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News

Student mother offers advice

New parent, March of Dimes counsel on ways 
to prevent premature births

by LEE CLARK
The Daily Cougar

Every year close to 470,000 babies are born prematurely in America. Premature birth -- when a baby is born before the 37th week of gestation -- is the No. 1 cause of infant mortality and a major cause of many serious health problems.

While scientists still have no definitive answers about what causes 50 percent of premature births, expectant mothers can anticipate a normal, healthy pregnancy by taking the necessary precautions.

Jessica Jones, a UH biology senior, became a mother on March 10 when she gave birth to her daughter Alyssa after a full nine months. Because Jones took the appropriate measures during her pregnancy, she gave Alyssa a healthy start in life.

Jones is a wealth of information for future expectant mothers because she has successfully gone through a full-term pregnancy, and she imparted several bits of advice about her experience.

"Prenatal care is critical in keeping a baby healthy and making sure everything is on the right track," Jones said. "Since I didn't have my own insurance, Medicaid allowed me to get my prenatal checkups and to be able to monitor the progress of my baby." 

In addition, Jones urged expectant mothers to eat a healthy diet, which includes taking a prenatal supplement that contains folic acid, a vitamin that helps with the development of a baby's brain and spinal cord.

A frequent visitor to the Women's Resource Center, Jones also advised expectant mothers to rely on friends and family for support.

"It helps to have people to talk to about being pregnant and what you're going through and about life in general," Jones said.

Because there are so many pregnancy-related issues to keep up with, Jones' final bit of advice was for expectant mothers to go online and find information about pregnancy from reliable sources such as WebMD.com or the marchofdimes.com.

Ernestine Piña-Sandoval, Director of Communications for the March of Dimes Houston affiliate, said she is grateful for women like Jones who take good care of their bodies during pregnancy

"The problem is half of all premature births have no known cause," Piña-Sandoval said. "A woman can do everything right and still have a premature baby.

"That's why the March of Dimes continues to fight until the day every baby is born full term and healthy, and the charitable dollars we receive help us in this fight to save babies," Piña-Sandoval said.

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