Pregnancy Pathway, Pregnancy — Maternal Immunological Response

By dancingthrupregnancy | Published July 6, 2009

Today: Mater­nal Immuno­log­i­cal Response…or…the Mother/Fetus Dance!

Maternal Immune Response During Pregnancy

Mater­nal Immune Response Dur­ing Pregnancy

Back to work! Thank you for your fore­bear­ance while we wrote a chap­ter for a nurs­ing textbook!

Dur­ing the course of preg­nancy, the mother/fetus dance is ongo­ing. The mater­nal immune sys­tem and the tro­phoblast cells con­tinue to influ­ence each other even beyond the implantation.

Because the mother’s immune response mod­u­lates near the start of each trimester, the fetus is affected to some degree and mounts a response, as well. For a long time it was thought that mater­nal and fetal DNA mate­r­ial was not exchanged across the pla­cen­tal mem­brane, how­ever recent find­ings indi­cate that there is some exchange of mate­r­ial. Thus, we all carry some por­tion of our mother’s DNA and our mother car­ries some of ours.

What is the impact of this chimeric effect? It depends on how well our DNA gets along!

How does this affect the fetus in utero? The fetus may be affected by clot­ting issues. Depend­ing on mater­nal health sta­tus s/he may be sub­ject to a stronger or weaker immune system.

How does this affect the mother? Women are more likely than men to develop autoim­mune dis­or­ders (preg­nancy play­ing a role here), and those who bear male off­spring are more likely than those who only have girls to have these disorders.

The maternal/fetal dance goes on.…

Be Prepared for Birth!

Be Pre­pared for Birth!

Posted in 1, Genetics, Pregnancy Pathway, fetus, placenta, pregnancy, trophoblast | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pregnancy Pathway, Conception — Review & Small Rant!

By dancingthrupregnancy | Published May 1, 2009

REVIEW: Evi­dence is clear - pre-pregnancy mater­nal health sta­tus, includ­ing phys­i­cal fit­ness, healthy nutri­tion and an uncom­pro­mised immune sys­tem affect the health and well-being of both mother and off­spring, in both short and long term.

This is the mes­sage sum­mary from our first two areas of dis­cus­sion:  Pre­con­di­tions and Con­cep­tion — the green and sand col­ored sec­tions on the chart below.

pregnancy_pathway

COMING ATTRACTIONS: We are about to move on to the blue sec­tion — Preg­nancy!!  So, book­mark this Blog for future reference!

Also, you can sub­scribe to this Blog by click­ing on Blog Info in the upper right cor­ner and then click­ing on Sub­scribe in the drop down menu.

But, yes, you guessed it, first we have a small rant!

SMALL RANT: When we note that fit­ness, nutri­tion and a healthy immune sys­tem play sig­nif­i­cant roles in the out­come of preg­nancy and the future health of mother and child, we are appeal­ing to young peo­ple of child­bear­ing age to be care­ful about your bod­ies. The alliance of egg and sperm shapes the world. With 6.5 Bil­lion egg/sperm com­bi­na­tions (yes, peo­ple) presently liv­ing on earth, our resources are stretched. With time, either we get more picky about doing this, or the 3rd rock from the sun (remem­ber that show?) is cooked.

Humor­ous incur­sion: In case you need fur­ther enlight­en­ment on this whole area, there is a great web­site that will help you out. Be pre­pared to be amused and amazed!

The Truth about Eggs and Sperm

Hope­fully, this gets you in the right mood and keeps you smil­ing. After all, once you actu­ally are preg­nant, we have more seri­ous mat­ters to discuss.

Posted in 1, Pregnancy Pathway, birth, conception, exercise, pre-pregnacy, pregnancy, trophoblast | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Pregnancy Pathway, Conception — Prior Sperm Exposure

By dancingthrupregnancy | Published April 27, 2009

Today:  Sperm!!!

For com­plete graphic, see Feb. 5 or 23 post.

The mother's prior sperm exposure can affect her pregnancy.

The mother’s prior sperm expo­sure can affect her pregnancy.

Not every sperm is your friend! Sperm expo­sure — like so many expo­sures — affects our immune sys­tem. Women who have babies with more than one father may be at risk for dis­or­ders of preg­nancy because the chal­lenges to their immune sys­tem have been exten­sive. And, very young women who become preg­nant are at increased risk of some dis­or­ders because they have had very lit­tle expo­sure to sperm.

In addi­tion, women who have pri­mar­ily and exten­sively used bar­rier meth­ods of con­tra­cep­tion may be at risk for dis­or­ders for rea­sons sim­i­lar to young women with lit­tle expo­sure. Unlike women whose immune sys­tem has had too much chal­lenge due to preg­nan­cies by sev­eral men, women with lit­tle expo­sure may not have a strong defense against for­eign DNA. Please do not take this as a rea­son to not use a con­dom — one of the bar­rier meth­ods along with a diaphragm and cer­vi­cal cap. Rather, if you use a bar­rier method of con­tra­cep­tion, keep in mind that your body’s adjust­ment to preg­nancy may take time.

For more infor­ma­tion on bar­rier meth­ods, to go the Amer­i­can Col­lege of Obste­tri­cians and Gyne­col­o­gists’ online pam­phlet: ACOG Pam­phlet on Bar­rier Con­tracetp­tion.

Another way sperm can affect the preg­nancy is that the com­bi­na­tion of the mother’s and father’s nat­ural immune responses may be strong against the tro­phoblast implan­ta­tion. This is not some­thing  you can know ahead of time. Also, women are eight times more likely than men to develop autoim­mune dis­or­ders. One rea­son may be the pre­na­tal expo­sure to for­eign DNA encoun­tered in pregnancy.

Keep in mind that by get­ting good pre­na­tal care, exer­cise, suf­fi­cient rest, stress man­ag­ment and healthy nutri­tion, you do all within your power to have a healthy preg­nancy. Your health care provider will deter­mine your risk fac­tors that may affect preg­nancy out­come and treat you in an appro­pri­ate manner.

Moms and babies enjoy exercise together!

Moms and babies enjoy exer­cise together!

Once your baby comes, there will be time to max­i­mize health for both of you. Exer­cis­ing together is great fun!

Get­ting there may require some patience, but the reward is well worth it.

When you are look­ing around for sperm, use your head. The same behav­ior that pro­tects you from infec­tions you never want to get, pro­tects you from sperm you don’t really want to meet. When the time comes to adopt some sperm, find out about it’s credentials!

Posted in Genetics, baby, conception, exercise, trophoblast | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment