10 Tips to Maintain Pregnancy Hygiene and Safety

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It doesn’t matter if it’s your first time being pregnant or not, the need to protect your baby and yourself is, and will always be the highest priority you will face at this delicate stage of life. Even the most minute of things can have major implications on the health and development of your baby.
But fret not, we are about to list ten tips that will keep at bay any form of infection, complication or harm to your baby.

Hygiene

Cotton all the way -

Cotton fabric is a must for all those expecting. Since it is light and dries fast, clean and washed cotton clothes help prevent the development of skin irritation and incubation of infection causing bacteria.

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Keep downtown clean, Always!

Always wash the vaginal area with water and mild soap regularly. . Besides this, after using the toilet always wipe front to back. These steps are essential in preventing the spread of bacteria to the urethra and in turn prevents urinary tract infection that can spread to the fetus and cause complications in its development.

2

Hand it to cleanliness -

One of the most basic and yet overlooked hygiene must do’s. Always wash your hands, preferably with warm water and disinfecting soap for more than 20 seconds. Carry a sanitizer along with you, keep it in your handy bag for you to use when you’re outdoors. This keeps you sanitized all day so that you avoid any intake of germs while you eat your meals.

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Don’t go mental over dental -

There is a rise in oestrogen levels in the body, there can be swelling and sensitivity of the gums. If not kept in check, it can increase the risk of developing gum disease which, in turn, can affect the health of your developing baby.

If morning sickness is keeping you from brushing your teeth, change to a bland-tasting toothpaste during pregnancy. Ask your dentist or hygienist to recommend routine check-ups to maintain your dental hygiene.

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Take the Breast care you can!

12 weeks in, your breasts start secreting a fluid called ‘Calostrums.’ This can lead to nipple irritation. Besides washing your breasts with warm water during your bath, a padded bra is a must. However, it must be changed regularly depending on the extent of fluid secretion.

Safety

A good exercise to follow –

The most important safety tip is to always stay active. Walk, stretch with pilates, breathe in and out with some serene yoga, all these activities are beneficial for the baby and keep you ready for labor. Besides, exercise helps control weight, improves circulation, uplifts your mood and helps you rest better.

You can also immerse yourself into your favorite dance routine with some energetic tunes, don’t care about looking odd, it’s what Momma needs!

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Baby’s got a plan –

Always have a written plan so that during pregnancy, whoever is assisting or taking care of you knows what your preferences are during pregnancy. Things like emergency contacts, people you want present during delivery, procedures you want to avoid, type of medications you can take, a what-to-do in case of complications.

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Calling doctor jones -

Always call the doctor if you get sudden and unbearable pains, strong cramps, contractions at 20-minute intervals, spontaneous vaginal bleeding, feeling of dizziness, breathlessness, heart palpitations, continuous and constant nausea or vomiting, trouble in walking or swelling of joints and most importantly decrease in activity by the baby.

Have an expert’s personal contact number for you to call them, even in the middle of the night and consult on any kind of complications or unusual experiences.

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Store the story –

The most downplayed tip, always maintain a journal of all the experiences that you and the baby go through. This can help the doctor find irregularities and has proven to be a preventive tool in many instances.

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Shoe shopping!

The best way to keep yourself active and safe during pregnancy is to wear comfortable and un-slippery shoes.

Keep three pair of shoes for yourself. One for your exercising, one to go out and one for the washroom for you to avoid losing your grip on the wet floors.

Try using ortho- heel soles that are soft and padded with a firm grip, they are the best for your daily outing requirements.

Watch your diet -

This would be the most common nightmare for a pregnant woman, she tries everything to avoid upsetting her stomach and food poisoning. An ideal way to prevent this is to eat at home and eat safe.

Check the “Best before Date” on any packed food item you purchase, clean your veggies and fruits with enzyme cleanser before consuming them. It helps keep the bacteria and pesticides away.

Boil your food before you consume it to avoid any stomach infections.

Avoid eating leftovers and street food. If you crave something spicy and want to go to your favorite street-food joint, make sure they follow basic hygiene before serving you.

Besides these pointers, enjoy your pregnancy and stay healthy and safe!

