X-RAYS AND PREGNANCY
THIS IS A VERY INTERESTING ARTICLE BY DR.HADDOX WHICH WAS FEATURED IN THE LATEST PARENT MAGAZINE…
X-Rays during pregnancy…..Are they safe?
It may surprise you, but having an X-ray during pregnancy is generally considered safe. In most cases, the benefits of an X-ray during pregnancy outweigh the potential risks.
When you have an abdominal X-ray during pregnancy, your developing baby is exposed to radiation. If radiation causes changes in your baby’s rapidly growing cells, it’s possible that your baby could be at a slightly higher risk of birth defects or illnesses, such as leukemia, later in life. Generally, however, having an X-ray during pregnancy is thought to pose only the most remote risk to a developing baby. Most X-ray exams — including those of your arms, legs, head, teeth or chest — won’t expose your reproductive organs or your baby to radiation. A leaded apron and collar also can be worn to block any scattered radiation. In some cases doubling the thickness of the leaded apron supplies an additional level of safety.
Some X-rays, including CT scans of the abdomen or pelvis may expose the fetus to higher levels of radiation and decisions must be made individually regarding the need for imaging based on the mother’s condition. Occasionally, alternate imaging such as MRI(Magnetic Resonance Imaging) can be used which will decrease the level of radiation exposure. The safe level of radiation for the fetus varies in each trimester and the total amount of radiation exposure for each test may be calculated by the obstetrician and radiologist.
Recently pregnant women have been concerned about the new full body scanners in airports and their degree of exposure. Luckily, the amount of radiation emitted via these scanners are miniscule when compared to even a chest x-ray. However, because this radiation is not absolutely necessary, all passengers may opt out of the body scanners and choose a pat down if there is any concern. Pregnant patients who are also frequent flyers such as flight attendants or pilots may be exposed to higher levels of radiation while flying and need to consult with their obstetrician. In many cases frequent fliers may need to stop flying at some point in their pregnancy to limit radiation exposure.
If you need an X-ray, tell your health care provider if you are or might be pregnant. Your health care provider might be able to do an ultrasound instead of an X-ray. In addition, if you have a child who needs an X-ray exam, don’t hold your child during the exam if you are or might be pregnant. Instead, ask another person to take your place.
If you had an X-ray exam before you knew you were pregnant, don’t panic. Remember the risk is very small. If you had radiation treatment for a condition, however, the risks may be more significant. Share any concerns about radiation exposure with your health care provider.
Dr. Linda Haddox
Office Essure Debut-Smooth Sailing!!!!
Today in our Daytona Beach office we did 5 Essures!!! So what are they? It is a method of tubal ligation (sterilization) that requires no incisions and can be done under local anesthetic.
Our patients came into our office an hour before the procedure and were given a mild anti-anxiety pill and an injection to relieve cramping and relax the fallopian tubes before the procedure. We then administered the local anesthetic. Now you know I (Dr.Tapia) am a certified chicken and do not like to see my patients in ANY discomfort. All 5 ladies said the local anesthetic was a piece of cake!! We then did the procedure in all 5 patients and again they all said discomfort was NOT AN ISSUE!!
Our Essure representative Anthony said he was impressed with how smooth our first day went, how well trained our staff was and I’m pretty sure he said we were the best office EVER (ok, maybe he didn’t exactly say that..but I’m certain he said we were the coolest office ever!!) 
So ladies…if your baby-making days are over… ask your VOG doctor about Essure. If you don’t have a VOG doctor yet…what are you waiting for!!!
Here is the website www. essure.com
A Unique Delivery at Volusia OBGYN
It’s not often, hardly ever actually, that two families would randomly cross paths more than a generation and 827 miles apart. Well, that’s what happened recently to me and one of our patients, Jennifer Haney.
During one of her prenatal visits we discovered that my uncle, Dr. W.D. Robertson, a traditional family medicine physician from Medina, Ohio had delivered her back in the 80’s in their small community hospital. I talked to him and since Medina was a small suburb, I wasn’t surprised when he told me he remembered her and the family.
On May 16th, 2011 I had the privilege of attending the delivery of her wonderful baby girl. All of our deliveries are unique, but this one was just a little bit special in a different way.
Congratulations to the Haney family!
Here are pictures of my uncle, Dr. W.D. Robertson at Jennifer’s birth in 1984!
And introducing Jennifer’s baby girl Avabella Mahala
~ Dr. Robertson
Nurses’ Week is May 6th-12th
Nurses’ week!!!
National Nurses Week is celebrated every year beginning May 6th and ending May 12th on Florence Nightingale’s birthday.
We at Volusia Ob Gyn would like to take a moment to congratulate and thank all nurses!!!
What would we do without you?
You make our day to day tasks so much easier.
You take care of our patients, our families, our friends (and us)!
You make us better doctors.
WE APPRECIATE YOU….ALL YEAR LONG…BUT WE DON’T TELL YOU ENOUGH.
SO…THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
VOG
Welcome to Volusia OB GYN’s New Website
Welcome to our new website! We hope our patients and our extended VOG family find it helpful, easy to navigate and educational.
2011 started with a bang. New office in Palm Coast (tell your friends!!), new physician (Dr. Robertson ), new computer system (to make us faster and better, y’all know how fun that was to transition to :0 ) and lots and lots of babies. We feel blessed to have the honor to take care of such an awesome patient population.
Some of the new features on our webpage include:
Our “services and links” page. It features helpful web links, a list of services we provide, and even photos and video of some of our minimally invasive procedures!
Our downloadable forms have been updated (if you see something missing, or have an idea for a helpful addition, please feel free to contact us).
We have a photo album that will feature some of our families, and if you have a picture update you wish to include, email Dr.Tapia and she will make sure it gets on. Speaking of which, on the individual physician bios you will find a tab to contact your practitioner if you so wish.
We are experimenting with an on line appointment request tab, let us know what you think.
As always feel free to touch base via Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
We will always continue to strive to be the very best office we can be
Sincerely,
VOG
