Posted by SuperADDMom on December 3, 2009
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) November 30 Bulletin, mothers who smoke, or are exposed to lead, while pregnant increase the risk of their child developing Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In addition, the combination of lead exposure and smoking during pregnancy carries an even greater risk of developing ADHD.
Hospital study links lead, smoking, and ADHD
Tanya Froehlich, of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, reports that children with moms who smoked while pregnant were nearly 3 times more likely to have ADHD, and children whose mothers were exposed to lead while pregnant were just over 2 times more likely to develop ADHD. A child whose mother who was both exposed to lead and smoked during pregnancy was over 8 times as likely to have ADHD as a child without these prenatal risk factors.
Reducing ADHD cases
Stop lead exposure, both during pregnancy and during infancy and childhood, and prevent smoking during pregnancy, and the number of ADHD cases could be reduced by as much as 38%, according to this study.
Posted by SuperADDMom on February 7, 2005
Since the birth of our son, someone said to me:
“I was glad to see that you weren’t unassisted this time, not because I disagree with it but because of (your husband’s) illness and (your 4-year-old). I thought about it before the birth but didn’t want to say anything then.”
This is my response to their email about it, that revealed to me some of my feelings on the birth that I am still trying to sift through:
We had decided to hire a midwife that would be hands off so we could decide on what we wanted based on how DH was feeling the day the baby came. We had not planned to call them for the birth because DH was feeling pretty good (for him, in other words was not out on his feet) and adrenaline can do wonders in the time of need, but I had a prenatal appointment with them and they showed up with a student in tow (who was NOT supposed to be at my birth because I had not met her in advance). Based on my progress over the 40 plus hours prior, they stayed and prepared for a birth based on where I was in the contractions, etc. Had I not had a set appointment that day I probably would not have called them at all until very close to or after our new son was born so they could check him over. We felt they were here for far too long. It just got uncomfortable.
Obviously, I have a lot of feelings about the birth I am still contemplating, due to the newness of it all – but I was glad they were there for verbal support during the pushing. This new baby was bigger by half again as our first, and this labour was that much more intense as well – it was very intense with all back labour.
Not that DH was not great emotional support, but he was so busy catching and holding me as I pushed that the extra encouragement just when I thought I could not do it anymore was very helpful. DH did an amazing job even with his illness, though he is paying for his expulsion of energy and adrenaline now with some symptoms being more
pronounced than usual along with his extreme tiredness and pain (he has more
short term memory loss, speech is more impaired, and balance is very off). He doesn’t care though, he’d do it all over again. He did most of the work at the birth (other than my job), then he had to rest, and relaxed with the baby while the midwives “helped me” post-partum (by helped I mean, in part, told me that I was taking too long to deliver a placenta, which was exasperating and stressfull and annoying).
Still, as great as they were emotionally, and as good as the overall experience was, in retrospect unassisted is *OUR* best option. There are “interventions” and “management” that midwives cannot help but do that just bother *us* too much. Birth is not a managed event like a concert, it is free flowing… and hubby found that he often had someone “in his bloody way”. A midwife can be as hands off and sitting in the corner of the room being silent even, and it STILL changes the dynamic of the birth for the couple.
I had my neighbour here to be with our daughter regardless of any midwife in attendance, and that was the best decision I ever made, especially my choice of person. She was everything I anticipated and could have asked for, and more 
She is a great friend and this experience has only confirmed and strengthened the friendship. She is the only person I trust my kids with, even over some of my own family members.
No matter how much midwives believe in the naturalness of birth, they cannot help it… they are trained to watch for any variations from “normal” and “treat it”. Sometimes it feels like they spend their time looking for a problem to fix, rather than waiting to see if one appears and dealing with it then. This, for us, isn’t dealing with things perceptively and intuitively, and runs against our beliefs. It also caused us some unneeded aggravated feelings with this birth and there was a definite “anxiety” vibe they radiated even though things were fine.
I can say with some assurance that this is our last planned child, and that I will likely not be birthing anymore – 8+ months of tiring and sicky pregnancy feelings, along with caring for DH and two kids would be hard to do for me, so we are feeling quite finished. But, if we were ever blessed with another child unexpectedly, we will likely be going unassisted in the birth for sure.
Posted by SuperADDMom on January 9, 2005
I’ll be 35 weeks tomorrow, so I am officially longer pregnant now than I was with my daughter. Woohooo…(I think) LOL
I’ve been moving slower and slower these days, to the point that hubby is actually walking faster then me now, and I am begging him to walk slower. That is saying something cause it is usually him begging me to slow down now that he walks with a cain and has a lot of back and leg spasms.
