Keeping A Step Ahead

Once you have a planned pregnancy you can find solutions for all problems that you envisage. As parents, you have taken a decision to bring another human being into life. Now it is your duty to see that you give the best of everything to your bundle of joy, and at the same time make sure that you do not lose any comfort for lack of planning. Conception planning helps you to understand the importance of remaining fit and healthy from the time you take the decision to become a parent. Which means regular exercise and morning and evening walks, good nourishing food throughout the day, a little meditation, watching TV and listening to music to remain stress free and keeping the environment in which you live neat and clean. If you accomplish all this and keep a working hand to take care of your daily chores getting pregnant or planning your second pregnancy would be a piece of cake.

Physical Fitness Is Essential

It is important to keep a check on your body mass index. A healthy body with ideal weight has a better chance of getting pregnant. In this context, if you know about ovulation and your best time to get pregnant you can greatly improve your chances for pregnancy. A planned pregnancy can help you to understand your ovulation period, which starts from the 14th day of your menstruation. Besides these you can also have many herbs and medicines to boost fertility in males and females, if you have any complications, in getting pregnant or your pregnancy is taking time even after taking due precautions.

Never undermine the importance of money matters even if you have a good source of income. Quick borrowing of money on important matters like the hospital bills, clothes for the baby, creams, gels, powders, crib, pram, painting and white washing, the piling list of grocery and medical items, travel and communication bills etc can make a big hole in the pocket. Therefore, a planned pregnancy can really be helpful in creating a pool of money, which can be used when your health insurance and other sources seem to run out of steam. If you are a person of limited means then you should start saving today and cut down on your expenses and save some money for the rainy day. Usually, you stop getting payment from office six weeks after delivery; you should be ready to foot the bills after that. A planned pregnancy is like a friend who lends you help when you need it the most.

This calendar can help you be mentally prepared to face whatever happens to your body during pregnancy week by week and not rush to the pregnancy doctor whenever something new is experienced. However, please make sure to consult your doctor regarding any unusual symptoms that you witness because some unusual symptoms could signal severe pregnancy complications.

Weeks 1 to 4

You are still not pregnant in Week 1. Pregnancy is calculated from the first day of your period. Your fertile period will start towards the end of the second week when you will ovulate. You should be pregnant by the middle of the third week. You however, will not feel anything until you miss your period. Some women have implantation bleeding during this time.

Weeks 5 to 8

You have missed your period. You really start to feel pregnant. A urine test will confirm your pregnancy. You are experiencing pregnancy symptoms like mood swings, nausea, tender breasts, and lower abdomen cramps etc. Your bundle of joy is right now actually just a few tiny cells. In your 7th week, your pregnancy is confirmed beyond doubt. Start looking for the various medical tests you might need after consultation with the doctor. You baby is growing very fast now! Your uterus is expanding- you may feel the stretch.

Weeks 9 to 14

You should start gaining weight by now. You will notice that you are visiting the toilet too often! The fetus has started developing most of its organs, especially noticeable at the limbs that look like buds! Many side effects of early pregnancy, like morning sickness, will have disappeared. Your baby is growing rather than developing new parts. All the main organs of your baby have been formed. You can hear the heart beat around this time.

Weeks 15 to 23

This the best part of your pregnancy period. You are in the second trimester. Life will be a lot simpler and all pregnancy symptoms have disappeared… You can feel your baby moving – more like a tickle! You are getting heavy now. Be careful about your sleeping posture and shoes. Your baby probably has hair, teeth, all its organs have formed… it will start growing with every passing day.

Weeks 24 to 33

What was that? Yes, you may get a few contractions during this time. Nothing to worry about- it’s your body preparing for a normal delivery. Start planning your maternity application. You will have to wind up your work quite soon. Take special care of your back and your knees. You will tend to lose balance easily. You have entered the pregnancy third trimester. Your baby has perfectly formed fingernails. It can react to sounds and touch too! Your baby is too big to move around freely now. Movements will be restricted other than a few pokes!

Weeks 34 to 39

You are almost there. Life seems slow and cumbersome now and you cannot wait to see your baby… hold on for a few more days! Your baby is fully developed and will have very high chances of survival even if it decides to enter the world earlier than planned! The time has come; it can happen any day now. Take rest. You will need the energy after your little darling is born! Your baby is ready, you need to be ready too, and you never know when it decides to give the push! Arrange necessary items like nursing gowns, breastfeeding bras, baby cloths etc. for the coming future requirements.

An educated and healthy mother means a healthy baby. Do a lot of research on the Internet and ask friends who have passed this stage to clear your doubts. We wish you a wonderful pregnancy and a happy motherhood!

