Work Cited

American Pregnancy Association, . "Alcohol and Pregnancy: What You Should Know." American Pregnancy Association 10/2008: 1. Web. 22 Mar 2011. <http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancyhealth/alcohol.html>.


"Good and Bad Example." Funny Life : Stress Free. Blogger.com, 4:47 AM. Web. 22 Mar 2011. <http://funfree-bali.blogspot.com/2009/01/bad-and-good-example.html>.


American Pregnancy Association, . "Alcohol and Pregnancy: What You Should Know." American Pregnancy Association 10/2008: 1. Web. 22 Mar 2011. <http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancyhealth/alcohol.html>.


American Pregnancy Association, . "Using Illegal Street Drugs During Pregnancy." American Pregnancy Association 10/2008: 1. Web. 22 Mar 2011. <http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancyhealth/illegaldrugs.html>.


"FASD and The brain." Alcohol & Pregnancy. Web. 22 Mar 2011. <http://distillers.tastylime.net/library/FAS/Alcohol-and-Pregnancy-Dont.htm>.


Women Heath Care Topics, . "Stress During Pregnancy." Women Heath Care Topics 2011: 1. Web. 22 Mar 2011. <http://www.womenshealthcaretopics.com/preg_stress.htm>.


"Alcohol In Pregnancy." Pregnant Women. Web. 22 Mar 2011. <http://www.healthspablog.org/category/pregnant-women/>.
"Vital Statistics." Health. Web. 29 Mar 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/health/25stat.html>.


Medline Plus, . "Premature Babies." Trusted Help Information 23 February 2011: 1. Web. 29 Mar 2011. <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/prematurebabies.html>.

ACOG, . "Early Preterm Birth." 2011: 1. Web. 29 Mar 2011. <http://www.acog.org/publications/patient_education/bp173.cfm>. 


Michael R. Foley, MD , . "Drug Use During Pregnancy ." Merck Manuals May 2007: 1. Web. 29 Mar 2011. <http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/au/sec22/ch259/ch259a.html>.


Alcohol during Pregnancy, . "Lifestyle factors & prematurity." Your Pregnancy, Labor and resource2010: 1. Web. 9 Apr 2011. <http://www.birth.com.au/Premature-baby/Lifestyle-factors-prematurity>.


Morasha R. Winoku, First. My Invisible World - life with a brother, his disability and his service dog . Only. Fall 2009. 150 plus. Print.


Adele Pillitteri, First. Maternal & Child. Sixth Edition. 1808. Print.


HELPGUIDE, . "Understanding Stress SIGNS, SYMPTOMS, CAUSES, AND EFFECTS." (2001-2011): 1. Web. 10 Apr 2011. <2001-2011>.


Baby Hopes, . "Can Stress Affect My Chances of Getting Pregnant?." (2000-2011): 1. Web. 10 Apr 2011. <http://www.babyhopes.com/articles/stress-getting-pregnant.html>.


Woman Health Care Topic, . "Stress During Pregnancy ." (2004 - 2011): 1. Web. 10 Apr 2011. <http://www.womenshealthcaretopics.com/preg_stress.htm>.

Reflection on Source

The sources that are on my blog took me a lot of sometime to find, especially the graph! The graph was the hardest to find and the were pictures were the easiest to find within good, reliable sources. I found good research through the Scholar Google search engine. The most useful website to my blog was www.americanpregnancy.org. this website spoke on every question i had except for the ones about stress.I also tried to pick website that were completely unbiased because i wanted the last decision and hypothesis.

Reflection on Process

The process of this project was long, but never did i get bored. Within the project I had a couple doubts, and sometimes I was a little unsure but at the end it all turned out okay. The most difficult part was trying to type what i feel and how i want my audience to portray my topic. I wanted you to feel touch and compelled to help with my problem. The most funnest part of creating my blog was creating it knowing that i had the power to shape the project-- how ever I want. If I could do this project again, knowing what I know now I would not change anything.

Reflection on Findings

Through out this research project I have found out many things that were shocking to me. My initial hypothesis was that drugs would be the leading problem of my three different problem points that were, drugs, alcohol, and stress. Also from research the most shocking fact I found was that 150,00 babies are born premature a day. After researching this topic I came to the conclusion that stress was the most harmful problem because stress lead to other things like drinking alcohol and doing drugs. Overall I now feel grateful for my life that I did not turn out like the less fortunate babies.

This wordle was composed of 25 words that used most within my topic, those words were most of the following: Premature, Americans, death, and babies. I think these words were most prominent in my blog because they were the essential of my topic. Premature babies in America that die everyday from preventable things is what my blog is trying to stress.

Finding Paragraph #3

I have the biggest question that no one will answer completely or exactly. What is worst drugs, alcohol, or stress? Woman's Health Care Topics indicated that stress is not healthy for anyone but especially for pregnant women because "Very high levels of stress may contribute to an increased risk of premature delivery or low birth weight babies. Still other studies suggest that overly high stress levels can increase your heart rate, blood pressure and produce chronic anxiety"(Woman's Health Care Topics).  Stress also plays an big affect in your emotional well being. When your emotional well being is off it is not good for the baby because your mentally not healthy. with stress comes illnesses, depression, strains, miscarriages, and pre-term birth (Baby Hopes). Stress's affects vary on how you perceive things but stress always has a sign. There is something called cognitive symptoms and those symptoms include:

• Memory problems
• Inability to concentrate
• Poor judgment
• Seeing only the negative
• Anxious or racing thoughts
• Constant worrying

There is also another sign of stress and its when it affects you behaviors, those symptoms include any of the following:

• Eating more or less
• Sleeping too much or too little
• Isolating yourself from others
• Procrastinating or neglecting responsibilities
• Using alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs to relax
• Nervous habits (e.g. nail biting, pacing)

All of these symptoms would affect the fetus in a negative manner (Help Guide). Stress leads to other detrimental things; so does that make stress the superior over drugs and alcohol?  