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5 Questions to Ask Before Choosing the Best Stem Cell Bank

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While you are pregnant, one of the most important tasks for you and your family is to plan and safeguard your baby’s future! This requires a lot of groundwork and planning for the baby-on-the-way. Health conscious and aware parents are considering cord blood stem cell preservation to be an integral part of their baby plan.

What is Umbilical Cord?

The term “cord blood” is used to describe the blood that remains in the umbilical cord and the placenta after the birth of a baby. Up until recently this afterbirth umbilical cord was discarded as medical waste. Cord blood contains stem cells that may be cryopreserved for later use in medical therapies, such as stem cell transplants or clinical trials of new stem cell therapies.

What are cord blood stem cells?

The blood in the umbilical cord and placenta is rich in stem cells. The stem cells in cord blood can grow into the blood and immune system cells, as well as other types of cells.

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One of the most important decisions to be taken is – Which is the best umbilical cord blood bank for my baby?

Here are a few questions that you must ask the cord blood bank and choose the best cord blood bank for your baby.

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Let’s take it step by step based on the following parameters –

  1. Are there any specific accreditations I should look for when selecting a cord blood bank?

To decide on a cord blood bank, you’ll want to look at a number of factors which will define cell processing and lab practices: Cord blood banks should comply with national accreditation standards developed by national regulatory bodies such as ISO, FDA, GMP, GCP and GLP.  Cord blood banks who have attained these gold standards have a systematic, hygienic, temperature controlled and regulated lab for extraction and preservation.

  1. When and how is cord blood collected?

Umbilical cord blood is harvested quickly and painlessly just a few minutes after the birth of the baby— after the cord has been clamped, on both sides, and cut (either before or after the delivery of the placenta). The blood is collected either by drawing the blood from the umbilical cord with a needle and a “gravity bag” to drain and collect the blood.

  1.  What questions should parents ask about Collection?

It is necessary to know if the cord blood bank takes care of the collection of cord blood at the time of birth and the cost of shipping the cord blood to the preservation facility is included in the contract/agreement. It is also important to ask about paramedic or collection experts’ availability on weekends and wee hours.

  1. How does the cord blood bank manage shipping at the time of preservation and retrieval?

Most cord blood banks assure free global shipment at the time of retrieval, but it also important to understand the shipping criteria during transportation of the specimen from birthing centre to the cryopreservation facility. You may also want to ask the cord blood bank to guarantee to transport the specimen to the lab and processed within a certain time window. It is mandatory that the cryo-shipping container has a temperature logger.

  1. Is CFU really important, should we as parents care about it?

The answer is simple, it’s a big Yes. At present Colony Forming Units or CFU are considered to be the only and the best measure of whether stem cells are “viable”, or quite frankly if the cells are alive.  The Total Nucleated Cell count includes both living and dead cells.  In the CFU test, a small portion is watched under controlled conditions to see if cord blood stem cells divide and form colonies.  It is a standardized technology to image the cells and count colonies in the image.  It is advised by experts to take the CFU test before preservation as the test takes a lot of days for colonies to grow rather than wasting time at that time of retrieval or transplant to perform the test.

We hope this helps you to ask the right questions and thereby make your decisions about preserving your baby’s stem cells with the right bank!

For more information you may check: parentsguidecordblood.org/ and http://www.babycell.in/

Babycell has a panel of cord blood banking and stem cell transplants experts. To address your queries on stem cell banking you may call 1800 209 0309

Eight-year Old receives a Life Saving Stem Cell Treatment

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This is a story of Veena who was cured of Thalassemia by using umbilical cord stem cells.
Veena was detected with Thalassemia major since her birth. Veena’s parents always wanted her to live a normal life like other children. They visited a lot of doctors and pediatricians. Their lives revolved around appointments, medication and the constant worry of her condition getting worse.

While on the lookout for alternate solutions to her therapy, they came across stem cell banking therapy that had a cure for a myriad of disease, Thalassemia being one of them. This led them to Babycell’s center.

The doctors suggested her family to have another child and bank the new-born child’s cord blood stem cells which will help them cure Veena’s condition. Dr. Vijay Ramanan (Hematologist) was the specialist appointed to take this procedure ahead. The team executed the process smoothly with conscious moves at every step and the operation went as it was anticipated.

