One of the most common questions during a woman’s pregnancy is “Is this safe to take?” when speaking about medicines. Where as pre pregnancy you wouldn’t have given much thought to grabbing an antihistamine or paracetamol as and when needed…. for around 40 weeks you need to pay attention to your pill popping!
As a general rule it is best to avoid any medications that you self administer, if you are prescribed medicines by your Doctor then make an arrangement to see them as soon as your pregnancy is confirmed in order to establish if your meds are safe…. or if they need to be altered.
For the sake of brevity this article will concentrate on medicines you would buy over the counter and self administer.
PLEASE check …

Are you trying to conceive and need to estimate when your next fertile date is? Or perhaps you already know you are pregnant and would like to know your estimated due date?
Hopefully this calculator will help on both counts!
Oh and congratulations!!
Why not join our forum where you can talk to other couples trying for a baby and find out what worked for them. We also have a steady flow of Mama’s expecting a bundle so perhaps your due date club has already been formed in our forum where you can share the up’s and down’s of pregnancy!

Hopefully this section will give you some clue as to what all the abbreviations and jargon are on your medical notes… if you can’t find what you want then email us and we will add it!
AF ~artificially feeding
AFP~Alpha-feto-protein – a pregnancy screening test
ANC~ antenatal clinic
APH ~Antepartum haemorrhage – bleeding in pregnancy
ARM~ Artificial rupture of membranes
BF ~breast feeding
BO~ bowels opened
BP ~Blood pressure

The words shoulder dystocia bring fear to the heart of every doctor and midwife. This means that the one, less frequently both, shoulder(s) of the baby are not entering the pelvis during the birth as they should. Shoulder dystocia occurs in less than 1% of all births according to some studies. This can lead to increased complications for the baby and the mother.
Warning Signs for Shoulder Dystocia
Contrary to popular belief there isn’t one exact method to predict who will have a shoulder dystocia. Many different theories have been tested, each with varying results. We’ve looked at babies who are big, moms who are small, complicated pregnancies, particularly in regards to complications like gestational diabetes, inductions, gestational age, previous babies with shoulder dystocia, and many others. …

First off… what does OFP mean.
Optimal Foetal positioning.
What???
Ok why do I need to know about OFP?
Many difficult labours result from ‘mal-presentation’, where the position of the baby makes it hard for the head to move through the pelvis, so changing this could make birth easier for mother and baby. It’s a theory by midwife, Jean Sutton, and Pauline Scott, an antenatal teacher that a mother’s position and movement could influence the way her baby lay in the womb in the final weeks of pregnancy
The baby enters the mother’s pelvis in what is medically known as the LOA position — that is head down, back between mother’s left hip and umbilicus. This is described in all textbooks as the ‘normal’ position. It is made easier because …

Use this section of the website to find your nearest birth provider for midwifery and more by entering your town or post code below ..Please mention MAMA PACKS when contacting the providers below…. Some give discounts but all of them would like to know how you found them!
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