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Ask
the Midwife
Kathleen McClelland has been a midwife
since 1990. Prior to that she was a Family Nurse Practitioner,
with an emphasis on Women's Health Care, working mainly with
the Deaf and Native American populations.
As a midwife she has worked in large and small health care settings,
from a a large health maintenance organization to a small private
practice in a rural community to a medium size hospital caring
for indigent women.
She has attended one home birth, as the birth assistant to the
midwife, of a very dear friend. The birth of her son was at
a free-standing birth center in Alexandria, Virginia, attended
by two of her midwifery classmates as well as her husband, sister,
and father.
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Midwife Kathleen McNellis
Ask Kathleen a question
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Question submitted June 30, 2002.
I'm a twenty year-old girl and for
the past two years I have been living with my boyfriend, who is thirty
seven. Since we living together, we have sex very often, but I'm always
a little over-worried of getting pregnant. That's why we always use
condoms for safety. Just in case we have sex without a condom, I would
like to
know what are the immediate steps I should take to avoid pregnancy.
For example, today we had sex without a condom and I got real worried.
My first step was i got up and straight rushed to the bathroom and
washed my vagina totally in and out. Now how do i know if i would
get pregnant? I hardly keep dates of my periods or if they are irregular.
What should be my next step?
If you have sex with out using birth
control, you may very likely get pregnant. Washing out your vagina
won't help you avoid a pregnancy. Be sure you use protection every
time if you really want to avoid being pregnant at this time. If an
"accident" happens (the condom breaks, you forget your pill,
he doesn't withdraw in time), you can reduce your chance
of getting pregnant by taking emergency contraceptives (high doses
of birth control pills) as soon as possible after sex. Get these pills
from your clinic, doctor or midwife. And take a multi-vitamin with
folic acid, don't smoke and otherwise make sure your health is as
good as possible to give your baby the best start in case a pregnancy
happens in spite of trying to avoid getting pregnant.
Think!! You can control your fertility!
Kathleen McClelland
Questions?
Read a transcript
of a chat with Kathleen McClelland and Pam Cass about
Midwives and Doulas: How They Support the Birthing Woman.
Kathleen
McClelland | Pam Cass | Cindy
Curtis