Finding Paragraph #2

An everlasting problem in the world will always be the use of drugs. But and even bigger problem is the mothers that do drugs while their pregnant. Do people do this because the absence of education or intellectuality? Or do they really understand that the involvement of this negative activity harms the fetus? I know everyone sees this problem but nobody ever challenges this enticing topic. Marijuana better know as weed, stops the the oxygen supply to the unborn baby. Another drug called cocaine causes miscarriages, premature births, and placenta eruptions. Also along with those drugs there are two more called Heroin and Methane. Heroin causes the baby to be dependent on it; consequently, with out the drug the baby may have relapses. Methane on the other hand, makes the babies heart beat increase dangerously (American Pregnancy Association). These babies exposed to these drugs before birth also face an increased risk of  increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Yet theses effects sound every detrimental drugs does not greatly affect the babies life after its born. The greatest affects of drugs takes place within the womb (March of Dimes). Besides my suspicion on the mentality of people, I wondered  what happens to the mothers who uses the drugs. It turns out that these women that turn their  selfs in for help while pregnant is just instructed to receive counseling (Maternal Child Care). Is that a just consequence?
  

Finding Paragraph #1

The lack of knowledge is the lack of power, and the lack of understanding is ignorance. Should you allow your ignorance to get in the way of your child's mental and physical health-- their future? This inferences has caused me to inquire more question. Query like, why do people drink while their pregnant, what are the consequences of drinking while your pregnant, and lastly is the affects of alcohol worst than the affects of  drugs or stress?  A baby is not completely developed within the womb until its nine months old; therefore, if you drink while pregnant you increase the chance for your baby not surviving or having birth defects. (Birth. au) When you drink you open up the possibilities of your child having Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD). FASD is an illness  that causes neurological and mental effects that range in severity (American Pregnancy Association). This reoccurring epidemic is something that needs to be addressed -- now! There is actually someone who has chosen to publicize his life, displaying his FASD. His name is  Iyal; because he was born with birth defects, he has various and frequent outbursts. He appears normal but he is not and he never will be. Through out this story his little sister describes all of his mental disabilities. Now if his mother would not have drink while she was pregnant, she could have prevented all of his short comings (Morasha R. Winokur). Do you want the same life for your child?

Question & Answer

Ms. Mckoy you asked a question, you asked "what stage in pregnancy does drug use impact the fetus the most?" so I went searching and I found this website called Merck Manuals. This website stated that, "The fetus is particularly vulnerable to birth defects between the 3rd and the 8th week after fertilization, when its organs are developing. Drugs reaching the fetus during this stage may have no effect, or they may cause a miscarriage, an obvious birth defect, or a permanent but subtle defect that is noticed later in life. Drugs taken after organ development is complete are unlikely to cause obvious birth defects, but they may alter the growth and function of normally formed organs and tissues."  


Michael R. Foley, MD , . "Drug Use During Pregnancy ." Merck Manuals May 2007: 1. Web. 29 Mar 2011. <http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/au/sec22/ch259/ch259a.html>.

More Quotes....

 "Premature birth occurs in between 8 percent to 10 percent of all pregnancies in the United States." I got this quote from Medline Plus and this quote is stating  just what it said 8 to 10 percent of all births are participants within early births. That is like 1 out of 10 births are premature. i want to know why why these births are so prominent? Then i would like to know is there anything we as a people could do to reduce this high birth rates. After searching this website it lead me to another website called ACOG. ACOG stated that, "Studies found that babies born before the 23rd week of pregnancy were not likely to survive. About one half of the babies born at the 25th week survived. By the 26th week of pregnancy, the survival chances increased to 76%. But most of the babies who survived had serious health problems 18–22 months later." Within this quote ACOG pronounced all of the different survival chances one may have by the week it was born. Then this quote also goes on to say that a year or two after the baby is born it will have a high risk of having a very dis-functional life. 


Medline Plus, . "Premature Babies." Trusted Help Information 23 February 2011: 1. Web. 29 Mar 2011. <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/prematurebabies.html>.


ACOG, . "Early Preterm Birth." 2011: 1. Web. 29 Mar 2011. <http://www.acog.org/publications/patient_education/bp173.cfm>. 

Graph..

This first graph is talking about how the preterm births have been fluctuating for the pass 30 years. Then this top graph also shows how the rates of these births were decreasing for every on but the woman over forty. My new question is why did the rates go down within 2008? The bottom graph to the left is showing the parent ages that these high risk births occur in most. Then the graph to the bottom, on the right, on top of the very bottom, is talking about the way that the baby had to be delivered within the situation. Then the very last graph on the very bottom, to the right, it talks about the race that these births show up in most. From this graph you can see that couples over the age of 45 that are African American have the most preterm births and when these babies are born they are usually born through a cesarean surgery.

"Vital Statistics." Health. Web. 29 Mar 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/health/25stat.html>.

Explanation...

This photograph shows a women that is pregnant, and by the look on her face I can tell she is stressed. Then you can see that there is a glass and a bottle of wine on the table. This image shows you how stress plays a major affect on the mother as well as the baby. Do you think maybe if this woman was not stressed she would not drink? The most serious problem with stress is, is that it leads to other things worst that may harm the baby more than the mental tension she already has. Now ask your self again what is worst of the listed: stress that may lead to other harmful thing, drugs, or alcohol.

"Alcohol In Pregnancy." Pregnant Women. Web. 22 Mar 2011. <http://www.healthspablog.org/category/pregnant-women/>.