Pregnancy Pathway, introduction

Please refer to the Preg­nancy Path­way chart in the Feb­ru­ary 5, 2009 entry. Dur­ing preg­nancy, there are some fac­tors within our con­trol and some that are not. The Preg­nancy Path­way, designed by Danc­ing Thru Preg­nancy® founder and Yale Uni­ver­sity Move­ment Spe­cial­ist Ann Cowlin, and Cer­ti­fied Nurse Mid­wife Robyn Bran­cato, is intended to describe the flow of fac­tors that influ­ence preg­nancy and its outcome.

In the weeks to come, we will focus on indi­vid­ual areas. Our goal is to help women under­stand how they can opti­mize their preg­nancy by focus­ing on what they can con­trol that results in ben­e­fi­cial outcomes.

Ann and Robyn are also found­ing mem­bers of the Women’s Health Fit­ness Insti­tute, a non-profit orga­ni­za­tion whose mis­sion is research and pub­lic edu­ca­tion out­reach in women’s health fit­ness. Our com­ments for this blog are based on sci­en­tific evi­dence and 30 years of track­ing indi­vid­ual preg­nancy out­comes from women through­out the world. Some entries will include ref­er­ences to the rel­e­vant studies.

By help­ing women under­stand what endeav­ors are effec­tive in pro­duc­ing ben­e­fits for moth­ers and their off­spring, we hope to aid moms-to-be and those con­sid­er­ing preg­nancy to be fully present and active in the empow­er­ing process of becom­ing a mother.