Being pregnant during Covid-19 may be stressful and induce anxiety in many soon-to-be moms. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to get through! We outlined some of the guidance the CDC has released for pregnant women during Covid-19 because the sharing of useful information during a time like this is CRUCIAL.
Are COVID-19 vaccines safe in pregnancy?
A. Probably yes.
B. Pregnancy and the COVID19 vaccine itself very much isn’t. It is very dangerous to pregnant women.
The impact of covid-19 on pregnant women has been a concern for many people. unfortunately, there isn’t too much data available because we’re still learning about the virus. THE CDC however suggests that pregnant individuals may be at a higher risk.
The CDC also states that the pregnant population could possibly suffer from adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as preterm birth. It is advised that pregnant individuals take the utmost caution during these stressful times and do not skip their prenatal care appointments.
Here is some data released by the CDC:
- 4,954 Pregnant women have been Hospitalized since January 22nd.
- 21,573 pregnant women have been diagnosed with covid in the U.S.A and there have been 48 deaths.
- Hispanic or Latino pregnant women seem to be heavily impacted
Being pregnant during the pandemic is unimaginably stressful. shout out to all those new moms out there! If you’re having a difficult time coping with the pandemic and the risks it imposes, you don’t have to go through this alone! Approach your physician with any questions.
And of course-keep, yourself occupied! staying at home doesn’t mean you can’t have fun! Video call some of your pals or start picking out that wallpaper for the nursery! and most important-stay safe. Wear a mask and wash your hands regularly for twenty seconds.
References:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/pregnancy-breastfeeding.html
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Chances are you know someone Trying to Conceive (TTC), you know someone who is struggling with infertility. More than seven million people of childbearing age in the United States experience infertility.
What most people don’t understand about infertility is that its NOT that motherhood is out of reach, it’s that it’s JUST barely out of reach.
It’s not that motherhood didn’t happen, it’s that it almost did and, in fact, still could.
The difference between the grief of infertility and other reasons for mourning is in that promise of “just,” in “almost,” in “still could.” This does not make it more or less livable than other forms of grief, but it goes a long way toward explaining why the journey is so hard to explain, or understand.
Why might a woman put herself under the knife ten, twelve, twenty times to get pregnant, why might she spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in the effort???
We walk this path because motherhood is not unthinking, automatic, and instinctual, instead it is a thing that is both worked at and worked for. So how can you support the people in your life TTC?
– Be Supportive: Simply listen and be ready to listen when called upon.
-Acknowledge infertility as a medical and emotional crisis with a wide variety of losses, disappointments, and ‘costs’: physical, financial, social, marital.
-Be sensitive to the pain, stress, and emotional pressure of childlessness or the inability to expand one’s family as desired. There are science backed ways to reduce stress- consider gifting guided mediations and mindfulness practices for the reduction of stress which is being found to affect most of our bodily systems and make-up, especially the effects on our fertility.
-Respect the boundaries the infertile individual or couple sets regarding their infertility TTC (Trying To Conceive). Some infertile people prefer a high level of privacy about infertility. Others choose a more open approach.
- Realize that no matter what they are going through, no matter where they are on the fertility journey— they are strong.
”Sometimes courage isn’t climbing Mount Everest or changing the world. Sometimes your mountain to climb is made up of weekdays and months, made up of pushing yourself forward even when you want to nestle into the past. Sometimes changing the world means changing your world as gradually as you need to, as gently as you heal, because sometimes courage isn’t made up of war and bloodshed; sometimes courage isn’t made of combat. Sometimes courage is a quiet fight, a dim softness within you, that flickers even on your darkest days and reminds you that you are strong, that you are growing—that there is hope.”
Fertility apps are mobile apps that promote wellness, treat and diagnose disease, aid clinical decision-making, and manage patient care from the comfort of home. Patients suffering from infertility might find these apps helpful pre-fertility treatment as they can help to manage lifestyle factors, during treatment to manage medications and calendar appointments, use message boards where they can share experiences, seek or offer peer support, track and chart medical information such as cervical fluid, basal body temperature, and fertility medications and to time intercourse. Could you guess how many fertility awareness apps there are out there? 100! And they have more than 200 million downloads!
Fertility apps are changing the field of reproductive medicine to make it more understandable and easier to manage for patients! We understand that infertility is not easy to navigate and with rapidly developing technology comes some awesome apps that will do all the navigation for you!
ART Compass
ART Compass is a fertility app! It makes the process of IVF so much easier not only for clinics but for patients as well! You are able to view images of your embryos and also view their pre-implantation genetic testing status! All your data is in one place, easily accessible to you the patient! There is no hassle in trying to communicate with your IVF clinic either when you use ART Compass! Fertility apps should all have one goal in common, to make your TTC journey less stressful and complicated and ART Compass does just that!
Natural Cycles the app and the data it’s provided
Harper et. al. looked at over half a million ovulation cycles worth of data collected via the FDA Approved Natural Cycles app to enhance our understanding of the key stages of ovulation. The results demonstrated that few women have that textbook 28-day cycle, with some experiencing very short or very long cycles. The findings show that an average cycle lasts for 29.3 days and only approximately 13% of cycles are 28 days in length! In the entire study, only 65% of women had cycles that lasted between 25 and 30 days. The Natural Cycles app claims to be useful as a hormone-free method of birth control. Some studies have demonstrated a “typical use” failure rate over 13 menstrual cycles of 8.3%.
Further Research
An additional 25 apps out of 140 reviewed (17.9%) contain information or functions specifically related to infertility or its management. High quality infertility applications were noted as allowing users to track fertility medications, symptoms and results. Additional features include reminders of fertility doctor appointments and when to administer fertility medication, results tracking (including blood type information, sperm counts and blood levels), notes section for tracking of issues for later reference, and ability to track symptoms. Menstrual tracking applications have been consistently assessed for their functionality and accuracy. This particular research has revealed a downside to fertility apps. In 2016, Moglia et al. scored 108 menstrual tracking applications, and their primary criterion for ongoing inclusion was accuracy. They concluded “Most free smartphone menstrual cycle tracking apps for patient use are inaccurate. Few cite medical literature or health professional involvement.”
Updating this analysis in 2019, Zwingerman et. al. Identified 140 menstrual tracking applications, with a low overall app quality score of 32%, and a further thirty-one apps (22.1%) with serious inaccuracies in content, tools, or both. When 218 menstrual tracking apps were assessed in 2016 for their use in preventing unintended pregnancy, over 40% were found to not mention any modern contraceptive methods at all. A systematic review by Mangone et al. found that very few fertility awareness applications have clinically relevant, evidence-based usefulness, and many of them may even increase the likelihood of unintended pregnancy due to the low effectiveness of the contraceptive methods promoted. For this reason, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists only advocates the use of mobile applications to track menstrual cycles, not as a primary tool to prevent or achieve pregnancy.
Additionally, there have been major HIPAA compliance concerns with some fertility tracking apps. These applications often ask for intimate details: sexual activity, history of abortions, cervical mucus consistency, orgasm frequency, preferred sex positions. It was recently reported that the Glow (a pregnancy planning app) app was plagued by a series of security flaws, exposing sensitive information to anyone who cared to look. It was characterized as a “Jackpot for Stalkers.” They have since added a new section to their website, inviting hackers to “research” security flaws and responsibly report them.
There are clearly many upsides and downsides to fertility apps. This is why it is crucial to choose the right one. You can do so by doing a little research by reading customer reviews for apps and understanding what specific services they provide! And of course, in today’s day and age, privacy is important! So watch out for some apps that don’t seem the most secure! All in all, fertility apps can help you navigate infertility with ease if you choose the right one.
References:
Berglund Scherwitzl, E., et al., Perfect-use and typical-use Pearl Index of a contraceptive mobile app. Contraception, 2017. 96(6): p. 420-425.
Moglia, M.L., et al., Evaluation of Smartphone Menstrual Cycle Tracking Applications Using an Adapted APPLICATIONS Scoring System. Obstet Gynecol, 2016. 127(6): p. 1153-60.
Mangone, E.R., V. Lebrun, and K.E. Muessig, Mobile Phone Apps for the Prevention of Unintended Pregnancy: A Systematic Review and Content Analysis. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth, 2016. 4(1): p. e6.