My back needs a sign that says slow moving wide load I’m hoping that after the baby comes my level of energy will start to rise back up.
I have CONSTANT heart burn, even from mild stuff, I’m peeing without relief every 5 minutes. My lower pelvis pain is constant and I am feeling like this baby won’t be inside for much longer. I have small bouts of contractions (that are not progressive) daily almost now it seems – and I am not going too far these days cause all my shoes won’t go on my feet LOL (too swollen & fat from weight gain) not that I can
see them to put them on anyway.
We finally decided on another girls name should this baby be a girl…
But we are not sharing it with anyone until afterwards. I’m not sure
what it is, but I dreamt about the baby talking to me and it was a
girl (or a very feminine spirit anyway).
My breasts are much more tender again and some shooting hot pangs through the ducts, and I have milk already so it is not long now I suppose.
Not much else going on here, my hands are in so much pain from pregnancy induced tendonitis and my right hand’s carpal tunnel that it takes me forever to type.the physical pain in my right hand is so bad it keeps me awake at night and nearly in tears. The tendonitis is aggravating the carpal tunnel to the point now that I
cannot feel most of my hand at all from the tingly numbness pain and I cannot hold a fork, cut a sandwich or brush my teeth with it. I have broken more then my share of glasses the last few months.
I love being pregnant because I am creating life, but it seems that
the pregnancy symptoms I get to “enjoy” are much worse than most
people’s (or am I just thinking that?)… from early fatigue and morning sickness to this…
We are taking out our daughter’s old baby stuff soon to get ready for this
little one, and setting up the pool to be ready for the birth. We are
doing a belly mask as well this week. The fun parts of pregnancy!
Posted by SuperADDMom on December 5, 2000
Having been raped at 17, I knew that I needed my birth experience to NOT resemble rape in anyway. And to me Rape is being in a vulnerable position with a man that you do not trust or know, touching you in places you would rather not be touched telling you what to do, against your better judgement, and feeling like you’re not in control. For ME that meant staying as far away from the hospital as possible, where all the potential birth rapists convene.
I knew before I even experienced birth that I would be in the most uncontrollable, vulnerable situation in my life, and I not only wanted, but I NEEDED it to be a good experience, with the only person in my life I trust implicitly, my husband. If it was not, or had not been the birth it was, I fear what my mental state would have been afterwards. I feel it would have been like being raped all over again, and being the basket case again, I was for 9 years in silence before I started to even admit to another human that the rape had happened.
I can’t imagine not having UnaBirthed my daughter, my first child. I knew from long before she was ever conceived that gentle was the way to go, and that only I and DH would be able to fully understand the process of MY birth, and what I and the baby needed, emotionally, as we had confidence that the physical just happens without needing to be guided.
Seeing that DH and I are so close in our relationship and love for each other we feel each others pain and pleasure without the other one expressing it, I knew that the birth of out child HAD to be a good experience for all three of us. It was OUR inner wisdom that allowed us to have the best birthing attendants available to us for our Unabirth, us alone, sharing an intimate moment, trusting each others actions, without question.
There is something so feminine in giving birth that for me was enhanced tenfold by just being in the moment of the waves of the contractions pushing our baby out into the world, feeling the overwhelming urge to push and following my husbands directions without questioning his authority or knowledge.
Birthing his child into his hands, I, at that very moment trusted him so implicitly. I was probably the most vulnerable I have ever been in our relationship, and I didn’t shy away from it. I accepted it and embraced it, for the first time in my life, I just wholly trusted another human being. The first time since I was a small, innocent, newborn infant myself, before I had lost the automatic trust in my care givers. Before they had given me just cause to not ever trust another human being, which was reinforced at 17 years old.
Trusting completely was amazing. It was healing. Birthing my daughter was primal. I was woman, he was man, we were doing without words what women for thousands of years before me had done, yet it felt so much like I was the first woman to ever birth. There were no worries about shaved legs, or looking decent or worried about how I looked in the moments of strong contractions or worrying about my woman’s rights in our male society. There was no worry about what kind of sign it sent to my husband and the world that I was giving in to my husband’s directions and commands. No thoughts about the fight for power or to be leader in our relationship that happens on occasion. No fight over whose job was what. We were just doing.
We were two, and in love, with complete trust, we became three.”
