ASUHAN KEPERAWATAN

After a century of highly medicalized prenatal care and childbirth, the trend in recent decades has swung back toward natural, gentle birthing techniques. Midwives and doulas, once frowned upon by the medical establishment, are now being welcomed into hospitals, oftentimes replacing doctors at the pregnant woman’s bedside. Much has been written about the benefits of water, hypnotism, and naturopathy in prenatal care and childbirth. This article will focus on the use of aromatherapy to ease the discomforts, relieve emotional stress, and maintain good health of mother and baby throughout pregnancy.

Each pregnancy comes with its own set of discomforts, arising from ordinary fluctuations in hormones and bodily changes. While diet and lifestyle changes are sometimes necessary for best results, many irritations, included those noted below, can be alleviated by the use of essential oils. When selecting oils, purchase only those of high-quality, which have been distilled for therapeutic use, and are free of additives. Due to the heightened sense of smell during pregnancy, limit blends to one or two oils at a time; you needn’t purchase every oil on this list. Try a couple and see which ones you like best. You will see that many oils have overlapping qualities.

Nausea, headache, and morning sickness, which are often the earliest complaints in pregnancy, can be treated by diffusing essential oils into your breathing space. Not only can doing this counteract diagreeable odors, but using oils with antiseptic properties, such as lavender or tea tree, will cleanse the environment of harmful airborne bacteria—protecting against colds and flu. To diffuse, simply mix 3 drops lavender with 1 drop peppermint and 1 drop eucalyptus in a bowl of water. Or if you prefer, specialized diffusers on the market heat and vaporize the oil molecules, which spreads the scent faster and farther into the room. If you are going out, keep a cotton handkerchief and a vial of lavender or peppermint with you. Place 1 drop of lavender or peppermint on the cloth and hold it over your nose, inhaling deeply, to prevent headache or nausea.

Cool or warm compresses can do wonders to restore a feeling of balance and wellness. Fill a bowl with warm or cool water (whichever appeals to you.) Add 3-4 drops of lavender, and drape a flannel across the top of the water to pick up the film of oil. Wring out the flannel and place it on the forehead or front of the ribcage. For warm compresses, cover the flannel with plastic and add a towel.

Citrus oils, such as orange, lemon, grapefruit, and bergamot, are safe to use in early pregnancy and have uplifting qualities. They are particularly effective in alleviating vomiting. Add 7 drops of any citrus oil to 1 ounce olive oil (or another carrier oil) and massage over the abdomen for best results.

Varicose veins respond well to cypress, geranium, lemon, and lavender oils. Use any mixture of these oils in a warm bath (total 6 drops), with alternating warm and cool compresses(total 4 drops) on the affected areas, or in a massage oil (total 7 drops essential oil per ounce olive oil). When massaging, use gentle strokes from the foot upward, being careful not to apply too strong of pressure where the varicosity begins or ends.

Women who complain of hemorrhoids and swollen anal tissue may find relief in taking a cool sitz bath with 6 drops lemon oil. To prepare the bath set a large plastic tub in the bathtub and fill with water. Add the oils and stir to spread. Keeping legs and feet outside the plastic tub, lower yourself into the water and soak for 20 minutes. Follow up with an aromatic massage of 7 drops cypress and 7 drops lemon oil in 2 ounces olive oil.

Another ailment common in pregnancy is edema, or water retention. Lavender, geranium and rosemary oils combat this condition by stimulating the lymphatic system to drain excess fluids from the body. Gently massage the feet and ankles, using upward strokes, with a combination of these oils in olive oil; or try a cool footbath with 3 drops geranium or lemon oil and 3 drops lavender.

Almost every woman earns at least a couple stretch marks by the end of her pregnancy. These can be prevented or reduced by topically applying a blend of 1 ounce each of wheat germ oil and hazelnut oil with 4 drops neroli, 2 drops carrot seed, and 2 drops geranium. Massaging the blend into thighs, hips, breasts and belly every night and morning will nourish the skin and help maintain elasticity.

Please note that there are some essential oils which should not be used during pregnancy as they are known abortifacients. These include basil, fennel, myrrh, parsley, sage, and thyme. Other oils which are emenogogues are listed in some texts as unsafe during pregnancy, while promoted in others. Cedarwood, chamomile, clary sage, cypress, jasmine, juniper, lavender, marjoram, peppermint, rose, and rosemary should therefore be used with care.

Deficient in D?

Vitamin D is the only vitamin that is also a hormone. After Vitamin D is made by the skin or eaten, the kidney and liver help to convert it into an active hormone form. As a hormone, it controls calcium absorption to help the body build strong bones and teeth, and it helps maintain muscle strength. When you are deficient in calcium and vitamin D, your bones break down to supply calcium to the rest of your body. But being deficient in vitamin D can take a toll on more than just your skeleton.

