Posts Tagged ‘childbirth’

A new mobile information service announced today aims to provide any mother-to-be (who has a cell phone) with free text messages that will guide her throughout pregnancy and until her child’s first birthday. The service, called Text4baby, was announced in conjunction with all major US wireless carriers and is currently operational. Women who sign up for the service by texting BABY (or BEBE for Spanish) to 511411 will receive free SMS text messages each week, timed to their due date or baby’s date of birth. The text4baby messages are not personalized, but the information in each message is relevant to the mother’s pregnancy timeline or the age of her child. The content will include a comprehensive variety of topics from the CDC and the Health Resources and Services Administration, including tips on immunizations, nutrition, prenatal care, emotional well being, drugs and alcohol, labor and delivery, breastfeeding, mental health, birth defects prevention, car seat safety, exercise and fitness, developmental milestones, family violence, and more. [via Text4baby.org]

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Did you know that it is legal in most states of the union to shackle incarcerated women during childbirth? The American Academy of Obstetrics and Gynecology condemns this practice because they say it unnecessarily risks a woman’s health. Soon, New York will become the sixth state to ban this practice, along with California, Illinois, New Mexico, Texas and Vermont. It’s unclear how many inmates are affected by the practice. The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics said 4% of state inmates and 3% of federal inmates were pregnant in 2008 when they were first incarcerated. There is no data available to indicate how many women delivered babies in prison, or were restrained while doing so. [via The Boston Globe]

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In a report titled “Progress for Children: A Report Card on Maternal Maternity” the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) states that the number of mothers who died during pregnancy or childbirth remain largely unchanged. Over 99% of the estmated 536,000 worldwide maternal deaths in 2005 occurred in developing countries – half of them in sub-Saharan Africa. “One of the critical bottlenecks has always been access to highly skilled health workers required to deliver emergency obstetrical care, particularly caesarian sections,” Peter Salama UNICEF’s chief of health, told a news briefing. The leading causes of maternal death include hemorrhaging, infections, blood pressure problems, complications of abortions, obstructed labor, and HIV/AIDS. Read more and share your opinion.

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