Understand Your Pregnancy Timeline
Determine your due date, even though it will not be a perfect prediction. Statistics show only about 5 percent of women deliver exactly on their predicted due date. Most women deliver within one or two weeks before or after that date. Nearly one in eight women have a baby prematurely, defined as three or more weeks before their predicted due date.
You’ll need to decide when to share the news. Many women choose to wait until after the first trimester, when the risk of miscarriage drops significantly. You may want to tell loved ones, your other children, and your employer at different times.
Most women start to show visible signs of pregnancy by late in their first trimester or early in the second trimester.
Learn About Labour Birth And Looking After A Baby
Many women, especially those expecting their first baby, go to classes to learn more about pregnancy, giving birth and parenting. These classes also provide an opportunity to meet other pregnant women many groups go on to have regular catch-ups after their babies are born.
Talk to your LMC about the classes that are available in your area. Most district health boards provide a limited number of free classes. There are also privately run classes you will have to pay for these.
If I Don’t Have Morning Sickness Does That Mean I’m More Likely To Have A Miscarriage
BabyCenter reports that several studies show that women who have miscarriages are less likely to have had nausea. Presumably, this is due to a lower level of pregnancy hormones in their systems as a result of a placenta or fetus not developing normally. However, many women have completely normal pregnancies with little or no nausea or vomiting at all. Consider yourself lucky and dont worry if you do not suffer from morning sickness as long as your obstetrician gives you the OK.
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What To Expect In The First Month Of Pregnancy
If you are trying to conceive or have confirmed that youre pregnant, it is obvious to have so many questions in mind. You may want to know about the earliest symptoms of pregnancy. You may also ask about how it feels during the first month of pregnancy.You will notice the symptoms of pregnancy in the first few weeks after conception, which could be anything from tender breasts and nausea to mood swings and dizziness. You may notice a change in your symptoms by the end of first month or by six weeks after your last period when your child has grown 10,000 times in size.
Medical History And Physical Examination
- You will be asked to share your last menstruations duration, flow and frequency.
- Your doctor may want to know about the method of contraception, if you used any.
- You may need to take a physical examination to find out any pregnancy-related complications that you may have faced in the past, such as ectopic pregnancy, tubal disease, tubal ligation, tubal manipulation, and inflammatory disease.
- You may be asked about your conception methods in detail, in case you underwent any fertility treatment.
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What Can Be Expected At The Doctor
When you first learn you are pregnant, make an appointment with your doctor to begin caring for the developing baby. If you are not already on prenatal vitamins, start them immediately. Ideally, women take folic acid for a year before the pregnancy. Women normally see their doctor once a month during the first trimester.
During your first visit, a doctor will take a full health history and perform a full physical and pelvic exam. The doctor may also:
- perform an ultrasound to confirm the pregnancy
- take your blood pressure
- test for sexually transmitted infections, HIV, and hepatitis
- estimate your date of delivery or due date, which is around 266 days from the first day of your last period
- screen for risk factors like anemia
- check thyroid levels
- check your weight
At around 11 weeks, the doctor will perform a test called a nuchal translucency scan. The test uses an ultrasound to measure the babys head and thickness of the babys neck. The measurements can help determine the chance that your baby will be born with a genetic disorder known as Down syndrome.
Ask your doctor whether or not genetic screening is recommended for your pregnancy. Genetic screening is a test used to find out your babys risk for specific genetic diseases.
What Happens To Your Body During The First Trimester And What Should You Do
- Your belly will get bigger as your pregnancy progresses. You will gain weight. Your doctor will tell you about your weight gain goals.
- Your breasts will get larger, possibly up to a cup size bigger or more if this is your first pregnancy. They may also become painful or sensitive.
- Your skin may change. It might get brighter, darker or even get some pimples.
- Your hair may get fuller and your fingernails may grow faster.
- The amount of blood in your body will rise by 50 percent during your pregnancy. Many women report feeling like they always have a stuffy nose while they are pregnant.