Veena’s transplant has been successful and has changed her life forever. She now lives a normal life just like others kids, playful and full of life. The best part about this transplant is that she is now free from all the machines and transfusions she was previously dependent on. She is living a healthy life with no worries, and a future full of surprises and ambitions.

A Ray Of Hope For Alzheimer’s Disease

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November is Alzheimer’s Awareness month and to acknowledge this month, we want to spread awareness on how Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells might have a potential cure for this disease.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia. The first signs of Alzheimer’s often include lapses in memory or struggling to find the right words. Over time, symptoms such as confusion, mood swings or memory loss develop and become increasingly severe.
Scientists have been actively engaged in research on stem cell transplants for Alzheimer’s disease patients and studies have shown some benefits. It was discovered that low doses of umbilical stem cells infused into a sample brain reduced the inflammation caused due to the plaque.

This brings us to the cessation that human umbilical cord MSCs (Mesenchymal stem cells) can bring a relief to an Alzheimer’s patient with its therapeutic components.

Here’s an info-graph that will give you insights on the current state of the disease.

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Bumpy Bonding!

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Pregnancy is the most exciting phase of any woman’s life. It is a journey that takes a woman to a new phase called – Motherhood!

While you are excited about getting to that new stage, your body goes through a complete roller coaster ride – mentally, emotionally & physically! You will be very cautious about things you do! One of them is an attempt to bond with the bump!

Bonding with your bump helps you build a stronger connect with your baby! But in most of the cases mommies-to-be wonder how?

To help you sort this dilemma, here are few ways that you can try:

1. Massage your bump

A soothing way to bond with your baby is to gently massage your belly. This is safe to do after the first three months of pregnancy, and it’s a great way to relax and unwind.

2. Sing soothing songs to your bump

If you are wondering what to talk to your baby, in that case singing out your favourite song would be the best thing to do. This will also help you develop a habit of singing lullaby to your baby for the coming time.

3. Read out positive stories

A baby always believes in the stories heard from his mother. Reading out stories to your bump will lay a foundation of positive thoughts in the baby?s brain.

4. Listen to some music together

A baby can sense music while in the womb. Music is one such thing that can calm and sooth all the senses.

5. Feel the kick

Feeling the baby?s kick is one sensation that should be experienced by both the parents. Together responding to the kicks will not only nurture your bond but builds a two way communication with the baby too.

One last quick tip – To connect better with your bump choose on a name to address your unborn child. Keep a unisex name for the bump and address him with that name. This will help you give your bump a definitive identity and make your bond with it even more special.

Pregnancy Calendar

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Pregnancy is an exciting phase of life for every woman! After you announce your pregnancy, the first question you’ll probably be asked is, “When are you due?”

To answer that question for you, we bring to you our pregnancy calendar!

Calculate your due date in seconds with this! Try it out now!

5 things To-Be-Dads need to know!

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We are pretty sure that all you dads-to-be are super excited to step into the new role termed – Fatherhood! But are you ready to take life one notch higher?

A lot may happen that no one will have prepared you for. There’s no way to anticipate every possible scenario, but you need not be completely in the dark, here are a few tips that can help you out a little:

1. Learning the basics –

Change is the only thing that will be constant. Starting from the changes in your partner?s body to the changes in the house, everything is going to change, your everyday life can go for a toss but the first step is acceptance! Accepting things will make life easy!

2. Is it all about your wife and the baby?

Yes, you read it correctly, stepping anywhere close to fatherhood is a completely different ball game, and the only concentration of your life now is your wife and her growing belly.

3. Never question her cravings!

The next nine months your wife is going to extremely fussy about things she wishes to eat. So, if she wakes you up at 3 in the morning demanding for an ice-cream or a chocolate, don’t argue, just go and get one!

4. Go easy with those hormones – 

Don’t worry it’s a temporary phase, but yes it persists. Don’t be surprised if she expresses 10 different emotions in just 1 minute, those are her hormones acting on her.

5. Talking helps -

Your wife is going through a roller coaster ride and is extremely vulnerable, the best way to sooth her down is by talking to her and by stating obvious things like you will be by her side throughout the journey of parenthood.

We know with these tips you can’t crack the entrance examination, but this will help you at least sync into the new role. We wish you all a very happy Father’s (to-be) Day!