Lack of sufficient knowledge about the unknowns of pregnancy increases stress and requires more medical interventions. This study was conducted to assess the effects of prenatal education on mothers’ stress and labor. This clinical trial was conducted to study 195 women (132 in the control group and 63 in the experimental group) who had attended healthcare centers in the city of Amol after their 16th gestational week. The experimental group participated in educational classes to learn how to experience a safe childbirth for 6-8 sessions of 1.5 hours almost every three weeks. The control group received only a routine care, pain assessment scales like Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and McGill questionnaire, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were employed to collect data. The data were analyzed using SPSS software through t-test and Chi Square test to compare the groups. The results of the t-test showed a meaningful difference in levels of stress felt by the experimental group compared to control group (p=0.002). The Visual Analogue Scale suggested that in the transitional stages (8-10 cm cervical dilation), the level of pain felt by the experimental group was meaningfully lower than that felt by the control group (p=0.03). However, this was not significantly different between the two groups at 3-4 cm cervical dilation and the second stage of childbirth. The McGill scale’s results for measuring pain levels, proved a meaningful difference between the experimental group and the control group (p=0.018). Educational and supportive interventions increased mothers’ knowledge during pregnancy and reduced their fear of unknown environment and people. These trained women learned how to effectively overcome their problems and labor pain.

BackgroundGum chewing after cesarean section may stimulate bowel motility and decrease duration of postoperative ileus.ObjectivesThe current study assessed the effect of chewing sugar-free gum on the return of bowel function, where cesarean section had been performed in nulliparous women.Materials and MethodsIn a randomized clinical trial, 60 patients, scheduled for cesarean section were randomly divided in to 2 groups gum-chewing group (n = 30) and control group (n = 30) postoperatively. The patients in the gum-chewing group postoperatively chewed sugar free gum 3 times daily each time for 1 hour until discharge. The patients' demographic characteristics, duration of surgery, mean hunger time, flatus and bowel motility were compared in the two groups.ResultsThere was no significant difference between the 2 groups regarding patient demographics, intraoperative, and postoperative care. In the gum-chewing and the control group there was a significant difference in the mean postoperative interval of the first bowel movement (20.89 ± 8.8 versus 27.93 ± 9.3 hours, P = 0.004), the first feeling of hunger (10.37 ± 6.0 versus 16.33 ± 9.3 hours, P = 0.005), the first passage of flatus (25.02 ± 5.8 versus 31.08 ± 9.7 hours, P = 0.003), and the first defecation (31.17 ± 5.3versus 40.08 ± 8.8 hours, P = 0.000) respectively, which were significantly shorter in the gum-chewing group compared to those of the control group. There were no major complications in either group. All patients in the gum-chewing group tolerated it without any major complications and side effects.ConclusionsThe study results demonstrated that bowel motility after cesarean section in nulliparous women can be accelerated by gum chewing which is a useful, inexpensive and well-tolerated method for mothers in post-cesarean section.

The aim of study was to investigate the effect of postoperative gum chewing on the recovery of bowel function after cesarean section. Total 100 women delivered by lower uterine segment section cesarean under local anesthesia (spinal). Eligible patients were randomly allocated into two groups: a gum-chewing group (n=50) or a control group (n= 50). The gum-chewing group participants who received one stick of sugarless gum for one hours, three times daily immediately after recovery from anesthesia and the control group had the usual postoperative care until being discharged. All women were followed up regularly until discharge from hospital, and recorded the times to the first bowel sounds of normal intestinal sounds, the time to the first passage of flatus, the time to the first feeling of hunger, and the time to the first defecation. The operative data, postoperative tolerance of gum chewing, and postoperative complications were documented. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of demographic characteristics such as age, body mass index, parity, duration of surgery, number of miscarriages and curettages, time to the first feeding, the amount of serum intake, and type of cesarean section. The mean average postoperative interval of the first bowel sounds (21.9 versus 26.1 hours, p= 0.016), the first feeling of hunger (11.8 versus 14.5 hours, p= 0.050), the first passage of flatus (24.8 versus 30.0 hours, P=0.002), the first defecation (30.6 versus 38.4 hours, P= 0.0001) was significantly shorter compared to the control group.

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Metabolic syndrome (MetS), a series of symptoms, including abdominal obesity, impaired glucose tolerance and insulin metabolism, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, is considered as the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes that can predispose a pregnant women to serious health problem, women in the developed as well as the developing countries. This study was aimed to investigate the effects of appropriate interventions on pregnant women with indicators of MetS to further improve the outcome of pregnancy. This systematic review was performed to extract articles of randomized controlled trials (RCT) on pregnant women with indicators of (MetS) and focusing on physical activity, dietary or lifestyle interventions on maternal health or perinatal outcomes, with searching in the Web of Science, PubMed, CDSR, Scopus, and Google Scholar were investigated. Two researchers independently evaluated the quality of the studies, being presented in all the articles and ranked the studies as high/low quality; the level of evidence was based on the number of high-quality studies and the coordination of the obtained results. Then, 17 articles, which met the inclusion criteria, were selected; among these, 7 articles studied the physical activity, 3 articles reviewed diets, 6 probed the lifestyle interventions, and 1 article was on counseling. In general, evidence suggested how the physical activity and proper diet impacts on proper weight gain during pregnancy, prevents maternal complications, and improves the outcome of pregnancy. According to the results of this systematic review, proper interventions during pregnancy can have a positive effect on maternal weight gain and the general health condition of pregnant women with indicators of MetS.