What Are The Complications During Pregnancy
A pregnant woman and her doctor will monitor the pregnancy to exclude or prevent certain pregnancy conditions. The physician will also treat non-pregnancy-related medical conditions in such a way as to promote the appropriate physical and neurological development of the fetus. Conditions of particular importance include:
High-risk pregnancy: If you are considered prone to certain complications during pregnancy, she will be classified as high risk. Examples include pregnancies in women with diabetes and/or high blood pressure. Age-related complications can occur in women such as teenagers, women who are over the age of 35, or those who have been treated for infertility and have pregnancies resulting from the use of assisted reproductive technology.
Ectopic pregnancy: This is a pregnancy in which the egg implants somewhere other than the uterus. This complication can be life-threatening. Ectopic pregnancy must be diagnosed early to avoid damage to the Fallopian tubes and to prevent serious maternal illness or death. It is also called tubal pregnancy or extra-uterine pregnancy.
Cervical incompetence: This is a condition in which the cervix begins to open and/or efface without contractions before the pregnancy has reached term. Cervical incompetence can be a cause of mid-pregnancy miscarriage.
Preterm Labor: In this condition, the uterus begins to contract before the baby has reached full term.
While Every Person Is Different Here’s When You Can Tentatively Expect Breast Tenderness Nausea Fatigue Frequent Urination And Other Signs Of Pregnancy
You received a positive pregnancy test, and now you’re waiting for the telltale signs you’re expecting. So when do you start having pregnancy symptoms like nausea, vomiting, bloating, constipation, and fatigue?
As it turns out, every person is different, says Marra Francis, M.D., an OB-GYN in Woodlands, Texas, and an author of the Mommy MD Guides. Some never experience the typical early signs of pregnancy, while others feel immediate changes in their body. And you can’t use previous pregnancies as a guide either symptoms might appear at different points in every gestation, adds Dr. Francis.
To give you a basic guideline, we rounded up nine common early pregnancy symptoms and their typical start time. Remember to take this estimated schedule with a grain of salt, though, and ask your doctor about any concerns.
Determining How Many Weeks Pregnant You Are By Ultrasound
Your doctor or midwife might schedule you for a dating ultrasound to measure the developing embryo and calculate your due date more precisely. The earlier the dating ultrasound is conducted, the more accurate it is. If the embryo is still quite small, the ultrasound tech may use a transvaginal wand to do an internal pelvic ultrasound, in addition to the more common gel-on-abdomen ultrasound method.
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What If The Result Is Positive
A positive result generally means that you are pregnant. You should make an appointment to see your GP to confirm the pregnancy and to sign up for antenatal care.
If you are not sure you want to be pregnant it is good idea to make an appointment with your GP to discuss your options.
Your GP will listen and will not judge you.
Free advice may also be available from a family planning clinic.
Sometimes counselling can help you to work through your feelings about the pregnancy. It may help you make a decision on what is the right choice for you.
www.myoptions.ie has details of the support services available to you.
How Long After Sex Can You Have A Pregnancy Test
The short answer?
Most home pregnancy tests can be done from the first day of your missed period. If youre not sure when youre having your next periodor if your period is irregular take the test at least 10 days after you had unprotected sex.
There are some extra sensitive pregnancy tests that can be done before you miss your period. Some of these can be completed as soon as eight days after conception.
But its a little-known fact that conception doesnt necessarily begin immediately after youve had sex.
In fact, it can take up to five days for the sperm to fertilize an egg. Even after that, it takes several days for the egg to travel to the uterus, where it plants itself into the uterine lining.
From sex to pregnancy can take from two to three weeks.
Therefore, your results wont be accurate if you take a test before a missed period.
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Other Early Signs Of Pregnancy
These early pregnancy symptoms tend to appear around or after the time that you miss your period, usually sometime between weeks 4 and 9. But again, every woman and every pregnancy is different, so you may not experience these symptoms at all, while other moms-to-be may notice them a little earlier.
When Is A Blood Pregnancy Test Positive
The blood pregnancy test generally provides greater accuracy earlier. If you are pregnant, your blood test will usually be positive within 3-4 days after implantation or about 9-10 days after fertilization and ovulation, which is roughly 5-6 days before a missed period.
The earliest you can get a positive result on the most sensitive pregnancy tests is 3-4 days after implantation, 11-12 days after ovulation/fertilization or about 2 days prior to your next period. But the majority of home pregnancy tests will not be positive until you miss a period.
LEARN more about your pregnancy test knowledge by taking the Pregnancy Test Quiz
Implantation needs to occur before hCG is produced, and implantation generally happens between 6-12 days post ovulation/fertilization, so the HPT would be positive as early as 11-12 days after ovulation/fertilization.