"There have been concerns about vitamin D status in the U.S. because of increasing reports of deficiencies, with an estimated 10 million Americans over age 50 diagnosed with osteoporosis," says Atlanta-based rheumatologist Eduardo Baetti, MD.

"Vitamin D deficiency is associated with low bone mass and osteoporosis because vitamin D is needed to absorb calcium from the diet. Low levels of vitamin D have also been linked with poor muscle strength and other chronic conditions, such as autoimmune disease and some forms of cancer."

The Sunshine Vitamin

D is also the only vitamin that does not need to be consumed in food or supplements because our bodies are efficient at making it when our skin is exposed to direct sunlight (not through a window). But not all sun exposure is the same, and many factors help determine how much we absorb. In general, the further away you are from the equator, the more efficient the vitamin D production, but cloud cover and air pollution can hinder the sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays.

Many people living in the Southern United States can get enough vitamin D by getting about 10-15 minutes of sun exposure on their arms and face a few times a week -- as long as they don't use sunscreen, which blocks some of the UV rays necessary to make the vitamin.

The chest compression depth recommended in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) guidelines for pediatric patients do not appear to be optimal and may be excessive, according to studies in the July issue of Pediatrics.
The studies used computed tomography reconstruction to estimate chest compression depths that would be optimal for infants and children up to 8 years old during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Current guidelines in that age group call for compressions of one third to one half the external anterior-posterior chest depth.
Dr. Matthew Braga at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and co-authors blame low rates of survival among children who experience cardiac arrest on unproven targets for pediatric chest compressions that are based on extrapolation from adults and animal models.
To provide direct experimental data, Dr. Braga's team examined pediatric chest CT scans previously performed to measure individual chest depths in 14 age groups between birth and 8 years.
Results show that "the current recommendations of one third to one half external anterior-posterior chest depth are not ideal and may not be attainable or safe for all children."
For example, a one-half chest compression in 3- to 12-month-olds would theoretically result in 25% having no residual internal depth, causing harm to structures being compressed. The authors estimate that the same would be true for 21% of 1- to 3-year-olds, and 8% of 3- to 8-year-olds.
According to Dr. Braga and associates, "Use of a constant chest compression depth target of 38 mm would be expected to be adequate for > 98% of 1 to 8-year-old children, with > 10 mm of residual chest depth."
Dr. Matthew Huei-Ming Ma and associates at National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, take a similar tack, using chest CT scans of 36 infants and 38 children ages 1 to 8.
They observed that accurate depths of chest compression at the lower half of the sternum and the internipple line revealed no significant difference. Therefore, they maintain, "because guidelines should be modified and simplified for ease of use by either the layperson or health care provider, it is not necessary to provide two choices in the pediatric resuscitation guidelines in the future."
Dr. Ma's team also observed that compression depths according to current guidelines were similar to or even higher than recommended compression depths for adults.
"More scientific debate is needed on this issue for further revision of pediatric CPR guidelines," they conclude.
Pediatrics 2009;124:e69-e74.
Source : http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/705045?sssdmh=dm1.492967&src=nldne

A diet rich in fish, omega-3 oils, fruits and vegetables may lower your risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, whereas consuming omega-6 rich oils could increase chances of developing memory problems, according to a new study.
For the study, researchers examined the diets of 8,085 men and women over the age of 65 who did not have dementia at the beginning of the study. Over four years of follow-up, 183 of the participants developed Alzheimer's disease and 98 developed another type of dementia.
The study found people who regularly consumed omega-3 rich oils, such as canola oil, flaxseed oil and walnut oil, reduced their risk of dementia by 60 percent compared to people who did not regularly consume such oils. People who ate fruits and vegetables daily also reduced their risk of dementia by 30 percent compared to those who didn't regularly eat fruits and vegetables.
The study also found people who ate fish at least once a week had a 35-percent lower risk of Alzheimer's disease and 40-percent lower risk of dementia, but only if they did not carry the gene that increases the risk of Alzheimer's, called apolipoprotein E4, or ApoE4.
"Given that most people do not carry the ApoE4 gene, these results could have considerable implications in terms of public health," said study author Pascale Barberger-Gateau, PhD, of INSERM, the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research, in Bordeaux, France. "However, more research is needed to identify the optimal quantity and combination of nutrients which could be protective before implementing nutritional recommendations."
In addition, the study found people who did not carry the ApoE4 gene and consumed an unbalanced diet characterized by regular use of omega-6 rich oils, but not omega-3 rich oils or fish were twice as likely to develop dementia compared to those who didn't eat omega-6 rich oils, which include sunflower or grape seed oil. The study did not find any association between consuming corn oil, peanut oil, lard, meat or wine and lowering risk of dementia.
"While we've identified dietary patterns associated with lowering a person's risk of dementia or Alzheimer's, more research is needed to better understand the mechanisms of these nutrients involved in these apparently protective foods," said Barberger-Gateau.Source :

source: sciencedaily.com