Most of the pregnancy calendars or guides chart baby’s growth during pregnancy week by week. Though the baby continues to grow with every passing day, but changes and development of baby usually becomes manifest over a week’s time. Therefore, the complete pregnancy period has been divided into three trimesters comprising 40 weeks. By following the baby’s growth in pregnancy week-by-week information and or pregnancy calendars, you can have an idea as to what your baby looks like at a particular point in time. Moreover, if you find something lacking, you can get medical advice promptly. Let’s take a glance at some salient developments of your little one’s growth during the forty weeks.

The First Trimester

The first trimester of pregnancy week by week covers week 1 to week 14. First 2 weeks of this trimester denote the period from your last menses till conception or till that time when the sperm fertilizes the egg. By the end of week 3, the fertilized egg is metamorphosed into an embryo. During week 4 you begin to feel the early pregnancy symptom of nausea. Week 5 marks the beginning of formation of all major organs of the baby’s body. In fact this is the week, when the embryo’s metamorphosis into a baby begins. Come week 6 and your baby’s heart beats for the first time. Your baby doubles in size during week 7. By week 9, baby’s sex can be determined and your embryo becomes a small baby by week 10. Week 14 will make manifest another sign of pregnancy – enlarging and darkening of the area around your nipples.

The Second Trimester

The second trimester comprises week 15 to week 26. In the beginning of this trimester i.e. week 15, the baby begins movement of head, lips, and feet. Due to upward movement of uterus, the pregnancy symptom of frequent urination would abate by week 16. Baby begins blinking, sucking, and swallowing in week 17. Due to myelinization of nerves, nerve cell transmission registers a significant increase making body reflexes quicker. During week 20, baby begins to sleep and wake on regular basis. By week 24, baby’s heart beat becomes so distinct that it can be heard by placing an ear on stomach. And before the second trimester ends, brain wave activity commences for ears and eyes.

The Third Trimester

The third trimester as per pregnancy week by week commences with week 27 and ends with the birth of baby i.e. approximately week 40. Week 27 heralds increased movements of the baby. Senses of sound, smell, and taste develop by week 29. During week 34, baby’s own immune system begins to develop. Most of the babies are born around this period. By this week, look out for any signs of labor. In any case, your baby is born by the end of week 40. Sometimes, this period may extend by two more weeks.

By keeping yourself updated with the help of pregnancy week by week information, you can keep watch over various signs of pregnancy and your baby’s growth. If you feel your baby’s growth is not in consonance with the week by week chart, you can immediately get medical advice.

Tension within the pelvis or diaphragm area can increase resistance to the return of venous blood to the heart from the lower half of the body. This can cause or aggravate varicose veins in the legs, and haemorrhoids. Most women experience emotional shifts and mood swings during pregnancy. It’s natural to feel doubt, anxiety, and fear about pregnancy and childbirth, as well as happiness, excitement, and anticipation. Women may notice an increase in size and possibly some tenderness very early, often before the pregnancy is confirmed. Being tired is common during pregnancy, especially in the first few months and then towards the end. Exercise, rest, and proper diet all may impact the degree of tiredness that you feel. A urine infection causing a burning sensation on passing urine, and the feeling of needing to pass urine all the time. Approximately 50% of women will suffer from morning sickness. Morning sickness often goes away around week twelve but some women feel sick and nauseous for the full nine months.

Headaches are common during pregnancy. Severe headaches can be a sign of pre-eclampsia. During pregnancy , each kidney increases in leagth by 1-1,5cm, with a concomitant increase in weight. The renal pelvis is dilated.The ureters are dilated above the brim of the bony pelvis.The ureters also elongate, widen, and become more curved. Constipation is very common during pregnancy because of hormonal changes that slow down the digestion of food. In the later part of your pregnancy, the pressure from your uterus on the rectum may also contribute to the problem. Glucosuria during pregnancy is not necessarily abnormal, may be explained by the increase in GFR with impairment of tubular reabsortion capacity for filtered glucose.Increased levels of urinary glucose also contribute toincreased susceptibility of pregnant women to urinary tract infection. Proteinuria changes litlle during pregnancy and if more than 500mg/24h is lost,a desease process shoud be suspected. During pregnancy, levels of several essential coagulation factors isincrease.

These are all intrinsic changes, but how about the skin? One of the first things that you would notice when you are pregnant is that the skin becomes doubly active during pregnancy. Sweating is doubled, and it seems that the skin is either very dry or very moist due to the extra secretions being produced by the skin. Again, this is normal. Sometimes, harmless rashes even appear in the morning.

