transmitted or reproduced by a particular sound system, measured in decibels.
digital negative- open lossless raw image format written by Adobe used for digital photography
exposure compensation- is a technique for adjusting the exposure indicated by a photographic exposure meter, in consideration of factors that may cause the indicated exposure to result in a less-than-optimal image.
Current Event: “Mass Killings Are Seen as a Kind of Contagion”
Shootings in schools. Shootings on live television. Shootings in the streets. Shooters!!!! Have you lost your mind at the uncivilized violence you’re creating? Obviously not. The article “mass Killings Are Kind of Contagious”, from the New York Times is about how major mass killers influence others to be like themselves. Some rookie shooters, or whatever you’d like to call them, more than likely extol these other shooters and recognize how social media blasts news articles, pictures, and information all over the place. What sick twisted mind would want to be famous for killing people? Who really knows. Some people who have studied all of these shootings have begun to figure out that many factors, including mental illness’, guide these shooters to actually cause corruption. In fact, some mass shootings are even influenced by the mental illness. The fact that there are crazy people out there killing innocent kids, means that there is also a high chance that someone in my community or school could easily pull out a gun and shoot everyone that gets in their way. Mass shootings affect me because in any given time, I could be put in the horrid situation where I could be the one looking down the barrel of the gun. Hopefully I won’t have to experience anything like that, but if I were, I don’t even know what I would do. All of these mass shootings are affecting the way some wanna-be-shooters think. The way that news reporters and social media gives attention to mass shooters, makes the wanna-be’s crave that same kind of attention and what they think is ‘fame.’ “If you blast the names and the faces of shooters on news stations and constantly repeat their names, there may be an inadvertent process of creating a blueprint.” Dr. Deborah Weisbrot said in an interview. I believe that if we changed the way these mass shootings are covered on television or social media, the amount of mass shootings could decrease. Why are these shootings so contagious? The world may never know.
Current Event: “Father’s Wedding Gesture to Stepfather Tugs at a Million Hearts”
In America, the divorce rate is 50%. In this case, the families are close, and they are so close that the father pulls the stepfather to walk their daughter down the aisle together. “Father’s Wedding Gesture to Stepfather Tugs at a Million Hearts” from the New York Times definitely tugged at my heart. Right before Todd Bachman walked his daughter, Brittany Peck, down the aisle, he quickly ran and got her stepfather, Todd Cendrosky, to help him walk her down the aisle. The photographer at the wedding thankfully got pictures of the whole gesture, and cried herself while taking them. Being a stepparent, she understands how it’s often difficult and thankless. Todd explained, “For me to thank him for all the years of helping us raise our daughter wouldn’t be enough. There is no better way to thank somebody than to assist me walking her down the aisle.” The stepfather was so surprised and he even had had thoughts that he might never get the chance to walk his step daughter down the aisle. I think what this father did is incredible. Coming from a child who has separated parents, this is definitely something I want to happen at my wedding. My stepdad has equally been there for me and helped me get through life as much as my biological dad has, if not more. Also, the two men seem to be really close, so this story really relates to me. Both of my dad’s are really good friends, which is really uncommon, but I’m very blessed to have it that way. This event can impact stepparents everywhere that knows about it. The fact that this stepfather got recognized by the biological father by how much he does for his daughter, can prove to others that the really are appreciated. I don’t really know from experience, but from what I’ve read, many stepparents don’t get acknowledged for how much they’ve done for their stepchild, also, most stepparents to get along with the biological ones. This event can show those bickering parents that friendship between each other is possible. This event was posted all over facebook with over 500,000 shares, and one commenter had wrote, “Amazing act of unselfish love, respect, and recognition for his daughter.” and that’s exactly what it was.
Current Event: “Sitting is Bad For Children, Too”
Have you ever heard of it being bad to sit down for a while? Well in the article “Sitting is Bad for Children, Too” from The New York Times, recent studies of young, healthy girls have proved that if children sit in a single session for a prolonged time it can affect their blood flow and arteries that, in adults, can become the start of serious cardiovascular problems. This series of studies have gone through different types like sitting still for a certain amount of time to riding a bike and then just relaxing for 3 uninterrupted hours on the couch. All the studies came to the same conclusion: their arteries did not function the same way as they did in the beginning. Of course they went back to normal very rapidly, it’s just the fact they weren’t functioning as well as they were before. So, every kid (or really anyone at all) should be encouraged to at least get up every hour to get their blood flow going. This article really caught my attention, because being a student, I’m one of those people that sit around for 8.5 hours a day on average in a classroom or even at home while doing homework. This event showed me that right now, my arteries are slowly functioning worse and worse. It makes me want to get up and move around so I don’t have cardiovascular problems in my future. Sure, every teenager would love to sit around all day and just play on their high-tech-21st-century phones, but now reading this, I’m not so sure having those “lazy days” are worth it when you think about your future health risks. This article puts an impact on the world because, most teenagers are like this, including myself. We’ll get home from a hard volleyball or football practice, and all we want to do is sit down and rest for as long as we can. But the problem with that, is that we are slowly but surely putting health risks in our future. Although the arteries go back to normal, it’s affecting us in a long-term way. The bad thing about this study, is the fact the the young girls they studied on, had no struggle at all to sit still for 3 long hours, just as long as they were entertained by Movies and iPads. With all the new technology, it doesn’t surprise me that teenagers and kids across the globe are sitting down an average of 8.5 hours daily.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/sitting-is-bad-for-children-too/?ref=health
Current Events: “732,000: Americans Lives Saved by Vaccination”
My article basically explains that all the children that are vaccinated between the years of 1994-2013 have prevented 732,000 early deaths in the United States. “732,000: American Lives Saved by Vaccination” from New York Times gives the percentages of all the main vaccines that children get including DTaP, polio,measles, Haemophilus influenzae Type B, hepatitis B, chickenpox, and pneumococcus. All of the children that got those series of vaccinations are not only being prevented from getting the virus/bacteria, but they’re also preventing early deaths in the U.S. Another great thing about all these high percentages, it shows that all of these parents care for the well being of their own children. I think that the parents taking initiative and getting their kids vaccinated is a fantastic thing on their part. And of course, the parents who are below the poverty line and can’t afford vaccines, I can understand their situation and how they couldn’t get their kids cleared. My mother is a germ-a-phob, if there’s anyway possible my sisters and I won’t get sick, we do it. Germ-x’s in our lunch boxes, vaccines, medicine, vitamin C, ANYTHING. So knowing that all the vaccines I have gotten since I’ve been alive (since 2000), have let me know I’m one of the kids that have prevented one of the 732,000 deaths. This event impacts the world because it’s prevented hundreds of thousands of early deaths. That’s an enormous amount of people that have been saved just by a series of shots. In the article, it states that vaccines alone have prevented around 322 million illnesses and 21,000 hospitalizations over the past two decades, saving health care a net savings or $1.38 trillion. All of these small, sometimes painful shots have saved the lives of many and also our economy by saving our health care tons of money. Just like Dr. Cohn says in the article, “We sometimes forget how much disease we’re preventing” with just vaccines.