Pregnancy: Are You Ready to Have a Baby?

Are you a woman? If you are, have you been thinking about motherhood? If you have, you may be wondering whether or not you are ready to be a parent. While parenthood is occasionally unexpected, a large number of women and their partners plan and prepare for it. If that is the approach that you would like to take, there are a number of important factors or issues that you should first take into consideration.

Perhaps, the most important factor to take into consideration is healthcare. When pregnant, you will need to schedule regular prenatal exams. Towards the end of your pregnancy, these exams may be as common as once or twice a week. For that reason, healthcare should be taken into consideration. Do you have health insurance? If you do, does your health insurance cover pregnancy and prenatal care? If it does not or if you are uninsured, you may end up paying for the cost of your pregnancy alone.

In keeping the cost of having a child, it is also important to examine the costs after your baby is born. It is no secret that raising children is expensive. How are you currently managing, financially, now? If you are having difficultly making ends meet, you may be unable to afford the cost of a child. Of course, there are financial programs out there to assist, but you shouldnt rely too heavily on them. If you would like to have a child, it is advised that you take steps to financially prepare for doing so. These steps may involve increasing your work hours or eliminating unnecessary purchases.

Another factor that needs to be examined is your current living situation. Do you own your own home or do you rent an apartment? Regardless of whether you are a homeowner or a renter, do you have enough space for a child? If you do not, it may be a good idea to rethink your current living situation. Although many mothers like to keep their newborns in the same room with them at night, there will come a point in time where your child will need their own room. If you would like to buy a larger home or rent a larger apartment, you may want to think about doing so before you decide to become pregnant, as it may save you a considerable amount of stress.

Another issue that needs to be discussed is your partner or spouses feelings on having a new child. Although it is more than possible for you to be a single mother, by way of a sperm donor, many women make the decision to have a child with a man that they love. Despite being more than possible to raise a child as a single parent, it is important that you seek assistance from the father. That is why the decision to have a child is one that you and your partner should make together. If you are married or if you have been with your partner for a long period of time, there is a good chance that they will be just as excited with having a baby as you are. If, at this point in time, you realize that you both have difficult goals and aspirations in life, the issue needs to be dealt with as soon as possible.

When deciding if you are ready to become a mother, the above mentioned issues are all ones that should be taken into consideration. As a reminder, many women have children unexpectedly, but many take the time to plan and prepare for pregnancy and childbirth. If you would like to thoroughly examine your decision before getting pregnant, it is advised that you do so. You can research pregnancy and raising a newborn baby by speaking with your healthcare professional and other parents or by buying a collecting of birthing and parenting books, as well as by using the internet to your advantage.

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Staying Fit On The Go

Just because you are a busy person with lots to do everyday, it doesnt mean that you dont have time to stay fit and keep in shape while traveling. Excuses do not keep you fit and in shape and able to keep up with the demands of your busy life. If you are a member of a health club it would benefit you greatly if you ask the club if it participates in any programs that offer privileges at other facilities. Guest passes to certain spa and athletic clubs are sometimes free for one day. If your hotel does not have arrangements with a club near your hotel, the hotel that you are staying at just might. Asking at the front desk may open your eyes to many possibilities for a workout away from home and you will find out exactly what your options really are. Lots of hotels at least have treadmills or similar machines, which are much better than simply laying in bed and watching TV during your stay. When traveling just remember that almost every town has a YMCA or YWCA. Locate the yellow pages in your hotel room and give them a call. Again, there is now no excuse to become a traveling couch potato. Opportunities for you to take care of your fitness needs abound in all of your business and personal travels.

If necessary you may need to get a little creative, by using your hotel room as the gym of the day. Exercising in your hotel room is an easily and very convenient way to make certain that you get in your work out without missing a beat. Before you leave for your trip pack some collapsible hand weights or elastic exercise bands or other equipment that is made for travel, and turn your hotel room into the indoor gym that it has the potential to be. Elastic bands are great for getting resistance without lugging around big old dumbbells everywhere you go. Use the chairs and other pieces of furniture to your advantage to satisfy all of your fitness needs. Body weight exercises are enough for a great workout. Combine crunches, pushups, and legups. You wont exercise a large variety of muscles using only body weight, but you will at least be able to work on your heart and your endurance.

We understand that working out is not as easily done when you are in route to your next destination, so if your time is extremely tight and you dont have time for a complete work out. There are other alternatives to not working out at all. Stretch in your room, take a long walk. I bet the hotel is just as nice on the other side of the pool. Speaking of pool, you could always take a swim. Swimming is definitely a workout that will work every muscle in your body. With all of these ideas for a good work out, if not the best work out that youve ever had, you should no longer have any excuse for not continuing your fitness routine while traveling. Just remember that it doesnt really matter where you are when you do your work out but that you do your work out where you are. And if you cant do the exact routine that you are useful, just take solace in the fact that you are getting a workout.