For this reason, it makes sense to wait until 10-12 days after ovulation. However, even 10-12 days after ovulation, over one-half of pregnant women will still show a negative result.If you did not have an hCG injection , you can believe the positive results, but a negative result does not necessarily exclude a pregnancy. If your period is late, test again.
LEARN more about your pregnancy test knowledge by taking the Pregnancy Test Quiz
Your hCG levels should rise at least 60% every 2 days and many people won’t have a positive HPT until the first day of a missed period or even a few days later.
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What Medications Are Safe To Take If You Are Pregnant
Because some medicines are not safe to take during pregnancy, it is important that a woman take only those that have been approved by her doctor. If anyone tries to prescribe a new medicine, the woman should explain that she is pregnant and ask if the drug is safe. The US Food and Drug Administration previously listed five categories of pharmaceutical labeling for drugs that might be used during pregnancy. A doctor or pharmacist can provide advice on the safety level of medications before a pregnant patient begins their usage. Doctors will often use category B and C medications if it is felt that the potential benefit of the product outweighs any risks. Few conditions during pregnancy can be treated adequately with category A medications. The FDA categories were instituted in 2015.
- Category A – Safety established using human studies
- Category B – Presumed safety based upon animal studies
- Category C – Uncertain safety with animal studies showing an adverse effect
- Category D – Unsafe with evidence of risk that may, in certain clinical circumstances, be justifiable
- Category X – Highly unsafe with risk or use outweighing any possible benefit
Can I Make My Own A Pregnancy Test
You might have heard about ways to test for pregnancy using household items, such as salt or toothpaste. This usually involves mixing the substance with your wee and then waiting to see if a reaction happens, such as fizzing or a change in colour.
These experiments cannot tell you if youre pregnant or not. The best way to find out for sure is to buy a pregnancy test from a shop or pharmacy.
If you find out that you are pregnant, we can help you decide what to do next. Contact us or WhatsApp us on +233 24 420 8585 to talk in confidence to one of our advisors.
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How Do I Calculate My Due Date
Wondering how your practitioner estimated your due date? Its calculated counting from the first day of your last menstrual period , not the day you conceived. So try to remember the first day of your last period and add 40 weeks to that.
You can also calculate your due date with the following formula:
- Subtract three months from the first day of your last menstrual period
For example, if the first day of your last menstrual period was June 2, 2022, subtract three months to get March 2, 2022. Add seven days and you’ll get March 9, 2022. Finally, add one year to find your estimated due date of March 9, 2023.
Is Abortion Legal In Australia
Abortion law in Australia varies across states and territories. Abortion is legal in all states and territories under certain circumstances and when it is done by a registered medical professional.
In most states and territories, it is illegal to protest within 150m of a clinic or service that provides abortions.
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To Soak Or Not To Soak
Hot tub use is one of the things women need to think about if theyre trying to get pregnant. I tell my patients, Take your folic acid and monitor your hot tub use.
Im not saying you have to eliminate hot tub use completely as I mentioned before, the risk of neural tube defects for a typical pregnancy is 1 in 1,000, and that risk doubles to 2 in 1,000 if you use a hot tub during early pregnancy.
If you want to totally eliminate the increased risk, avoid the hot tub during the first trimester of pregnancy to give yourself a buffer of a few weeks. A nice, warm bath is a safe alternative if you want to relax in the water.
If you still want to enjoy the hot tub, soak for short periods of time, make sure the water temperature is below 101 degrees, and avoid the jets where the water is usually the hottest. Once youre past the first trimester, the risk is virtually gone.
Go ahead, pamper yourself during your pregnancy! For recommendations about massage, manicures, and hair coloring during pregnancy, read this blog post from Dr. Shivani Patel.
How Soon Can I Take A Home Pregnancy Test
It is recommended that you wait until you have missed a period to take a home test. A missed period is often one of the first signs of pregnancy. If you cannot wait that long to find out and you know the day you may have conceived, then the earliest you can take a test would be 14 days from possible conception.
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With most current pregnancy test kits, hCG can be detected in the urine as early as 3-4 days after implantation, though it often takes longer. If you are pregnant, on the day you miss your period about 74% of HPTs will be positive. So a negative pregnancy test is normal in about 26% of all pregnancies, and you may have to retest until you know the most accurate results. At 10+ days after the missed period, a negative HPT result makes pregnancy unlikely. Positive pregnancy test results can show up any time before or after a missed period.
Go to the Pregnancy Test Calculator and find out more
The graph below shows the % of positive urine tests by day if you are pregnant:
Are All Home Pregnancy Testing Methods The Same
Most brands of at-home pregnancy tests are reliable. Although the exact testing method of different pregnancy tests can differ from one type to the other, they all look for hCG in your body. Some tests might do this through urine while others look for the pregnancy hormone in your blood. If youre using an at-home test, most will give you the same result. The difference with your at-home tests will be the sensitivity of the test. Some might be more sensitive than others and produce a positive result detect hCG in your urine sooner than others. For the most accurate reading, its still recommended that you wait till youve missed your period. At that point, all tests should be accurate.
