Let Them Eat Dirt. B. Brett Finlay
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Название: Let Them Eat Dirt

Автор: B. Brett Finlay

Издательство: Ingram

Жанр: Здоровье

Серия:

isbn: 9781771642552

isbn:

СКАЧАТЬ microbiota.

      ♦Do— add daily probiotics, yogurt, or kefir (a fermented milk drink) to your diet. Increasing the growth of beneficial bacteria in your vagina will promote their passage to the newborn, where they carry out very important functions.

      ♦Do— prevent infections if possible. Not only will you avoid feeling awful while pregnant, but it also reduces the chances of having to take antibiotics. Wash your hands often, avoid being in close contact with sick people, and follow the current recommendations of foods that pregnant women should avoid. If antibiotics are necessary, start or continue taking probiotics.

      ♦Don’t– sweat the small stuff, and do try to control stress as much as possible. Severe stress is associated with a number of disorders in children and also with alterations to the microbiome. If stress is becoming a big part of your life, reach out for help through your health practitioner. Even if your stress is moderate, incorporating exercise, yoga, or meditation into your routine can help keep the edge off.

      ♦Do— consider vaginal probiotic suppositories in your third trimester in order to reduce the chances of testing positive for GBS. A negative GBS test will make an antibiotic-free birth more likely.

      Perhaps the most bizarre of pregnancy cravings is the urge to eat dirt—a form of pica, a term used to describe an intense craving for nonfoods. Some suggest that dirt pica is the body’s attempt to consume minerals and that it may be linked to iron deficiency, which occurs in many expectant women. Still, it is not known for certain what drives some mothers-to-be to eat dirt.

      The rates of dirt pica vary depending on culture and socioeconomic status. In Kenya, it is so common that people see it as a sign of pregnancy, with 56 percent of pregnant women following this practice. Even in the US, 38 percent of low-income women from southern Mississippi claim to crave dirt or clay. Dirt pica is common enough that you can order dirt online to satisfy your craving! However, pregnant women are also more vulnerable to infectious diseases, and eating dirt may prove dangerous. Dirt is a known source of pathogens, toxins, and even lead, making it a bad option for those hard-to-curb cravings.

      4:Birth: Welcome to the World of Microbes

      At 3:50 a.m. a week before her due date, Elsa realized she was in labor. She was sleeping (sleeping should really have a different name in late pregnancy, as it is just not the same thing) when her water broke, alerting her and her startled husband that it was time. Soaking wet, they nervously laughed at the realization that they were going to meet their baby boy soon. They had a hospital delivery plan written down—labor in a bathtub, “laughing gas” for pain management, clear communication about interventions—and then, when the contractions became closer together, they would calmly put on comfortable clothes, gather their already-packed hospital bag (which included magazines, an iPad to serve as a music player and video camera, a massage device, and a heating pad), gather snacks and energy drinks, phone the grandparents, and drive to the hospital. The infant car seat had been installed in their car for about a month, and they had even practiced driving the route they were going to take. They already knew the best place to park in the hospital parking lot and the exact location of the maternity ward. Elsa and her husband had it all covered . . . or so they thought!

      The first thing that kiboshed their perfect plan was having her water break before feeling contractions, also known as PROM (premature rupture of membranes). Elsa wanted to labor at home, but she knew that she had to go to the hospital right then. When the water breaks, the bag full of amniotic fluid, which keeps the baby protected, ruptures. It’s not unusual for it to occur before labor, with 1 in 10 women experiencing that, but babies need to be monitored when this happens due to an increased risk in complications, such as an umbilical cord prolapse or an infection.

      Within fifteen minutes they were out the door. They got dressed, grabbed the bag, forgot the snacks (oops), and decided to call their parents on the way to the hospital. It took Elsa another ten minutes to find a not-too-uncomfortable position to sit in the car, and just then, she started to feel her first real contraction. It was overwhelmingly strong. “If this is early labor,” she thought, “I won’t be able to deal with the pain.” Elsa’s husband, Paul, had previously volunteered to monitor her contractions. He had an app in his phone that would time contractions, and allow them to give each one an intensity score from one to five. As soon as Paul noticed the first contraction he reached for his phone and started to record its duration. Excited, he then asked Elsa: “How would you rate that contraction, babe?” With her gaze and voice lost, Elsa slowly opened her hand and showed him five fingers. “A five?” Paul said, “That can’t be, we just got started!” And with the look that so many husbands have experienced during their wives’ labor, Elsa just said, “Drive!”

      By the time they reached the hospital, Elsa was already dilated five centimeters (halfway there) and in intense labor. “Forget the *&#^$ plan!!” she yelled. “I WANT AN EPIDURAL NOW!!” The nurse strapped a monitor to Elsa’s belly to measure the baby’s heart rate and Elsa’s blood pressure. On the next contraction (they were coming three minutes apart now) the nurse noticed that the baby’s heartbeat had dropped, not a lot, but enough to bring the obstetrician in to have a look. Then, just as the nurse was about to put an IV in Elsa’s arm, the baby started squirming around, causing Elsa even more pain. Worse yet, the baby’s heart rate dropped significantly. The obstetrician monitored the baby during the next sets of contractions and surmised that the baby must be pinching the umbilical cord. “We have to get him out now,” the doctor said.

      In what felt like hours but was only a few minutes, Elsa was rushed to the operating room and given spinal anesthesia for the C-section, after which they allowed Paul in the room. Elsa and Paul were both terrified.

      However, very soon thereafter they heard the sweetest sound of their baby boy, Elijah, crying. A pediatrician and nurses quickly took Elijah to make sure he was all right (he was). After weighing and measuring him, they brought him to his parents, who were crying with relief, excitement, and love. “So much for the best laid plans,” said Paul. Their cries turned into laughs as they realized that nothing had gone according to plan. It didn’t matter . . . their baby was here and everyone was okay. Paul pulled out his phone, took the first picture of Elsa and Elijah, and sent it to the proud new grandparents, just over two hours after Elsa’s water had broken, back in their bedroom.

      Although births come in different circumstances, durations, and outcomes, they have two things in common. First, just like with Elsa and Paul’s experience, they seldom go as planned; births are unpredictable. Second, no one ever forgets when, how, and what it feels like to give birth. No other event in life compares in intensity and emotional impact. Biologically speaking, having a baby is the pinnacle of our existence, yet the human birth experience is very painful and often risky. In fact, compared to apes, human birth is longer and more perilous. Elsa’s labor was unusually short at only two hours, but most first births average ten hours, and many are even longer. In addition, about 1 in 250 mothers carry a baby with a head too big to fit through the birth canal, requiring a cesarean section (C-section). One would think evolution would have favored easy deliveries, yet our bodies have not greatly improved on the process. Before the development of modern obstetrical medicine, there were about 70 deaths per 1,000 births. Those statistics have improved, but still, to this day, 500,000 women die annually worldwide from complications during childbirth. Why is human birth such hard and hazardous work?

      Scientists believe that our births are more complicated because of the “human condition”: we walk on two legs and have very big brains. Walking on two legs was truly advantageous to our human ancestors; they had their arms free to reach for fruit and other foods, they could carry СКАЧАТЬ