Posts Tagged ‘pregnancy’
Enjoying your pregnancy
If you are pregnant, whether it’s for the first time or not, you know that your life is going to change forever. Bringing a child into this world will change everything about you, be it physically, emotionally, mentally, morally and socially. Don’t worry, as god has given you a time period of 9 months to prepare for this event. So take a deep breath and start.
When you are pregnant, you will find that a lot of people, from amongst your friends and relatives, and even those who you don’t know, giving you a lot of advice. Of course, all the advice is well- meant, but you need to take all of that with a pinch of salt! This is because no amount of advice can prepare you for the whirlwind that is going to turn your life upside down!
During this time, not only do you need to take good care of yourself, you can also fill your leisure time with reading as much about pregnancy and taking care of a newborn baby as you can. Don’t just rely on the internet. Visit your local library and read up on the subject. But too much information is bad as you are going to be nervous if you read up all the statistics on everything negative that has ever happened to babies!
Enjoy your pregnancy while it lasts. Do things you like, don’t over- stress yourself at work and spend quality time with your partner. It will make you a happy mother when your little one arrives.
1st Week of Pregnancy
You wouldn’t expect this, but your pregnancy actually begins with the day your last menstrual period started. Yep, it will be two weeks before conception (assuming it occurs during this cycle), but that’s how the doctors calculate it to determine your delivery date. Go figure!
If you’re trying to get pregnant, the time to begin healthy habits is before you conceive. Eating right, with plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits, along with plenty of pure water to keep your system hydrated, is a good idea at any time and especially when you’re pregnant. Regular exercise is another healthy habit that will make it easier for you to conceive, to carry a baby to full term, and to deliver without complications.
You should also stop smoking tobacco, drinking alcohol or using drugs recreationally before you try to get pregnant, to give your body time to flush these toxins out of your system. All of these habits can lead to pregnancy complications, such as low birth-weight babies, premature delivery, mental impairment from fetal alcohol syndrome and stillbirth.
You can further improve your chances of making a healthy baby by starting to take extra folic acid before you become pregnant. Folic acid is a key ingredient that encourages good brain, nerve and spinal development in the embryo.
So you and your partner have timed intercourse to coincide with your most fertile time, and now there are thousands of sperm swimming toward the fallopian tube to meet one egg. While several sperm may penetrate the outer layer of the ovum, only one sperm will enter the egg and fertilize it. That’s when the chromosomes from the mother and father combine to create the genetic makeup of the embryo. At this point the potential baby’s gender is determined, depending on whether the sperm carries an X chromosome or a Y chromosome. Yes, it’s Dad who determines whether the nursery will be pink or blue.
This early period is also when it’s possible to hit the baby jackpot with multiple fertilized eggs, known as zygotes. This can occur if the mother releases not one, but two or more eggs from the same ovary, or one egg from each ovary, and these ova are fertilized by separate sperm. Depending on how many eggs are fertilized, this situation results in “fraternal” multiples, from twins on up. However, if a single fertilized egg performs the miracle of dividing into two or more completely separate zygotes, this results in multiple babies considered “identical.” In this case the zygotes have exactly the same chromosomal combination, so they’ll be the same gender and have the same physical characteristics.
Yet while this activity is going on inside your womb, Mom-to-be, you may not even be sure that you’re pregnant! In most cases, women don’t begin to experience signs of pregnancy caused by changes in your hormone balance until 10 to 14 days after conception. The earliest signs of pregnancy include increase increased fatigue, failure to start your next menstrual period, nausea, tenderness in your breasts, a frequent need to urinate (caused by pressure against your bladder as your uterus enlarges), a metallic taste in your mouth and sleep disturbances.
If you’re having any of these symptoms, congratulations! You’re probably pregnant, and should see your gynecologist immediately.
Pregnancy is detected by various methods. Pregnancy can be detected by the individual themselves because the signs and symptoms of pregnancy are very obvious. Pregnancy can also be detected by the help of medical people or by undergoing certain medical tests.
There are a number of symptoms like HCG, darkening of the vagina and cervix, Hegar’s sign which is the softening of the uterus isthma and Good ell’s sign, which is the softening of the vaginal portion.