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Changes In Bathroom Habits
Bowel and bladder symptoms can appear in early pregnancy. A person might experience frequent urges to urinate during the day and night. They may also have constipation, which affects of people at some time during pregnancy, according to 2012 research.
In the early stages of pregnancy, the rise in hCG levels
8 days after conception. As the pregnancy progresses, levels rise by around 50% a day. HGC is detectable in urine a few days later than in the blood.
Tests for home use are urine tests. A person will need to go to a healthcare facility for a blood test.
A range of pregnancy tests are available for home use, and some are more sensitive than others. This means they can detect hCG at lower levels.
Many tests claim to be 99% accurate, but experts note that not all of them undergo rigorous scientific testing. A person may also get a false-negative result if they take the test too early, do not follow the instructions precisely, or do not handle the test as the manufacturer intended.
Some medical bodies suggest taking a test on the first day of a missed period, but many people do not know when their period should arrive, for example, if they experience irregular menstruation.
When taking a test, a person should:
- read the instructions carefully
- ensure they handle the test as advised
- try to avoid taking the test too early
Causes Of Female Infertility
Female infertility is a factor for about one-third of couples who are trying to conceive.
The most common cause is a problem with ovulation. If you dont ovulate, you wont release an egg to be fertilized.
Ovulation problems can be caused by:
- surgery for an ectopic pregnancy
A problem with the uterus can also make it harder to get pregnant. This may be due to an abnormal structure, or due to growths like fibroids.
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What Are The Signs And Symptoms When You’re 3 Weeks Pregnant
When youâre 1 week âpregnant,â you havenât conceived yet, and so thereâs not much going on. That can change by the time youâre three weeks pregnant. Your belly can be a hive of activity, though you may not be able to tell.
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If the sperm and egg find each other, theyâll join up in a fallopian tube to create a single cell called a zygote in a process called fertilization.
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The zygote carries chromosomes from the mother and father and sets the first building blocks of your future babyâs genetic makeup.
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The zygote then moves down the fallopian tube and toward the uterus as it starts dividing into a larger group of cells.
Although thereâs more activity in your third week of pregnancy, will you feel anything? Probably not. However, read on to learn a bit more about those typical early symptoms of pregnancy and when you might notice them.
Pregnancy Glow And Acne During Early Pregnancy
Many people may begin saying you have the pregnancy glow. The combination of increased blood volume and higher hormone levels pushes more blood through your vessels. This causes the bodys oil glands to work overtime.
The increased activity of your bodys oil glands gives your skin a flushed, glossy appearance. On the other hand, you may also develop acne.
in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says that taking a home pregnancy test at this point will give a more accurate result.
Home pregnancy tests are inexpensive and widely available without a prescription in pharmacies and other stores.
You can take a test earlier than this if you want, but you run the risk of getting a false negative result. This means the test may say youre not pregnant, but in fact you are.
If you take a home pregnancy test too early, there may not be enough hCG in your urine yet for the test to detect it. Home pregnancy tests work by testing the amount of hCG in your urine. This is a hormone thats only present in the blood and urine of pregnant people.
Also, every persons body chemistry is a bit different. One person may get a positive result as early as a day after their period, while another persons positive results may not show up for another week. So, early test results may not be the most accurate.
Unlike at-home urine tests, blood tests are usually done in a clinical setting. Contact your doctor if you want this type of test.
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What Other Symptoms Can Be Early Signs Of Pregnancy
Every person and every pregnancy is different. So, if you are pregnant, youll likely experience a unique combination of common, not-so-common and sometimes overlapping symptoms. And, they may show up earlier or later than expected. Here are more than a dozen possible symptoms of early pregnancy.
1. Spotting or light bleeding
Many women are surprised to learn that spotting or light bleeding can be an early sign of pregnancy, but about one-third of women experience it. This is often called implantation bleeding because doctors believe it occurs as the fertilized egg attaches itself into the uterine lining. This is different from bleeding that could occur from something like a miscarriage which is usually heavier.
When does implantation bleeding occur?
Implantation bleeding typically occurs 10 to 14 days after conception, which is just before or right around the time your period is due. So, you may think youve gotten your period.
But implantation bleeding is a light flow, which may start and stop over a couple days. And while it can take on a range of colors, its more likely to be pink, brown or light red.
Your period, on the other hand, may start off light in flow and in color but after a couple days becomes heavier, changes to a crimson red color and lasts up to a week or so.
2. Lower abdominal pain or cramping
While cramps and lower-abdominal pain can signal a coming period, they can also be a sign of egg implantation.
What do implantation cramps feel like?
