Posted on 08/20/2007 5:56:21 PM PDT by Coleus
Pregnant with her first child, Kandice Odom was feeling stressed. "My feet were swollen, I would get dizzy easily and it was hard for me to focus or concentrate," recalled the 22-year-old Jersey City resident. Then, after a routine doctor's visit into her sixth month of pregnancy, things got a lot more complicated.
Odom's blood pressure was dangerously high and she was immediately referred to high-risk specialists at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. A decision ultimately was made to deliver her baby by Caesarean section. Simone Marie Gilliard was born June 24 weighing just 2 pounds. "She was so small. I was kind of scared for her," Odom recalled.
As preemies go, Simone actually wasn't that small. On Friday a baby born weighing just 11 ounces -- less than a can of soda -- was getting ready to leave a Trenton hospital with her parents after nearly four months of being hooked up to life-sustaining equipment. Each year in the United States, more than half a million babies are born too soon, but African-American mothers are at greatest risk. This must stop, say officials of the March of Dimes. The organization's New Jersey Chapter has launched a program to improve birth outcomes for these mothers.
Called Body and Soul, the nine-week curriculum will be offered in churches, by community-based organizations and in health clinics, where volunteers are being trained to work with pregnant women. They will zero in on factors like stress, cited as playing a pivotal role in pregnancy outcomes. One recent study, led by University of Rochester researchers, found that anxious or depressed mothers-to-be are at increased risk of having children who will experience sleep problems in infancy and as toddlers.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Naw, easier to blame it on Whitey.
Each year in the United States, more than half a million babies are born too soon, but African-American mothers are at greatest risk. This must stop, say officials of the March of Dimes. The organization’s New Jersey Chapter has launched a program to improve birth outcomes for these mothers.
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The March of Dimes is nearly as evil an organization as PP ,,, In the 1950’s and 60’s their goal was to eradicate disease that caused birth defects , since then their goal has shifted to “test and abort” , this is why 90% of all Downs babies are now aborted ,,, That the march of dimes wants to tackle the problem with the absurdly high preemie rate among the black population is on the surface a noble goal until you factor in that the abortion rate and the preemie rate parallel one another, blacks in America have more preemies because of their greater abortion rate ... I wonder if the march of dimes has the guts to spell out the connection..
Not to mention be old enough to have sufficient vitamin stores in your body to supply to growing baby with essential developmental needs.
You notice that the woman mentioned in this story is 22 years old. Do they make the point that the many 14 and 15 year olds getting pregnant is a bad thing? That not eating right and taking drugs are bad things? No, it’s all due to poverty and racism.
thanks, bfl
Both mothers mentionned in this article suffered from preeclampsia, which blacks may simply be more prone to, in the same way they are more prone to high blood pressure. Pregnancy at an early age, pregnancy at a late age, overweight, and chronic hypertension all make preeclampsia more likely.
I have no doubt that many pregnant black women live in stressful circumstances, but those circumstances are largely not the result of any current racism. And there are many factors which are controllable - when you get pregnant, by whom, prenatal care, STDs, substance use. The mother of that 11 oz. baby is married and seemed to be getting care, and I’m not saying all women are responsible for trouble in their pregnancy or have done anything wrong.
It is absolutely true that there have been studies showing that women who have emotional support during pregnancy are more likely to have a successful pregnancy, but to focus on racism will be pointless.
And I’m going to have to suck in this stuff as I go through the BSN and nurse-midwifery programs.
Mrs VS
Thomas Sowell
Some years ago, there were media outcries because black pregnant women received less prenatal care than white pregnant women and their infant mortality rates were higher. But Americans of Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino ancestry also had less prenatal care than whites -- and lower infant mortality rates than whites.
The effects of personal behavior cannot be ignored.
I watched a “news” show one day a few years ago that had some hammer-a$$ from MOD claim that the use of Folic Acid had reduced the number of Downs Syndrome babies. The “newscaster-ette” sat there in awe at this announcement and heavily sighed. I called the station and got a hold of the fawning news-babe and said it was outrageous that she allowed that MOD “lady” to get away with that statement. When I informed her that over 90% of Down’s babies don’t see the light of day because of amniocentesis interference encouraged by the MOD, she still had no desire to question that lady’s ridiculous statement.
Folic Acid = fewer Down’s Syndrome Babies, or amniocentesis = fewer Down’s Syndrom Babies? Which is it?
Whenever MOD people call on the phone, I tell them exactly what I think of them. In most cases, the telephoners have no idea of what I’m talking about. Shame on March of Dimes. Disgusting!
Can you provide an actual medical research source for that claim?
Huh? There is no connection whatsoever between folic acid and Down Syndrome, and I seriously doubt anyone from March of Dimes claimed there was. Folic acid supplementation has reduced the incidence of SPINA BIFIDA by about 50% and this has nothing to do with abortion. The folic acid prevents the condition from developing in a fetus which would otherwise develop it, because folic acid deficiency is the primary cause of all spina bifida and other neural tube defects (including anencephaly). However, some women have an innate defect that prevents them from properly absorbing and using folic acid, and those are the ones who have had babies with spina bifida in spite of taking plenty of folic acid.
“Huh? There is no connection whatsoever between folic acid and Down Syndrome”
I’m just telling you what the news-babe was told by the MOD lady. I agree with you. The fact that this lady didn’t ask her where she got that info, and the fact that she didn’t respond to my challenge of the validity of the information lead me to believe that she was either stupid or a typical left media dope.
One gets the impression that to some, "the gap" is more troubling than overall rates. Maybe we can lower white test stores, and raise white infant mortality rates. Anything to close "the gap."
BTTT
First Polio
Then Birth Defects
Now Prematurity.
Did I miss anything?
Plenty of research ,, much of it discussed here ... here is one link to a UK study ,, feel free to draw your own conclusions..
http://www.prolife.org.uk/pdfs/Previous_induced_abortion.pdf
The big unstated secret here is not racism and stress.
The big secret is teen pregnancy...Babies don’t have healthy Babies.
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