Category: Before Baby

Prenatal Legal Checkup & Videos

The People’s Community Clinic Medical-Legal Partnership created a legal checkup to help pregnant people in Texas. Watch the videos to help understand common legal needs while pregnant.

What is a legal checkup?

A legal checkup is a tool that can be used by people during all stages of life to figure out:

  • What legal needs they may have
  • What legal issues they can prevent

What is a prenatal legal checkup?

The Medical-Legal Partnership’s prenatal legal checkup is designed to start conversations about health-harming legal needs during pregnancy. Each video covers a different issue, including health insurance, food security, domestic violence, employment, housing, healthcare decisions, parental rights, and breastfeeding. The goal is to help expecting parents to take their health into their own hands.

Why is a prenatal legal checkup important?

  • Every year, 1.7 million people in the U.S. get sick or die simply from getting pregnant.
  • Many illnesses and deaths are due to where we live, grow, work, play, worship, and age. These are called “social determinants of health,” and they matter a lot in staying healthy.
  • Social determinants of health are shaped by legal requirements and restrictions. Having a lawyer can help you know your rights and live a healthier a life.

What if I think I may need legal help after watching the prenatal legal checkup videos?

Find help at TexasLawHelp’s legal help directory.

A note for providers about our prenatal legal checkup video series:

When we added a popular model of group prenatal care, we realized a lot of questions were asked that our traditional healthcare team did not have the structural expertise to fully answer. So we added a medical-legal partnership (MLP) lawyer to our facilitating care team. Like our other MLP attorneys, the prenatal care lawyer is embedded onsite to help address health-harming legal needs. Our MLP model also includes integrating the legal team’s structural expertise into every part of the delivery of healthcare, and so the prenatal care lawyer helped our clinicians and educators plan a curriculum for whole-person care throughout pregnancy. Our MLP lawyers also attend group medical visits, giving patients real-time access to integrated legal expertise. Patients reported reduced stress and increased legal literacy, and our providers reported improved self-efficacy in providing whole-person care. To help assure sustainability, we turned our live sessions into this video series, and we created this website to share our work with you.

Health Insurance

Watch this video to learn more about how to cover the cost of prenatal healthcare. Related topics include:

Public benefits and food security

Watch this video to learn more about what benefits may be available to help your family get nutritious food. Such benefits may include:

Employment

  • Watch this video to learn more about what rights pregnant persons have in the workplace. Learn more at Pregnancy and the workplace.

Domestic violence

Watch this video about Protective Orders to learn more about how to stay safe from domestic violence.

Housing

Watch this video to learn more about housing rights. Related material on TexasLawHelp.org includes:

Medical decision-making

  • Watch this video about medical Decision-making to learn more about how you can control or share your right to make medical decisions during pregnancy, especially if you face a serious pregnancy complication.

Parental Rights: Part One

Watch this video to learn more about parental rights, such as visitation and who gets to make decisions about the child. Topics include:

Parental Rights: Part Two

Watch this video to learn more about parental rights, such as safe visits when one parent has been abusive or is a danger to the child.

Breastfeeding

Early childhood issues

Watch this video to learn about government benefits that can help you get your child extra help in the community and at school, such as SSI. Related topics include:

The Postpartum Check-Up

About 2 weeks after delivery and 6 weeks after delivery, you will need a check-up to make sure your body is healing without problems. If you have a Cesarean delivery, you may have your check-up sooner than if you had a vaginal delivery.

Physical Exam

  • Weight: A woman usually returns to her non-pregnant weight about 6 months after delivery. The postpartum period is ̄not the time to diet. Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet that is low-fat. Talk to your doctor or nurse about weight loss after delivery for advice.
  • Blood Pressure: This is a routine check to be sure your blood pressure is in a normal range.
  • Breast Care: Your doctor will check your breasts for lumps and nipple problems. Your doctor or nurse will also show you how to do breast self exams. Give yourself a breast exam every month a week after your period.
    • If you are bottle feeding and not pumping breastmilk, your breasts will usually return to their normal shape and size in 4 to 6 weeks. Do monthly breast self exams.
    • If you are breastfeeding, your breasts still may be full and feel firm by the 6th week. Checking your breasts daily for lumps or plugged ducts can help prevent problems with discomfort or infection.
  • Abdominal Incision: If you had a Cesarean delivery or your tubes were cut or tied off, you have an incision. Your incision will be checked to make sure healing is complete.

 

Pelvic Exam

This part of the check-up is an internal exam to check the health of your ovaries, uterus (womb), cervix (opening into the womb) and vagina (birth canal). Your perineum, the area around the birth canal, also will be checked for healing.

  • Perineal Area: Your doctor or nurse will examine the areas around the vagina, urethra (opening of the bladder), and rectum for healing.
  • Vagina and Cervix: Your doctor or nurse will slide a thin piece of plastic or metal, called a speculum, into the vagina. A speculum is a duck bill shaped instrument used to hold the vagina open during the exam. A few cells will be taken from your cervix and tested in a laboratory. This is a Pap Smear test and routine in a postpartum check-up.
  • Uterus and Ovaries: The last part of the exam is checking your uterus and ovaries. Your health care professional will feel the shape and size of both. Vaginal bleeding or lochia often stops in the first 4 to 6 weeks after delivery. Bleeding that begins 1 month after delivery is usually your period. A rectal exam may be part of the internal exam if you have had a long or deep episiotomy.

 

Ask Questions!

After your exam, your health care professional will tell you how well your body has healed from delivery. Ask any questions you have about returning to work, exercising, birth control methods, or other health concerns.

Stay Strong with Iron

Iron

  • Is a mineral needed to keep your body and blood healthy.
  • Helps give you energy.
  • Helps with growth and brain development.
  • Helps prevent sickness and infections.

