Baby's Almost Here: Managing Risks as You Approach Delivery
This video will illustrate the importance of prenatal education in reaching the full 40-weeks of pregnancy. It will explain the importance of maintaining a proper diet and nutrition, avoiding alcohol, drugs and cigarette smoke and controlling weight gain during pregnancy. It will provide guidance on natural, spontaneous labor that includes getting regular, prenatal checks, knowing warning signs to watch for and understanding the optimal window for brain and respiratory development. In addition, the program will discuss the dangers of using medications to induce labor, including long-term difficulties for children who are born pre-term, encouraging women to accept help and try to enjoy their pregnancies.
The normal length of pregnancy is 37 to 41 weeks. Postmaturity is a word used to describe babies born after 42 weeks. Very few babies are born at 42 weeks or later. Other terms often used to describe these late births include post-term, postmaturity, prolonged pregnancy, and post-dates pregnancy.
Watch this video to learn why it's important to have a full-term pregnancy or closest to 40 weeks as possible unless the health of the mother and baby is at risk. In those cases, labor may be induced, or a C-Section may be performed to keep both mom and baby healthy.