Other symptoms of the pregnancy may include linea Alba – linea nigra pigmentation, which is usually referred to the darkening of the skin in the center of the abdominal area. This happens due to the hormonal changes which usually occur during the middle of the pregnancy period.
Pregnancy diagnosis can usually be accomplished by undergoing various medical tests in which all of them detect the hormones that generate the newly formed placenta. Urine and blood tests can be used to diagnose pregnancy. The main advantage of the blood test is that, it can diagnose pregnancy as early as in the end of the first weeks itself. The usual beginning of the pregnancy is from the time of the last menstrual cycle.
The blood test for pregnancy is more accurate than the urine test and is usually preferred by the medical people. The main disadvantage of the urine test is that, t detects the pregnancy only after 12 to 13 days of the pregnancy only. The primary intention of this test is only to check the state of the embryo and not the age of it.
The blastocyst usually secretes hormones by the name of human choronic gonadotropin. This generally happens in the post menstrual phase. This hormone again stimulates the corpus leutum which is present in the human ovary which continues to produce the progesterone. The main use of this is to create the lining and maintain it which in turn helps in keeping the embryo nourished and healthy.
The lining of the uterus has a gland which swells in respondance to the blastocysts that is triggered to that area. This is done in order to absorb all the vital nutrients that are required for the embryo to nourish properly.
On the other hand, all the signs and symptoms of the pregnancy, some woman won’t realize that they are pregnant till they are in the pregnancy for some time. This is possible due to various reasons like irregular menstrual cycles, taking certain strong medications like painkillers and others. Some of them do not even want to believe that they are pregnant. There are also certain people who do not care if they gain weight.
Diabetes in pregnancy represents a distinct burden intolerant of carbohydrates, which begins or is first diagnosed during pregnancy. It may also represent the inability of tissues to absorb glucose from the blood flow during pregnancy, due to the shortage of hormone insulin.
Reasons:
First you must know what Diabetes is. Glucose is a form of sugar which is found in many foods, including pastries, pasta, potatoes and bread. The body uses glucose, to be supplied with energy. Glucose is stored in the liver, muscle and fat tissue. Pancreas produces a hormone called insulin (hormones are chemical compounds produced in any part of the body being moved to other parts in order to show its effects there). Insulin is needed to enable glucose to enter the liver, muscle and fat tissues, thus reducing the amount of glucose in the blood. In diabetes blood glucose levels remain abnormally high. In many forms of diabetes that happens because the pancreas does not produce enough insulin. Instead, the problem is in the placenta.
During pregnancy the placenta to the baby food supplier gets affected. It also produces a large number of other hormones that affect the normal response of the body to insulin. This condition is called insulin resistance. “Most pregnant ladies do not suffer from diabetes because the pancreas starts to produce additional quantity of insulin to compensate for insulin resistance. But when the pancreas of a woman cannot produce extra insulin, blood sugar remained abnormally high and believes that the woman has diabetes in pregnancy.
Increased risk of developing diabetes in women who
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Have as obese
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Have diabetes in the family
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Have previously wholesale baby with great weight
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Had dead baby or the baby with the genetic defect
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Have more than 25 – the age
Symptoms
Most women with diabetes in pregnancy do not have any symptoms, in which we can’t recognize the situation, so it is recommended that all pregnant women take a test for diabetes between 24 and 28 – the week of pregnancy. The symptoms are usually not harmful and not endanger the lives of pregnant:
* Ease of fatigue
* Nausea
* Vomiting
* Increased thirst
* Frequent urination
* Blurred vision
* Loss of weight regardless of the increased appetite
* Common infections of the urinary tract, and skin of vagina
Prevention:
There is no known method of prevention of diabetes, mainly because diabetes is due to the effects of normal hormones of pregnancy. But the effect of insulin resistance may be offset by carefully observing the diet, avoidance of overweight lifetime and maintaining a reasonable physical activity.
Suggested Reading:
+ Healthy Pregnancy With Exercise and Yoga
+ Eating to Beat Pregnancy fatigue
Pregnancy: Weeks 1-4 (Month #1)
Does that at-home-pregnancy test show double yellow lines? Congratulations, you’re pregnant! Here’s what to expect during weeks one through four.