And then we have stretch marks. Stretch marks are never pleasant to see when you are the woman, and countless women have scratched their way to having very prominent “badges of honor” indeed. It’s true that often, when you start scratching the sites where stretch marks would form, the skin would become redder, and the stretch marks would become more prominent.

Current Statistics

It has been noted that generally, 90% of all women are afflicted with striae or stretch marks. Some of these women aren’t even pregnant. Some were born slim, gained a little weight and woke up one day with spidery web work already running across their shoulders, abdominal area and sometimes even their thighs.

It’s genetic, so one really shouldn’t be blaming anyone for the existence of these stretch marks. And since it’s inherited, we can safely assume that our parents inherited them from their parents as well. It’s cyclical, which means we shouldn’t really be troubled by its natural passage in the human body.

Pregnancy is one of the times that you would notice the existence of these striae, but children entering puberty also have them. Males are actually more prone to stretch marks in this age, as vertical growth is often also accompanied by horizontal growth.

Tretinoin

A certain cream, which is purported to have contained the chemical compound tretinoin, is showing promise in slowly diminishing the general appearance of stretch marks. The cream, which is basically just a medium to deliver generic tretinoin is applied for more than 5 months.

Researchers at the University of Michigan have found out that shrinking occurs with the repeated use of the active ingredient. A control group, which did not use the tretinoin-based cream or used other means to shrink their stretch marks, reported an increase in the size, rather than a decrease.

It should be noted that if anyone would want to use the active ingredient tretinoin should do so immediately, in the earliest stages of stretch mark because the active ingredient seems to have little effect on stretch marks that have already established themselves on the skin for longer periods of time.

I’m not talking about when the bones are as wide as they’ll get. How far into the pregnancy will they just begin to separate?

There are a two  tools that you will need for fertility charting. The first, and most important, is a simple menstrual cycle chart. You can find a paper version at your local drug store to carry with you, but most women are now opting to use an online cycle chart. Many websites offer additional resources to help you chart your past ovulation dates and predict future ones, and track your conception success rate. The second is a basic basal thermometer, which can also be found at any drug store or pharmacy department.

To begin, you need to start your charting with an accurate reading of your basal temperature, also known as your base temp. To do so, you will need to get a full night of sleep, at least 8 hours, and uninterrupted. Keep the thermometer, and a pen and notebook by your bed – you will want to record your base temperature first thing in the morning, as soon as you wake up. Basal thermometers are more accurate than traditional thermometers, so it could take a few minutes before you receive an accurate reading. When the thermometer beeps, you will have your base temp. You’ll want to record this immediately so you don’t forget it, right down to the tenth degree.

When you have your base temp, record it on your fertility chart. Most online charts offer a section for you to record this for that day to keep track of the changes. You’ll also want to take note of your mood, any aches or pains, including headaches, and other information you think may be relevant. This should also be included in your fertility charting. As you progress, you’ll begin to notice a pattern in your cycle.

When you get closer to ovulation, you will notice that your base temperature rises. If you are using home ovulation tests for tracking purposes, you can pinpoint exactly when your ovulation occurs. Include this in your fertility charting, and you will be able to accurately see when your next ovulation is most likely to occur, and when your least fertile days are during the month.

Discover our recommended effective fertility aids to help you get pregnant fast.

There are two main types of pregnancy tests. Both are commonly used to detect pregnancy.

Home pregnancy tests are available at your local drugstore or pharmacy and at some large department stores. Blood pregnancy tests are performed by health care professionals in an office or a clinic. Home pregnancy tests are usually about 97% accurate, but this varies from brand to brand. The amount of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in your body then increases rapidly over the next few weeks, doubling in amount about every two days. HCG can also be detected in your blood, around 10 days after you conceive, and your GP may advise you to have a blood test.Pregnancy blood tests are performed health clinic. They detect pregnancy by measuring hCG levels in your blood. The most sensitive test of pregnancy is best performed by a laboratory using a sample of your blood.

Blood tests performed at your clinic have a 99% accuracy rate and can detect pregnancy earlier than most urine tests. Blood tests can be performed 7 days after you ovulate and still provide accurate results. Some urine tests can be used on the first day that your period is due, however, it is unlikely that you will achieve that 97% accuracy rate if you test so early. The quantitative blood test detects pregnancy by measuring the exact amount of hCG in your bloodstream. It can also be used to detect how far along you are in your pregnancy. It does not measure your hCG levels, and only provides a yes or no answer as to whether or not you are pregnant. Home pregnancy tests only check hCG levels, not progesterone. They are completely different hormones.