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What the Tebows didn’t say in their ad

February 8th, 2010, 6:00 am by Landon Hall

So much for the controversy surrounding the Tebow family’s Super Bowl ad.

For two weeks, pro-choice advocates had expressed concern about the commercial featuring star University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother Pam. CBS was roundly criticized for breaking with longstanding tradition by airing an ad about a divisive social and political issue, in this case abortion (others, including The New York Times op-ed page, welcomed the debate). The Tebows filmed the ad for the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family, which paid the going rate of $2.5 million to $2.8 million for the 30-second spot.

Despite all the hype, the word “abortion” wasn’t even mentioned in the lighthearted ad, which aired during the first quarter. In fact, the Tebows went for laughs: At one point Tim tackles his mom, slapstick-style (which some people aren’t happy about). Then they hug. In another version that aired four times before the game, the tackle was omitted.

According to USA Today, CBS had objected to the original version of the ad, in which Pam Tebow alludes to the pregnancy complication that had put both her life and that of the unborn Tim in jeopardy. Pam has said she refused a doctor’s recommendation that she have an abortion.

The details of that complication haven’t been discussed much, so here’s what happened, according to an account Pam Tebow gave to The Gainesville Sun in 2007:

Pam and her husband Bob, devout Christians, were working as missionaries in the Philippines in 1986 when Pam, who already had four children, became pregnant at age 37. It was a difficult pregnancy, She was diagnosed with placental abruption, in which the placenta becomes partially or completely detached from the uterine wall, depriving the fetus of oxygen and nutrients. The condition affects less than 1 percent of all pregnancies, but it can be fatal for both the fetus and the mother. Because of their religious faith, the Tebows went ahead with the pregnancy.

None of this is hinted at in the Super Bowl ad. The ad begins with Pam holding a baby picture of Tim and saying: “I call him my miracle baby. He almost didn’t’ make it into this world. … I can remember so many times when I almost lost him. It was so hard.”

At the end of the ad there’s a tagline for Focus on the Family — “Celebrate family. Celebrate life” — and an offer for the viewer to visit the group’s Web site to get the “full Tebow story.” Click “watch now” and you’ll find a video in which Pam and Bob are interviewed, and they go into more detail: Pam acknowledges that “we lived in an area that didn’t have great medical care,” but says the doctor was clear about her condition: An abortion was needed “immediately if I were going to save my life.”

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Posted in: pregnancy • abortion • placental abruption • prenatal care • Tim Tebow | 38 Comments »

Abstinence programs, teen pregnancy linked?

January 26th, 2010, 3:19 pm by Landon Hall

The national teen pregnancy rate is on the rise again after 15 years of decline, and the group providing the data lays the blame squarely on the Bush administration’s stepped-up funding for abstinence-only education programs.

teen-pregnancy_blogg1 The Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit that’s aligned with Planned Parenthood but nevertheless respected for its data on reproductive issues, reported Tuesday that the U.S. teen pregnancy rate had risen by 3 percent from 2005 to 2006, the latest year for which figures are available.

Click here for the Cliffs Notes version, and here for the full report.

About 7.2 percent of girls ages 15-19 got pregnant in 2006, up from 7 percent the year before.

The problem hit its nadir in 1990, when nearly 12 percent of teenage girls became pregnant. That year there were 116.9 pregnancies per 1,000 women ages 15-19. By 2005, the rate had plummeted to 69.5 per 1,000. But in 2006, the rate ticked back up to 71.5 per 1,000. See graphic below.

Why? The Guttmacher Institute blamed heightened federal funding of abstinence-only sex education — such programs reached a level of $176 million annually in the Bush administration – combined with a drop in contraceptive use among teens.

The institute, as well as many scientists and health care advocates, complain that abstinence-only programs simply don’t work. Their assertions are backed up by several studies, chief among them a couple done by Columbia University’s Dr. John S. Santelli. His research showed that girls who learn in an abstinence-only program get pregnant at just as high a rate as those who don’t take such classes. At their worst, advocates say, abstinence programs only imperil teens by denying them information about sexually transmitted diseases.