Why is iron important?

Eating enough iron will keep you and your family healthy and feeling good. When there is not enough iron in the blood you can get anemia. Anemia can make you feel tired, weak, get headaches, look pale, and get sick more often. Children who have low iron may also have trouble learning in school.

Iron is important for the healthy growth of infants, children, and for women during pregnancy.

What foods have iron?

There are lots of foods that are high in iron, and many WIC foods are good sources of iron. The list below shows foods that have iron.

What foods with iron will you eat more of?

  • Chicken
  • Beef
  • Turkey
  • Fish
  • Pork
  • Tofu
  • Turnip and collard greens
  • Beans, lentils, chickpeas, soybeans
  • Nuts, nut butters, and seeds
  • Cereal and oatmeal with iron
  • Rice, bread, and pasta with iron

  • Tips for getting enough iron:

    • Eat different kinds of high iron foods each day. WIC cereal, beans, and peanut butter are good sources of iron.
    • Avoid tea or coffee with meals, even if they are caffeine-free. These drinks make it harder for your body to use iron.
    • If you are pregnant, be sure to take your prenatal vitamins. Take iron pills only if your doctor gives them to you or your child.
    • Eat vitamin C foods with iron foods. Vitamin C foods help your body use iron. There are lots of fresh fruits and vegetables that are high in vitamin C; see the list below for good sources.

  • What foods with vitamin C will you try?

    • Oranges
    • Strawberries
    • Grapefruit
    • Cantaloupe
    • Kiwi fruit
    • WIC juices
    • Tomatoes
    • Bell peppers
    • Sweet potatoes
    • Broccoli
    • Cabbage
    • Kale

Sample Menu High in Iron

Breakfast

  • WIC cereal with milk
  • Orange juice or fresh orange

Lunch

  • Tuna or chicken salad sandwich on wheat bread*
  • Baby carrots
  • Strawberries or kiwi fruit
  • 1 cup low-fat or fat-free milk

Dinner

  • Chili*
  • Small green salad with low-fat dressing
  • Mixed fruit

Snacks

  • Peanut Butter with crackers
  • Broccoli with low-fat ranch dip

Visit TexasWIC.org for these recipes and more.

Signs and Symptoms of Preterm Labor

Even if you do everything right, you can still have preterm labor. Preterm labor is labor that happens too early, before 37 weeks of pregnancy.

Babies born before 37 weeks of pregnancy are called premature. Premature babies can have serious health problems at birth and later in life. Learning the signs of preterm labor may help keep your baby from being born too early.

When you see your provider, she may check your cervix to see if you’re in labor. The cervix is the opening to the uterus (womb) that sits at the top of the vagina (birth canal). If you’re in labor, your provider may give you treatment to help stop labor or to improve your baby’s health before birth.

If you have preterm labor, getting help is the best thing you can do.

What are the signs and symptoms of preterm labor?

  • Change in your vaginal discharge (watery, mucus or bloody) or more vaginal discharge than usual
  • Pressure in your pelvis or lower belly, like your baby is pushing down
  • Constant low, dull backache
  • Belly cramps with or without diarrhea
  • Regular or frequent contractions that make your belly tighten like a fist. The contractions may or may not be painful.
  • Your water breaks

If you have even one sign or symptom of preterm labor, call your health care provider right away.

Watch a video about preterm labor at: https://www.marchofdimes.org/complications/preterm-labor-and-premature-baby.aspx#

Zika Awareness

CDC’s Response to Zika

What we know about Zika

  • Zika can be passed from a pregnant woman to her fetus.
  • Zika infection during pregnancy can cause certain birth defects.
  • Zika is spread mostly by the bite of an infected mosquito. Zika-carrying mosquitos are aggressive daytime biters. They can also bite at night.
  • There has been no local transmission of Zika in the continental US.
  • There is no vaccine to prevent and no medicine to treat Zika.
  • Zika can be spread by a man to his sex partners.

CDC Zika Awareness Brochure

More about Zika

What we don’t know about Zika

  • We don’t know if there is a safe time during your pregnancy to travel to an area with Zika.
  • If you do travel and are infected, we don’t know how likely it is that the virus will infect your fetus and if your baby will have birth defects.

 

Symptoms of Zika

  • Many people with Zika won’t know that they have it. The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting for several days to a week.
  • The most common symptoms of Zika are:
    • Fever
    • Rash
    • Joint Pain
    • Conjunctivitis (red eyes)

 

Special precautions for pregnant women

  • Delay travel to areas with Zika.
  • Pregnant women and their male partners should strictly follow steps to prevent mosquito bites.
  • If you have a male sex partner who lives in or travels to an area with Zika, you should use condoms the right way every time you have sex, or do not have sex during the pregnancy.
  • If you develop the symptoms of Zika, see a healthcare provider right away for testing.

 

Special precautions for women trying to become pregnant

  • Women trying to become pregnant and their male partners should strictly follow steps to prevent mosquito bites.
  • Talk to your healthcare provider about plans to become pregnant.

 

Your Best Protection: Prevent Mosquito Bites

  • Wear clothing that protects your skin. You can also treat clothing with permethrin or purchase permethrin-treated clothing. Do NOT use permethrin products directly on skin.
  • When indoors, stay in places with air conditioning or that use window and door screens to keep mosquitoes outside. Sleep under a mosquito bed net if air conditioned or screened rooms are not available or if sleeping outdoors.
  • Use Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered insect repellents. When used as directed, these insect repellents are safe and effective for pregnant and breastfeeding women.
View Brochure

Your Guide To Pregnancy

What to expect and how to make it memorable

We are here to help keep you and your baby healthy and happy from conception to birth and then for years after. This guide will discuss common pregnancy concerns and ways that you can stay healthy.

View Guide