Can pregnant women bathe in hot water?

We hear elderly women talk about those old days when women used to undergo even ten deliveries without any effort! But today, the atmosphere is entirely different and childbirth cannot be taken as an ordinary event. Delivery through surgery has become common. Dr. Jeyarani Kamaraj talks about pregnancy, delivery, labor pain etc.

Q: They say that pregnant women should bathe in hot water to get relief from pain. Is this correct?

A: Hot water can be used for bathing after allowing it to cool for sometime. But if the water is hot, the veins expand and blood circulation increases. This might lead to dizziness and other problems. Before retiring to bed, bathing in lukewarm water is good. This will induce sleep.

Q: How do the doctors calculate the probable date of delivery?

A: The exact duration of pregnancy is 266 days. This period starts from the minute of fertilization to the actual delivery of the baby. But to make the calculation easier, the doctors do not calculate from the time of conception. They take the first day of the last period as the starting date. As per this calculation, the pregnancy period will work out to 280 days.

Q: In some hospitals, all deliveries are done through cesarean, why? Is this necessary?

A: We cannot say that they do like this in all the hospitals. Cesarean is done when the condition of the baby or the mother is in danger.

Q: How to know that the time of delivery has come? Will there be pain only at the time of delivery or even before that?

A:During the term of pregnancy, the muscles of the uterus will keep contracting, preparing itself for delivery. When the time for delivery is nearing, contraction becomes more frequent. The lower abdomen will become tight and then relax. Some women get pain even weeks before the calculated time of delivery and the process sets on. If the woman gets stomach pain which she has not experienced earlier or gets back pain different from her earlier experience or if there’s bleeding or if the embryo sac breaks, then the doctor should be consulted immediately.

Q: Some women don’t get labor pains …!

A: If the woman has toxemia disease or if the pain doesn’t start even at the appropriate time, pain is triggered artificially. This happens in the case of women above thirty years. But this is only exceptional. Delivery after pain is a natural course. But pregnant women should be careful in everything.