“A strong body of research shows that these programs do not work,” said Heather Boonstra, senior public policy associate at the Guttmacher Institute, in a statement by the organization. ”Fortunately, the heyday of this failed experiment has come to an end …”

And yet the Senate version of the health care reform bill contains $50 million a year for abstinence-only programs, a provision tucked in even after the Obama administration had hacked out funding for abstinence-only programs in favor of other teen pregnancy-prevention programs.

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Posted in: pregnancy • abstinence • Guttmacher Institute • sex education • teen pregnancy | 42 Comments »

Should women eat and drink during labor?

January 26th, 2010, 6:00 am by Courtney Perkes

pregnanteating

As if the pain of a long labor isn’t bad enough, some women also experience the discomfort of extreme thirst or hunger.

For the last 70 years, women in labor have not been allowed to eat or drink to avoid complications if they are put under general anesthesia. But even women who undergo C-sections rarely need general anesthesia and a new study recommends that women be allowed or eat or drink if they want.

Here’s an excerpt: “The review identified no benefits or harms of restricting foods and fluids during labour in women at low risk of needing anaesthesia. There were no studies identified on women at increased risk of needing anesthesia. None of the studies looked at women’s views of restricting fluids and foods during labour. Thus, given these findings, women should be free to eat and drink in labour, or not, as they wish.”

In August, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists changed its recommendation that women only consume ice chips in light of modernized anesthesia techniques for deliveries.

“According to ACOG, women with a normal, uncomplicated labor may drink modest amounts of clear liquids such as water, fruit juice without pulp, carbonated beverages, clear tea, black coffee, and sports drinks. Fluids with solid particles, such as soup, should be avoided, however. Women who have uncomplicated pregnancies and are scheduled for a cesarean delivery may also drink these clear liquids up to two hours before anesthesia is administered.”

To read more, including an interview with the author of the study, check out this New York Times article.

And we’ve got a poll for all you moms.

Do you wish you could have had food or drink while in labor?

Posted in: pregnancy • food and drink • pregnancy • Research | 1 Comment »

Swine flu shots available for O.C. pregnant women

October 30th, 2009, 2:59 pm by Landon Hall

After weeks of waiting, pregnant women in Orange County finally started receiving the injectable form of the swine-flu vaccine today.

swineflu_blog21 Women who want to be inoculated should call the county’s Health Care Agency referral line, 1-800-564-8448, to set up an appointment. The clinic where the vaccinations are taking place is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The county received a shipment of 6,000 shots Thursday, said Dr. Nancy Bowen, chief medical officer for public health services at HCA. Another 8,300 doses should arrive “in the next few days,” she said. An undetermined number of those will go to OB/GYNs, Bowen said.

Another important fact about these doses: They don’t contain thimerosal, the vaccine preservative that contains small amounts of mercury. Some activists and parents of autistic children have blamed mercury in vaccines for rising rates of autism, although no conclusive scientific link has been established.

HCA began notifying obstetricians Thursday about the vaccinations, and 78 women came in for shots today.

Because of the nationwide shortage of vaccine doses, this is the first time that most pregnant women in the county have been eligible to get it. Doses have been available mostly in nasal-spray form (under the brand name FluMist), but that version is only recommended for people age 2-49 who are not pregnant and don’t have any chronic health problems. Doses of the injectable form arrived in the county last Friday, but they were earmarked for hospitals.

“Pregnant women have quite a higher risk of hospitalization and severe illness than the general population” from the virus, Bowen said. “The challenge has been that the main vaccine coming into the county has been the nasal mist, and pregnant women can’t take that. So this is wonderful that we’ve gotten a significant supply of the vaccine shot that is appropriate for pregnant women.”

Two pregnant women and four children are among the 23 Orange County people who have died of H1N1.

Women are at a high risk during a flu pandemic because their immune systems are naturally diminished to accommodate a growing fetus. The baby also puts pressure on the lungs, reducing women’s lung capacity. H1N1 has been known to settle deeply in the lungs, which is why it has hit those with underlying respiratory problems, like asthma, particularly hard. Still, women are historically skeptical of vaccines or any other medication during pregnancy, as this excellent overview in the L.A. Times showed.

Sears’ views on H1N1 and pregnant women set him apart

October 27th, 2009, 6:00 am by Landon Hall

bobsears_blog2 Dr. Bob Sears, part of the Sears family of Dana Point-based pediatricians, has departed from much of the medical community on the issue of whether pregnant women should receive vaccinations for the H1N1 flu strain.

