LiveWorld Transcripts

Women.com presents

Tori Kropp, RN
Pregnancy and childbirth

November 25, 1999

Tori Kropp, Women.com's resident health expert, is a Prenatal Registered Nurse and the founder of Stork Site. Tori, known as "the Dear Abby of pregnancy," has helped deliver more than 5,000 babies! She advocates a common-sense approach to women's health issues. Tori is here today to talk to you about pregnancy and childbirth.

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HomeArts: Good afternoon and thanks for joining our one-hour chat with Tori Kropp, RN. Tori, Women.com's resident health expert, is a Prenatal Registered Nurse and the founder of Stork Site. Tori, known as "the Dear Abby of pregnancy," has helped deliver more than 5,000 babies. She advocates a common-sense approach to women's health issues. Tori is here today to talk to you about pregnancy and childbirth. Welcome Tori!

Tori Kropp: Thank you! It's great to be here. Hello to everyone here; I look forward to our chat today.

Sigmagirl: How should I modify my diet when I am pregnant?

Tori Kropp: It's important to take nutrition seriously, to eat a well-balanced, moderately fat diet and to take at least one pre-natal vitamin every day. A pre-natal vitamin has higher concentration of iron, calcium, folic acid and some minerals, which your growing baby needs. It's difficult to increase to the level your baby needs with food alone. Many women experience food cravings during pregnancy, which is fine, except take it easy on the sweets and ice cream.

Zoopa: Hi Tori! I'm in my 12th week of my second pregnancy and my hair is falling out quite a bit. During my first pregnancy my hair looked better than ever. Could there be a reason for such ugliness?

Tori Kropp: Thanks for your question, Zoopa. Certainly, you never are ugly during pregnancy. Believe it or not, many hormonal changes can do many odd things to our bodies when we're pregnant. One of the more common ones is losing your hair during pregnancy. Each pregnancy is different; so it is not uncommon for something to happen in the second pregnancy that didn't in the first. Unfortunately there is nothing to do and it's important to trust that your body is doing all of the right things it needs to do now. If you have long hair, you may want to try a new hairstyle during this pregnancy. Don't worry--your hair will all grow back.

EZguest657: I have read that Folic Acid is essential to my baby's health. How much should I take, and is there such a thing as too much of it?

Tori Kropp: Folic acid is one of the vitamin B groupings and is very important to prevent what is called "neural tube defect." A standard pre-natal vitamin has 400 mcg. of folic acid, and that is all that is needed. It's not possible to take too much of vitamin B, because it is passed through your urine and simply would be a waste of money. It's important if you are trying to become pregnant to take folic acid before you are pregnant, as this condition occurs while the embryo is developing. Neural Tube Defect is more commonly known as Spinabifida, which is a severe birth defect.

Feelingfat: Is it normal for morning sickness to last the entire 9 months?

Tori Kropp: Oh, I'm so sorry! (laughing) Nausea clearly is the worst aspect of pregnancy for most women. Unfortunately, for some it does last a very, very long time. It's caused from an increase in progesterone and cannot be prevented. However, if it's severe there are excellent medications that can help, as well as alternative medicine activities such as acupuncture and acupressure.

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