For Arthritis Patients the Wrong Doctor Could Spell Disaster

For Arthritis Patients the Wrong Doctor Could Spell Disaster
Rudy Silva

For Arthritis Patients the Wrong Doctor Could Spell Disaster

New Book “Take Back Control of Your Arthritis: The 12 Critical Steps” Debuts During National Arthritis Awareness Month in May

San Antonio, Texas – April 14 /Xpress Press/ – Choosing the wrong physician may have disastrous consequences for an arthritis patient,” says Dr. Joel Rutstein, a board-certified rheumatologist and author of the new book “Take Back Control of Your Arthritis: The 12 Critical Steps.”

Dr. Rutsteins book debuts during May, which is also National Arthritis Awareness Month.

“Finding a Doctor You Can Trust” is the books first chapter and first step in Dr. Rutsteins 12-step road-map, which teaches arthritis sufferers how to avoid “the wrong doctors” and better self-manage their rheumatic condition.

How do you know if you are seeing the “the wrong doctor”?

— Dr. Rutstein suggests asking yourself the following questions the next time you see or call your doctor. If you answer yes to any of them, you may be seeing a physician who is not providing treatment that is in your best interest.

— Is your doctor unsympathetic when it comes to your complaints about pain?

— Does your doctor under-treat your pain, or do you feel your doctor does not believe your complaints of pain?

— Is your doctor excessively busy or a “bad listener”? Does he or she seem uninterested in hearing your medical history or evaluating your multiple complaints?

— Is your doctor too rough when examining your joints and muscles? Do you sometimes leave the medical office in more pain then when you arrived?

— Finally, is your doctor a poor communicator? Is your doctor not explaining your diagnosis and plans for treatment clearly and in simple and understandable terms?

Patients should spend as much time picking the perfect doctor as they would the perfect spouse, cautions Dr. Rutstein. “After all, your physician is the medical expert responsible for making life and death decisions concerning your health.

“Take Back Control of Your Arthritis: The 12 Critical Steps,” ($19.95, 229 pages) is available for sale at www.ArthritisMall.com or by calling toll free 800-980-6255. Multiple helpful video programs, including innovative exercise videos, are also available for purchase at the site.

About Dr. Joel E. Rutstein

Dr. Rutstein is the publisher of ArthritisCentral.com, one of the largest patient information websites dealing with the subject of arthritis and osteoporosis. A Spanish language version of the site may be accessed at www.ArtritisCentral.com.

In 1978, Dr. Rutstein founded the Arthritis Diagnostic & Treatment Center in San Antonio. He is currently the clinic’s director. He is a fellow member of the American College of Rheumatology and the American College of Physicians and is also the Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. BestDoctors.com recently named Dr. Rutstein as one of the “Best Doctors in America for 2003-2004.”

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Acupuncture and Drug Abuse

Acupuncture is a bright light on the road to recovery for many drug addicts and alcoholics. As an addict is recovering, the physical and psychological urge to get another fix or get another drink can be overwhelming. If the addict can get past that feeling, there is more hope for another successful day on the road to recovery. Currently there are a number of chemicals to help reduce that feeling, such as the nicotine patches to help people stop smoking. However, a major advantage of using acupuncture is that it uses no chemicals in the treatment, can be used for a number of different addictions, and is quite inexpensive compared to a number of other treatments.

Let’s take a look into a clinic that uses acupuncture to treat recovering addicts. Before the clinic used acupuncture, it was somewhat loud and not a pleasant place to be. The treatment room holds dozens of clients at the same time, each sitting in a chair. Each person sits with five long needles dangling from each ear. Depending on the person, a few also have some acupuncture needles in their hands, arms, or feet. When the time comes to remove the needles, some are removed by one of the acupuncture practitioners, or an assistant, or some clients remove their own needles at the appropriate time. Needles are left in the patient for an average of about forty-five minutes. The chairs are arranged so that the clients can see and talk to each other if they wish. This helps when they share experiences, and helps if some of the new clients are nervous about the use of acupuncture. The room, though it holds a number of often troubled patients, is generally quite calm and peaceful.

What advantage is there in using acupuncture for a recovering addict? Most of the addicts describe a release of that feeling that insists they must find a fix or must find a drink. The patient describes it as the feeling when you get home after a long day and take off your shoes. The effect of the treatment lasts for about a day, and so newly recovering addicts are scheduled for daily treatments. People such as dry alcoholics can come by on a periodic basis, or when they feel they need another acupuncture treatment. Many dry alcoholics are fine as long as their daily life is not stressful, but if a family problem arises at home or at work, the familiar feeling becomes strong once again. At those times an acupuncture clinic is a great help, for it affects an actual physical change in the person.

Many detox clinics that use acupuncture in its regimen incorporate it into an overall program, where the acupuncture treatments are the first steps that a patient takes. A typical clinic will schedule a new patient for daily acupuncture sessions, and at each session take a sample to ensure the patient has not used drugs during the past day. After 10 “clean” days, the patient is considered in sufficient shape to start additional therapy, such as a twelve step program. Acupuncture treatments continue during this time. If a patient has a relapse, the patient just starts all over again with the ten day acupuncture treatment.

Using acupuncture in recovery programs has definite advantages, both economically and in support of physical and mental health for the recovering addicts. It is just another example where the use of acupuncture incorporates healing in all areas: physical, mental, and emotional.