“I guess if I had to pick a side, I would recommend that women not get the vaccine,” he told me. “But you have to be comfortable with the disease risks.”

Sears doesn’t have to pick a side, of course. He’s a pediatrician by training. But he does see a handful of pregnant women at his practice. And as the author of “The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child,” mothers and expectant mothers all over the country look to him for advice.

Sears says that neither the H1N1 vaccine (which, in shot form, arrived in Orange County on Friday) nor the seasonal-flu vaccine has been sufficiently tested for safety on pregnant women.

What do other area doctors and researchers say? Click here to read the story.

Meantime, the federal government is making a strong nationwide advertising push to promote the vaccine as safe and effective at inoculating pregnant women against this nasty strain of flu. Here’s a PDF of a flyer the CDC is distributing. It’s not exactly hip, playing off the “Baby on Board” placards that were all the rage in the 1980s. But this and other government promos are likely to be effective by using imagery and wording that shows pregnant women and children as particularly vulnerable to the virus. One print ad says “I’ll protect my baby,” and shows a father kissing an infant. The CDC ad’s copy says: “Vaccination can protect you both!”

Here’s what Dr. Bob had to say about that particular tagline:

“I can’t argue that campaign is false, because it’s true: The flu can harm your baby, and the vaccine can protect both mom and the baby,” he told me. “It’s true, but there should be some fine print in that ad, kind of like the smoking ads: ‘Warning: The flu vaccine has not been tested to determine whether it can cause fetal harm.’ ”

Breastfeeding moms, there’s ‘daytime’ and ‘nighttime’ milk

October 5th, 2009, 6:00 am by Landon Hall

Breastfeeding mothers who pump and store their milk for later might want to start keeping track of the time of day it was expressed. It breast-feeding2 could mean the difference between a blissfully snoozing baby and a wide-awake, cranky one.

A new study conducted in Spain reveals how the composition of breastmilk changes throughout the day to suit a baby’s biological needs. At night, milk has higher levels of nucleotides, naturally occurring chemicals linked to sleep. The higher concentrations help relax the baby’s central nervous system and bring sleep. The nucleotide levels retreat during the day.

“This made us realize that milk induces sleep in babies,” said Cristina L. Sánchez, the study’s lead author and a researcher at the University of Extremadura in Badajoz, in southwestern Spain. “You wouldn’t give anyone a coffee at night, and the same is true of milk: It has day-specific ingredients that stimulate activity in the infant, and other night-time components that help the baby to rest.”

Sanchez and her colleagues tested breastmilk samples from 30 healthy mothers in the region of Extremadura, which borders Portugal. Samples were collected before each feeding time over a 24-hour period. The study showed that the highest concentrations of the sleep-aiding nucleotides were found between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m.

The study will be welcome news for breastfeeding moms who have difficulty getting their babies to sleep for long stretches at night. Working mothers, in particular, often store expressed milk in plastic bags or other containers and stockpile it in the freezer. But if a mom (or a hapless dad) gives the baby the “daytime” milk at night, they could be in for a struggle.

Most milk-storage bags come with space on which to write the date and the quantity expressed. As Toronto Globe and Mail writer Paul Taylor puts it, parents might want to “time stamp” the stash.

Going to such lengths is admirable, but parents shouldn’t lose sight of what’s most important: knowing that breastfeeding is best for the child, says Christine Betzold, a family nurse practitioner and lactation consultant at Children’s Hospital of Orange County.

“Giving human milk that’s expressed, no matter what time of day, is better than giving formula,” she said. “Taking the time to put the date and time on the milk is nice, but it’s not necessary.”

What about babies who are on formula? In a separate study, Sanchez and her colleague Javier Cubero created a “nighttime” milk by adding two kinds of the nucleotides to formula. Infants who were given this mixture at night fell asleep faster and slept longer than those who got formula all the time.

Will you consider "time-stamping" your breastmilk?

Orange County Register

Archive for the 'pregnancy' Category

What the Tebows didn’t say in their ad

Abstinence programs, teen pregnancy linked?

Should women eat and drink during labor?

Swine flu shots available for O.C. pregnant women

Sears’ views on H1N1 and pregnant women set him apart

Breastfeeding moms, there’s ‘daytime’ and ‘nighttime’ milk

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