What To Expect When You’re Expecting, inspired by the popular book by Heidi Murkoff, stars Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Dennis Quaid, Chris Rock, Anna Kendrick and Chance Crawford, among others. Watch the trailer:

The 39 Weeks Florida campaign, funded by the March of Dimes Florida Chapter, is part of the March of Dimes’ national Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait initiative aimed at reducing non-medically necessary elective deliveries prior to 39 weeks gestation. For more information on the 39 Weeks campaign, visit our homepage and follow 39 Weeks on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Photo Courtesy of www.thehungergamesmovie.com

According to baby-naming website Nameberry, the most popular names for America’s children this year are heavily influenced by pop culture. Based on nearly 3 million pageviews of individual name pages on the site during the first quarter of 2012, the top inflencers came from TV shows, books/movies and the music industry. Here are some of the hottest picks so far:

• Grayson – This top boys name takes a nod from ABC’s recent hit, Revenge. Interestingly, Grayson is the surname of a scheming, well-to-do (albeit, attractive) family from the Hamptons, but parents everywhere are snatching up this unique name for their little boys.
• Rue and Cato – Though The Hunger Games has proved responsible for several popular new names including Katniss, Primrose, Posy and Clove this year, the two most popular names from this book-turned-movie phenomenon are Rue, a tentative yet resourceful young girl, and Cato, a burly, hot-headed alpha-male and natural-born leader.
• Emmett – Even with the recent dominance of The Hunger Games, Twilight-influenced Emmett continues to top the charts as one of the most popular boys names. Emmett is closely followed by other “-ett” girls-turned-boys names, for example, Beckett, created from Becca or Everett, borrowed from Eva.
• Ivy – Blue Ivy Carter’s parents Beyonce and Jay-Z take responsibility for this unique name, which is popping up everywhere and shows no signs of slowing.
• Adele – Another nod to the music industry, this endearing vocalist is lending her name to thousands of little girls across America.
• Cyrus – This boys name has been climbing the ranks on Nameberry, possibly inspired by pop star Miley Cyrus.
• Weston, Wesley and West – The Office leading lady Jenna Fischer pioneered this trend after recently naming her baby boy Weston.
• Aria – Many attribute the jump in popularity of this old-fashioned girls name to the independent tomboy named Arya on HBO’s medieval fantasy drama Game of Thrones.

What do you think about these names? Which do you love? Which do you loathe? Are there other pop-culture or celebrity-inspired names you’ve heard lately that didn’t make the list? Let us know!

Photo courtesy of the March of Dimes

Despite wide-spread recognition that a baby reaches full-term at 39-40 weeks of gestation, nearly half of Florida consumers responding to a statewide survey indicated delivery before this time is safe.  Nearly half of the survey respondents who had a baby in the past 18 months reported being offered the option of scheduling an induction or C-section by their health care provider.

The survey was conducted by the Florida Association of Healthy Start Coalitions (FAHSC), Inc. as part of a three-year effort to raise consumer awareness about the importance of the last weeks of pregnancy. Funded by the March of Dimes Florida Chapter, the “Think 39 Weeks: Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait” initiative is aimed at reducing the number of early elective inductions and C-sections in the state.

Unless it’s medically necessary, delivering before 39 weeks of pregnancy can pose risks for  both  mothers and babies. Both consumer demand and medical practice have contributed to increases in early elective deliveries, which have been linked to a rise in late preterm births and NICU admissions. Early delivery also impacts healthy brain development and infant morbidity. Unless there’s a medical problem, waiting for labor to begin on its own is best.

According to the March of Dimes:

• During the last six weeks of pregnancy, a baby’s brain almost doubles in size, adding vital connections needed for coordination,  balance, learning and social functions.
• Babies born early have more learning and behavior problems than babies born at 40 weeks.
• Babies born early have more feeding problems because they can’t coordinate sucking, swallowing and breathing as well as full-term babies.
• Babies born early are more likely to have breathing problems.
• Babies born early are at higher risk of a sleep-related death.

More than 85 percent of the survey respondents stated that a baby is full-term at 37 weeks or more, with 60 percent correctly indicating 39 weeks or later. However, 45 percent stated that it was safe to deliver earlier than 37 weeks. Nineteen percent of pregnant respondents said their doctors presented the option of a scheduled delivery, as did 49 percent of women who recently delivered. Nearly 40 percent of survey respondents agreed with the statement, “In the last 3-4 weeks of pregnancy, a baby is already fully developed and is just getting bigger.” Despite acknowledging risks to the baby of delivering early, more than half of the respondents agreed that “it is OK to schedule deliveries a week or two before the due date as long as a pregnancy is healthy.” A majority of respondents (60+%) cited prior pregnancy complications and doctor recommendations as appropriate reasons for scheduling a delivery. Only 15 percent though convenience was acceptable. For additional findings, read the full report.

The consumer survey was implemented by Healthy Start Coalitions in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Sarasota, Lee and Santa Rosa Counties. The 276 respondents represent consumers statewide in terms of race/ethnicity; half were privately insured and half were uninsured or covered by Medicaid. Respondents were either pregnant or had delivered a baby within the last 18 months. Most of the respondents (43%) were 24-29 years old with one-third having a college education or higher.

The results of the consumer survey will be used to measure the impact of the statewide campaign which will employ a variety of strategies, including social media, to get the word out to childbearing families. For more information on the initiative, visit our homepage, continue reading our blog, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

To register, view and print the conference brochure.

