Introduction to my blog
Hi! my name is Brenda, a nurse and midwife of many year, welcome to my blog. Here I will share my interests, experiences and thoughts on various topics that I hope will be of help and interest to you.
Fight Anaemia With My Free 7 day Meal Plan For High Mineral Intake
There are many different types of anaemia and I will discuss them briefly and look at ways to prevent this problem and also to support recovery.
Anaemia can make you feel tired and increase your risk for infections and heavy bleeding. Especially for women during their monthly periods and at child birth.
Common Types and Causes of Anaemia:
1. Iron-Deficiency Anaemia: This occurs when there is a lack of iron in the body, which is necessary for producing haemoglobin. Common causes include poor diet, heavy menstruation, or gastrointestinal bleeding.
Download my free one week meal plan to increase your iron and mineral intake to help prevent and recover from this type of anaemia:
https://ethicalaffiliatelife.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/7-day-meal-plan-1.doc
2. Vitamin Deficiency Anaemia: Also known as megaloblastic anaemia, this type includes both folate deficiency anaemia and vitamin B12 deficiency anaemia. These vitamins are essential for producing healthy red blood cells.
3. Anaemia of Chronic Disease: This type is often associated with chronic illnesses such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, rheumatoid arthritis, and other inflammatory diseases. These conditions can interfere with the production of red blood cells.
4. Aplastic Anaemia: A rare but serious condition where the bone marrow doesn’t produce enough red blood cells. Causes can include exposure to toxic chemicals, certain medications, and autoimmune diseases.
5. Haemolytic Anaemia: This occurs when red blood cells are destroyed faster than they can be produced. Causes can range from inherited conditions like sickle cell anaemia to autoimmune diseases and infections.
6. Sickle Cell Anaemia: An inherited form of anaemia where red blood cells are shaped like crescents or sickles, leading to blockages in blood flow and reduced oxygen delivery to tissues.
7. Thalassemia: A genetic disorder resulting in the production of abnormal haemoglobin, leading to the destruction of a large number of red blood cells.
8. Pernicious Anaemia: A type of vitamin B12 deficiency anaemia caused by the body’s inability to absorb the vitamin B12 from the gastrointestinal tract.
Bear in mind that each type of anaemia requires a different approach for treatment and management. If you’re curious about any specific type or need more details, feel free to contact me via the comments form on this page.
For those who of you who are diagnosed with the first type of anaemia listed above here is my free offer for you. Feel free to download my free seven day meal plan here (no email or sign up required):
https://ethicalaffiliatelife.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/7-day-meal-plan-1.doc
Feel free to leave a comment or request more information about anaemia and other mineral deficiencies in the comment section below.
Wholistic Health: Character and Courage
Today I am just sharing my thoughts on wholistic health and want to focus on the development of character for both adults and children.
As a health care professional I am invested in people’s health and wellbeing that encompasses physical, emotional and spiritual wellness. Exercising, eating well and taking supplements to ensure a balanced body and mind does not address our spiritual nature.
But does it matter? does our moral compass that guide us through life really just depend on learning manners and being law abiding? can these impart empathy and compassion? or fulfil our need to worship?
I believe faith is important for individuals, families and communities. It not only appeal to our higher nature as humans but impacts all aspects of our health.
Recently, I had a really unfortunate experience at work that challenged me mentally, physically and spiritually. A colleague made very serious allegations about me (all false) resulting in my suspension from work from 17th December 2024.
I enjoy writing and have been working on a children’s character building book that I am offering for a donation to alleviate my current situation.
Here is the link to download my manuscript that I sincerely hope will be a source of blessing and enhanced spiritual well being for all readers, children and adults alike:
https://ethicalaffiliatelife.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Shorter-childrens-story1-1.pdf
See the last page of the book file for my contact details in order to make direct comments and make enquiries. Or use the comments section below for general comments and feed back. Thanks again for reading this blog.
My Thoughts On Tokophobia
If You Are Anxious About Labour You Are Not Alone
As a midwife I have supported many women in their pregnancy and labour and during antenatal visits many of them express fear of labour. Even at the start of labour my patients tell me the don’t expect that they are capable of a normal vagina birth and that they are anxious about the pain they will experience.
For some women this is their first experience of pregnancy and labour, while others have had previous experience that left them feeling disappointed, like they failed or they feel traumatised.
What is Tocophobia?
For a small minority of women (about 14%) this fear is all consuming and more mentally challenging and they are affected adversely by pre-occupying thoughts and nightmares about the upcoming labour and birth. These women are usually seen by their obstetric consultant and a specialist midwife who discuss their options for labour and an elective delivery via caesarean section would normally be arranged.
Why I Was Anxious About My Labour
In my own experience of pregnancy and labour, which was before I became a midwife, I was scared mainly because of hearing about other women’s experience. At the time I didn’t know the details about how the female body works and adapts to pregnancy and labour. So looking back I realised that my midwives who provided antenatal care did not educate me so that I could feel positively prepared for my labour. This would have allayed much of my anxious thoughts.
But training as a midwife changed my perspectives. I now understand all the hormonal changes that allows much greater flexibility to make labour possible, as the pregnancy progresses. This is because coming up to and during the labour process the body makes and circulates much larger volumes of relaxin, oxytocin and prostaglandin. These all work on the connective tissues of the body making them very soft and stretchy to enable the uterus and vagina passage to open and transform itself in order to push the baby out into the world.
How The Hormones Prostaglandin, Oxytocin and Relaxin Make Labour and Birth Possible
They act on the ligaments and joints so that the pelvic bone including the coccyx are more mobile and flexible to yield as the baby moves down the birth canal. There is much more of these hormones during labour to soften the cervix to make it stretchy so it can open as the baby passes through it. When we midwives do an internal examination we are assessing more than just how open the cervix is, or the dilatation.
We are assessing the descent of the foetal head (or other presenting part in the case of a breech presentation) into the woman’s pelvis. We are also checking the length of the cervix and how soft it is and how well it is applied to the baby’s head.
Antenatal Care help to Monitor for a big baby
But even before we get to the labour room, growth scans and other assessments in the antenatal period would give us an idea of the fetopelvic ratio and an indication of the woman’s body shape (which does matter) and how the baby is growing. If the baby seems to be getting too big (macrosomnia which may occur in diabetes and for other reasons) this is usually picked up and discussed with the woman and her partner about the way forward.
Sometimes this may include an induction of labour, to start labour off by a certain cut off point to prevent further intrauterine growth that can increase the risk of trauma to mother and baby during delivery. So this highlights the importance of antenatal care, education and communication between the woman and her midwife.
Your Body was designed for labour and birth
So in summary, the phenomenon of tocophobia is a real experience for some women who have a real and heightened fear of labour pains or the contractions of labour and birth. Fear of pain is normal but when it is pathological the woman may need to discuss an elective delivery with her obstetrician.
For women who have questions about their body’s ability to birth a baby with out too much trauma, this should be addressed by the midwife at antenatal visits and antenatal classed to assure women and alleviate their fears. If the body was not so well designed to adapt to labour and birth the world would not be so well populated. And labour would really not be possible without the great surge in hormones that transform the female body to cope during this special process.