The First Pregnancy

By Abhishek Agarwal

The news about a positive pregnancy is received with mixed feelings, not only by the expectant mother but also by all the other adults in the household! This is but natural since the arrival of the “bundle of joy” is bound to affect the lives of all those connected with it, in some way or the other, be it the mother-to-be (especially if it is her first child), the father-to-be, grandparents, other relatives, close friends, etc. Everyone’s thoughts now center round the stages of pregnancy and what changes to expect in the next few months till the actual birth of the baby.

As far as the expectant mother is concerned, her next step involves a visit to her family physician who will counsel her regarding health and nutrition and so on. The doctor may even send her to a qualified expert to undergo certain tests and examinations. The expert is able to provide better guidance and education concerning the different stages of pregnancy. Read more…

Pregnancy Stages

Changes in Your Body

Most women find the second trimester of pregnancy easier than the first. But it is just as important to stay informed about your pregnancy during these months.

You might notice that symptoms like nausea and fatigue are going away. But other new, more noticeable changes to your body are now happening. Your abdomen will expand as you gain weight and the baby continues to grow. And before this trimester is over, you will feel your baby beginning to move!

Many of the aches and pains you had in the first trimester may continue. So remember to follow the tips from Pregnancy Basics to help prevent and ease these discomforts.

Some of the following aches and pains may make their first appearance during the second trimester:

• Pain in the abdomen, groin, and thighs
• Backaches
• Shortness of breath
• Stretch Marks
• Skin Changes
• Tingling in hands and fingers
• Itching on the abdomen, palms, and soles of the feet — Call your doctor if you have nausea, loss of appetite, vomiting, jaundice or fatigue combined with itching. These can be signs of a serious liver problem called cholestasis of pregnancy.

Weight Gain

Everyone gains weight at different rates. On average, it is normal to gain about one pound per week, or about three to four pounds per month during this trimester.

Changes in Your Baby

By the end of the second trimester your baby will weigh about 1 3/4 pounds and be about 13 inches long. With this growth comes the development of fingers, toes, eyelashes, and eyebrows. Around the fifth month, you might feel your baby move! By the end of this trimester, all of your baby’s essential organs like the heart, lungs, and kidneys are formed.

2nd Trimester Tests and Procedures

During the second trimester, you should continue to see your doctor for prenatal care. Most pregnant women have monthly office visits with their doctor or midwife until the end of this trimester.

During the second trimester your doctor can use an ultrasound to see if your baby is developing in a healthy way and to find out your baby’s sex. You will also be offered screening tests to look for genetic birth defects.

Birth defects result from problems with a baby’s genes, inherited factors that are passed down from the mother and the father at conception. Genetic birth defects sometimes occur in people with no family history of that disorder. Women over the age of 35 have the greatest chances of having a baby with birth defects.

Some of the diagnostic and screening tests your doctor might suggest in the second trimester include:

Amniocentesis

This test is performed in pregnancies of at least 16 weeks. It involves your doctor inserting a thin needle through your abdomen, into your uterus, and into the amniotic sac to take out a small amount of amniotic fluid for testing. The cells from the fluid are grown in a lab to look for problems with chromosomes. The fluid also can be tested for AFP. About 1 in 200 women have a miscarriage as a result of this test.

Chorionic villus sampling (CVS)

This test is performed between 10 and 12 weeks of pregnancy. The doctor inserts a needle through your abdomen or inserts a catheter through your cervix in order to reach the placenta. Your doctor then takes a sample of cells from the placenta. These cells are used in a lab to look for problems with chromosomes. This test cannot find out whether your baby has open neural tube defects. About 1 in 200 women have a miscarriage as a result of this test.

