Visual aid

N.d. Photograph. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome BrainWeb. 21 Apr 2014. <http://imgarcade.com/1/fetal-alcohol-syndrome-brain/>.

This image is great supporting evidence to why it is dangerous to drink alcohol while pregnant. This is just one effect that fetal alcohol syndrome has on an infant, damage to the brain, resulting in various dysfunctions including learning disabilities and growth and development. Not only is an infant affected internally but also externally, in which an infant is born with physical defects.Likewise, the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome are irreversible sticking with an individual throughout their whole life.

Blog #7

  An important aspect in order to prevent fetal alcohol syndrome is to start by advising women to seek prenatal care. Knowing and seeing how a pregnancy is coming along can be essential to both the mother and the baby. Because women only go to the doctor for a yearly check up or something related to that, that time should be taken advantage of by asking the women if they are planning to get pregnant why it is important to look for prenatal care, the benefits and the tremendous amount of information they can receive. Although this may be a start, many may find this as invading their privacy asking whether they plan to get pregnant or because at times it happens unexpectedly.
  Another solution I think would help prevent fetal alcohol syndrome is for health facilities pertaining to pregnancy, to continue or start informing pregnant women about the effects of alcohol on their baby through sessions, videos or handouts. Having such resources from where to gain information would provide awareness and caution to consuming alcohol. This solution would only benefit women who'd seek prenatal care because the information would be provided during that time. However, it could be time consuming and handouts could be simply thrown away or never looked at.
  Lastly, I think that clinics should create trust between doctors or other specialists and their patients to be able to help pregnant women find help if they are consuming alcohol. Because the women will trust their doctors they will be less likely to lie about their alcohol consumption. But again some women may consider this invading their privacy or just not wanting help at all.

Blog #5

For my argument of fact paper I will provide several misconceptions of my topic, such as other effects due to alcohol abuse during pregnancy besides fetal alcohol syndrome. Also the effects of drugs like narcotics, hallucinogens, stimulants, and depressants. I will be giving information about my topic that is already known but put a much larger emphasis on the effects drug and alcohol abuse have on the fetus and how important it is to provide awareness across the world on this issue. Many people may think that there is a safe level of drinking alcohol or that only certain types of drugs are harmful to the fetus, when in reality there is information that is not known worldwide. My hypothesis is that knowing close to all the effects of drug and alcohol abuse during pregnancy will provide awareness and reduce such abuse during pregnancy. I will be using statistics found by studies based on previous cases of drug an alcohol abuse to show my audience the effects.

Blog #4

It is obvious that alcohol and drug consumption is dangerous, especially while being pregnant. From the three articles I found I learned a couple of effects that the fetus may encounter due to alcohol and drug abuse, such as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) or fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Fetal alcohol syndrome is a condition that results from exposure to alcohol during pregnancy. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is a range of various deformities or impairments due to alcohol exposure to which fetal alcohol syndrome falls under. The first article I read gave me plenty of information on several drugs and alcohol that were most likely consumed by women and if the use had increased or decreased over a 10 year period. The second article provided other effects that alcohol has on pregnancy such as stillbirth, spontaneous abortion, miscarriage and infant death syndrome. And the third article explained that symptoms of depression and anxiety could lead women to consume alcohol while pregnant. These articles gave me a good overview of the effects of alcohol abuse during pregnancy but not much over drug abuse. I still have some question unanswered over my topic, for instance how does the fetus react to these harmful products consumed by the mother, what kinds of side effects do drugs like narcotics or hallucinogens cause?   

Blog #3

While looking for sources it is important to use key words associated with my topic. Using the word pregnancy does not really help because it is too broad and does not go into depth with my topic which is the effects of drug and alcohol abuse during pregnancy. During our library session the instructor suggested I use the specific database named Sage because it covers subjects that have to do with health sciences, such as mine. Along with the Sage database I tried Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition which was very helpful and gave me various articles on pregnancy and alcohol abuse. I clicked on a few articles and just read the abstract to get a gist of the article and whether it would be a useful source for my research project. On one of the articles I clicked on it talked about the ages when alcohol abuse is likely to happen ranging from teenagers to women around their thirties. Another article explains that alcohol abuse during pregnancy is likely to be associated with women whom have symptoms of depression. I learned from the couple of sources I sorted through that there may be certain causes leading women to drug and/or alcohol abuse during pregnancy and that there are several effects to the women and embryo or fetus.  

Research Topic

 My research topic is the effects of drug and alcohol abuse during pregnancy. I chose this topic because it is interesting but not something society pays much attention to. The following are questions to help begin my research:
How does substance abuse affect the embryo or fetus mentally and physically?
What kinds of chemicals and/or viruses reach the embryo or fetus while the pregnant woman is taking alcohol or other drugs?
Does drug and alcohol abuse affect the embryo or fetus more than the woman? If so why?
How many reported cases are there of pregnant women using drugs or alcohol in the U.S.?
Does drug and alcohol abuse affect pregnancy only during the early stages or throughout the whole pregnancy?
How does the embryo or fetus react to the drugs and/or alcohol consumed?
Is there a way to possibly avoid the drugs and/or alcohol consumed from reaching the embryo or fetus?
 I think the most useful questions for my topic are those that involve looking at more than one resource to find the answer. Also that the answers to my questions are more than a sentence long. For that reason the how and why questions are the most useful.
 My topic is important because pregnant women should be aware of the harm they can cause their babies and themselves if they use drugs and/or alcohol. They may be putting their pregnancy at risk or cause their fetus to be born with defects. 
 

Mini-biography

My name is Dania; I am a first generation student attending school at West Texas A&M University. I come from a little town about five to six hours away near the Dallas area. I have 3 younger siblings with whom I really enjoy spending time with along with the rest of my family because they mean the world to me. Coming to college was a huge step for me because I am very close to family and I often get homesick. My best friend Fatima who is from the same town as I am has been a great help in the transition. We spend most of our time together whether it’s doing something fun or working on homework in the library.  I am currently a freshman and plan to major in nursing. I chose nursing as my major because I have a passion for helping others in need. My senior year in high school I took a course to become a certified nurse assistant to decide whether nursing was for me or not. I did my clinical hours in a nursing home helping out the elderly with their basic needs. What I liked most about my training at the nursing home was seeing how much the residents appreciated the help we were giving to them. My dream job is to become a neonatal nurse because I want to work with babies and I think they are super adorable.