Creative writing - Term Paper Example

Submitted too: Washington Consultation Narrative A PAPER SUBMITTED by Scenario: Carla Washington, age 27, is a hardworking paralegal in a family law firm in Jefferson City. Although she likes her job, she sometimes has trouble dealing with the stress. Carla used to work out in order to feel better, but lately she relaxes by having drinks after work with friends. The lack of exercise coupled with the alcohol consumption have not been good for her weight, a fact that she intends to deal with “one of these days”.

Carla’s longtime boyfriend, Anthony, runs his family’s nursery business. His job requires him to work with numerous chemicals used to keep the plants lush and attractive to buyers. Now 32, he has talked to Carla about starting a family. She finds the thought appealing, but wonders what things the couple should know before having a baby. They decide to consult her family doctor for advice.Narrative: Starting a family is a major life step for any couple, and understanding and having reasonable expectations can make it a very happy and joyous experience.

Frankly, there are some things in our lives that are not very healthy. Think about your pregnancy like a recipe that has steps that are very important, as a matter of fact, some of the steps are critical. Those critical steps are stages during your pregnancy that directly impact your baby. If you make wise decisions and change just a few aspects of your lifestyle now, there will not be any problems during the pregnancy.Now, there are some very basic things to understand about a pregnancy that are totally out of our control.

Your body is made up of over 30,000 Genes that basically determine things like eye color and hair color. They also can determine if the baby is going to have a certain disease, like Down syndrome or Cystic Fibrosis. These genes and what they do are called Heredity Factors. Both parents contribute to the genes that the baby will have, and help determine how important those Heredity Factors are. There are tests that can help determine that the baby is going to be healthy, but we cannot change the baby’s genes and how they affect their development.

There are things that directly affect the baby, these are called environmental factors. The environmental factors are things that we live with every day, and unlike the Heredity Factors, we can change our environmental factors. A good example of an environmental factor that can and should change is Anthony’s chemical exposure at his work. Anytime Anthony sprays or mixes a chemical he uses, he exposes himself to small trace amounts of those chemicals that he inadvertently can bring home. Anthony needs to take great care to avoid bringing his work home in this way.

He should consider leaving uniforms and shoes at work and even showering before he comes home. There are also things that we call behavioral factors that can really affect your baby’s prenatal development. Behavioral factors are nothing more than the things we do in our everyday life. Making small changes in how we do things in our life will pay big dividends for the baby. Do not smoke when pregnant, matter of fact Anthony should not smoke around the baby. No recreational drugs. Mothers even have to be concerned about the prescription drugs they take and for that matter some over the counter drugs as well.

The problem with any drug you take during pregnancy is that it can become a Teratogen to your baby. Teratogen’s cause birth defects and they can be triggered by minimal drug exposure over time or even under normal prescription circumstances. Any and all drugs taken regularly must be questioned during the pregnancy.Another pair of important behavioral changes that you need to consider is alcohol and caffeine consumption. It is strongly recommend that you stop recreational alcohol consumption now and seriously restrict the caffeinated beverages like coffee.

The other factors that should be address are interrelated. The first is stress. Managing stress in your job and life is often the key to personal health. When your pregnant, stress is just like another pollutant or hazard that should be avoided. Right now you have to find a better more healthy way to cope with your life stress. Re-start your exercise regimen today. If you do your weight problem will also disappear. And you will be far healthier when you do get pregnant. Overall, there is no reason that you cannot start a family and be happy and healthy.