Maternal serum screening test

This blood test can be called by many different names including multiple marker screening test, triple test, quad screen, and others. This test is usually given between 15 and 20 weeks of pregnancy. It checks for birth defects such as Down syndrome, trisomy 18, or open neural tube defects. Doctors take a sample of your blood. They check the blood for 3 chemicals: alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) (made by the liver of the fetus), and two pregnancy hormones: estriol and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Sometimes, doctors test for a fourth substance in the blood called inhibin-A. Testing for inhibin-A may improve the ability to detect fetuses with a high risk of Down syndrome.

Higher levels of AFP are linked with open neural tube defects. In women age 35 and over, this test finds about 80% of fetuses with Down syndrome, trisomy 18, or an open neural tube defect. In this age group, there is a false positive rate (having a positive result without actually having a fetus with one of these health problems) of 22%. In women under age 35, this test finds about 65% of fetuses with Down syndrome, and there is a false positive rate of about 5%.

Targeted ultrasound

The best time to get a targeted ultrasound is between 18 and 20 weeks of pregnancy. Most major problems with the way your baby is formed can be seen at this time. Some physical defects such as clubbed feet and heart defects may not be seen.

Your doctor can also use ultrasound to see if your baby has any neural tube defects, such as spina bifida. In most cases, if you want to find out the sex of your baby, you can ask your doctor during this test. This is not the most accurate test for Down syndrome. Only 1 in 3 babies with Down syndrome have an abnormal second trimester ultrasound.

Pregnancy Stages

By Charles Johnson

You can expect to go through many different changes in your body and your emotions during the pregnancy stages. There are three stages of pregnancy, called trimesters, each of which lasts for about three months. Each one brings different feelings about yourself and the baby, different emotions about the things around you and of course, different types of changes that occur within your body. One of the best ways of recording these changes so that you can answer the questions of your friends when they become pregnant or if you want to compare one pregnancy to another is to start keeping a journal as soon as you discover that you are to become a mother.

Even before you know you are pregnant for sure, you will start to notice different changes in your body at the beginning of the first trimester. Your breasts will start to increase in size as the mammary gland start to fill with milk. This will not be an immediate change, bit one that will occur gradually with a slight increase in fullness. You may start to feel tired more quickly than usual and nausea, which is always the first chance that pregnant women notice, becomes more frequent. This nausea is called morning sickness because it usually occurs in the morning is quite uncomfortable and foods that you normally loved may now leave you feeling queasy just at the thought of them. Other changes you and others will notice include your frequent trips to the washroom.

By the end of your first trimester, you will have a little baby bulge, enough for others to notice and ask if you are expecting, if you haven`t already told them. During the seventh week, the baby has started to develop a face and the vital organs have started to develop. The heartbeat develops during this time and by the time the second trimester starts it is quite possible that you have listened to the heartbeat in your doctor`s office.

The morning sickness usually starts to ease off in the second trimester, but each woman is different. Some are well beyond the nausea at this point, while others have nausea into their third trimester. The danger of miscarriage is past by the time you reach the 12th week, so you can start to relax and enjoy the pregnancy. These three months are usually the easiest of the nine.

Both you can your partner have started to adapt to the fact you will have another member of the family and your emotions are more regulated, which means you and your partner can get back to normal and he won`t have to try to tread easily around you without fear of making you cry for no reason. Your body will start to grow during this stage and you may have uncomfortable periods when the baby seems to be kicking you in the ribs.

The final stage of pregnancy starts in the sixth month. This is when you will see the greatest growth in your belly as the baby starts to fully develop and put on a little weight. During your seventh month you may experience swelling of your hands and feet and need to rest more often during the day. During your final month, the baby drops further down into the uterus to prepare for birth. This will give you relief under your ribs, but it will also put more pressure on the bladder so you will have to visit the washroom even more frequently.

Your anxiety level will probably be higher at this point if this is your first pregnancy and you don`t know what to expect in the delivery. You will have more energy than normal during the final few weeks as you prepare for the coming of the baby.

For more information on pregnancy stages, nausea during pregnancy and older women and pregnancy visit http://www.Pregnancy-Period.com

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Pregnancy Stages