After comparing almost 40,000 births from 1959-1966 to almost 100,000 births from 2002-2008, researchers found that labor was, on average, about 2.6 hours longer for first-time mothers who had given birth in recent years. For women who had previously given birth, labor lasted about two hours longer.

Women from the contemporary group were about four years older than those from the 1960s group and also had a higher body mass index than the earlier cohort of delivering mothers. Babies from the contemporary group were born an average of five days earlier than those born in the 1960s, but were slightly bigger and healthier at birth.

Though these factors may have influenced the increase in delivery times in recent births, the researchers concluded that much of the change is likely due to changes in obstetric practices.

Medical intervention during delivery was much more common among women giving birth in the 2002-2008 group. Only four percent of women delivering in the earlier cohort received epidural anesthesia, compared with 55 percent in the contemporary group. About 12 percent of women in the first group received oxytocin to induce labor, compared with 31 percent in the contemporary cohort. The study also found the rate of cesarean delivery was four times higher today than it was 50 years ago. Oxyctocin, which is commonly used to induce labor and speed up the birthing process, may not always work and can thus lead to unplanned cesarean births.

These findings mirror recent concerns that more and more deliveries are being electively induced prior to 39 weeks of completed gestation. Research shows that babies born prior to 39 weeks are at greater risk for both immediate and lasting health problems. The Florida Perinatal Quality Collaborative is working to eliminate elective deliveries prior to 39 weeks of completed pregnancy in Florida by placing hard stops in Florida hospitals to prevent the scheduling of deliveries prior to 39 weeks without a medical reason, including the standardization of oxytocin usage protocols. For more information on the initiative, funded by the March of Dimes Florida Chapter, click here.

One couple chronicled their 9-month journey in a creative and touching time-lapse video that has taken the internet by storm. The 90-second project, simply titled “Introducing…”, has been viewed almost 6.5 million times on YouTube. Watch mom’s belly grow as the couple prepares for baby’s arrival — don’t blink or you just might miss it!

The project includes a webinar series targeted at hospital administrators, maternity/baby nurse managers, women’s service managers, quality improvement managers and anyone interested in implementing the steps needed to achieving Baby-Friendly Hospital status.

The webinar series cover several topics, including: Learn How to Improve mPINC Scores, Comply with The Joint Commission’s Maternity Care and Infant Feeding Core Measures and Take Steps to Becoming a Baby Friendly Hospital. See below for Webinar Schedules.

• April 3, Tuesday, 2-3 PM – From Bottles to Breast Milk to Baby-Friendly: The Boston Medical Center Experience – Speaker Bobbi Philipp, MD
• May 8, Tuesday, 1-2 PM – Quality Improvement in Maternity and Infant Care: The Ten Steps, mPINC, and the Joint Commission Measures – Speaker Joan Meek, MD
• June 12, Tuesday, 1-2 PM – Implementation and Baby Steps to becoming Baby-Friendly Hospital – Speaker Heidi Agostinho, PhD., IBCLC
• July 10, Tuesday, 1-2 PM – Resources to Help Your Hospital through the Process and Steps to becoming a Baby-Friendly Hopsital – Speaker TBA

Space is limited. Hospitals with multiple staff interested are advised to have one person register and plan to view together.

To request a GoToWebinar INVITATION to REGISTER for the webinars, contact office@flbreastfeeding.org.

More than half a million infants are born prematurely in America each year, up 36 percent over the last 20 years. Children born preterm often require specialized medical care and may develop lasting conditions that impact their adult lives.

To combat this, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation will award grants to healthcare providers and coalitions to improve prenatal care to women covered by Medicaid. The grants will support the testing of enhanced prenatal care through several approaches under evaluation, inducing group visits with other pregnant women, birth centers providing case management, and maternity care homes where pregnant women have expanded access to better coordinated prenatal care.

The Strong Start initiative will also focus on reducing early elective deliveries, which can lead to a variety of health problems for both mothers and infants. Scheduled or induced deliveries prior to 39 completed weeks of pregnancy are on the rise in recent years. However, any early delivery, planned or spontaneous, has medical risks.

In addition to health benefits, the economical impact of reducing preterm births cannot be ignored. Medical care in the first year of life for a preterm baby covered by Medicaid is estimated to cost $20,000 compared to $2,100 for full-term infants. With Medicaid paying for slightly less than half the nation’s births each year, a 10 percent reduction in deliveries occurring prior to 39 weeks would save over $75 million annually.

For more information on the funding opportunity, visit Strong Start’s funding webpage or view the full funding announcement. Interested parties must submit a non-binding Letter of Intent by March 21, 2012. Applications are due June 12, 2012.

Every year in the United States, more than half a million babies are born too soon, and 32,000 of them are right here in Florida. With your help, the March of Dimes works to improve the health of babies and support families if something does go wrong, like in Kieran’s story.

March for Babies - the March of Dimes’ biggest fundraiser nationwide – is coming to a city near you! Grab some friends, recruit your family, or rally some co-workers to form a team and walk for a cause we all care about – healthy babies!

To find and register for a March for Babies walk near you, view the Florida event list.

Dr. Nancy Snyderman reported on these findings on the Today Show earlier this month. Watch the video below and share with your the pregnant women in your life!

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