- You will have to urinate more frequently. This is a combination of the increased blood flow in your body as well as your growing uterus pressing on your bladder.
- You will probably feel extra tired while you are pregnant. Sleeping might be difficult or very uncomfortable, especially when your belly gets larger. You may also have more frequent or unusual dreams.
- The stories about odd food cravings are true, too. Cravings, as well as food aversions, are very common during pregnancy.
- Heartburn, headaches, low back pain, leg cramps, swollen feet and hands, nausea, dizziness and other complaints are common during pregnancy. Women generally report they feel best during their second trimester. Some women say they feel great the entire time they are pregnant.
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What Can Be Expected From The Doctor And Midwife
Your antenatal health checks might be with your GP, a midwife or an obstetrician, depending on where you will give birth. During your first antenatal health check, you will probably have your pregnancy confirmed with a urine or blood test. These are more reliable than home pregnancy tests. First trimester antenatal health checks usually happen every 4 to 6 weeks, but this can vary, based on your health and how your baby develops.
Many women are offered an ultrasound scan at around 12 weeks you might hear the babys heartbeat at this scan. This ultrasound will also show if you are having a multiple birth and can help estimate the babys size and due date, as well as check for some health conditions.
Other health checks during the first trimester include:
- urine tests to detect urinary infections, a common but manageable condition that if left untreated can trigger pre-term labour
- blood tests to check your blood type , iron levels, blood sugars , rubella immunity, and other infections such as HIV, hepatitis B and syphilis
- general maternal health and wellbeing checks, including a discussion of concerns you might have about your pregnancy or general health, and a medication review to check for safety during pregnancy
Cramping And Belly Pains
OK, this one makes people a little nervous, but having mild cramps or stomach pain isnt unusual this early in pregnancy. Your uterus is going through a lot of changes thats bound to cause some discomfort.
Plus, remember the bloating we talked about before? That can make you constipated and gassy, too, which might make your tummy feel not so great.
None of this should be intensely painful, though it might just feel like period cramps.
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Things That Come Out Of Your Body During Labor
So you’ve survived the mood swings and the hemorrhoids, and you think your surprises are over. But the day you give birth will probably hold the biggest surprises of all.
During pregnancy, fluid surrounds your baby in the amniotic sac. This sac breaks at the start of or during labor a moment usually referred to as your water breaking. For most women in labor, contractions start before their water breaks. Sometimes the doctor has to rupture the amniotic sac .
How much water can you expect? For a full-term baby, there are about 2 to 3 cups of amniotic fluid. Some women may feel an intense urge to pee that leads to a gush of fluid when their water breaks. Others may only feel a trickling down their leg because the baby’s head acts like a stopper to prevent most of the fluid from leaking out.
Amniotic fluid is generally sweet-smelling and pale or colorless. It’s replaced by your body every 3 hours, so don’t be surprised if you continue to leak fluid, about a cup an hour, until delivery.
Other, unexpected things may come out of your body during labor. Some women have nausea and vomiting. Others have diarrhea before or during labor, and passing gas is also common. During the pushing phase of labor, you may lose control of your bladder or bowels.
A birth plan can help communicate your wishes to your health care providers about how to handle these and other aspects of labor and delivery.
The First Trimester: Fetal Development
The most dramatic changes and development happen during the first trimester. During the first eight weeks, a fetus is called an embryo. The embryo develops rapidly and by the end of the first trimester, it becomes a fetus that is fully formed, weighing approximately 0.5 to 1 ounce and measuring, on average, 3 to 4 inches in length.
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Change In Eating Habits
Women often experience food cravings and food aversions. A womans taste buds can actually change during pregnancy. Eating a well-balanced, healthy diet is an important part of having a good pregnancy, so make sure to monitor food intake.
A condition called pica, a craving for non-food items, may occur during the first trimester and can be dangerous. If you experience pica, discuss it with your doctor.
Raw Or Underdone Seafood
Got a taste for some tuna sashimi? Obsessing over those oysters on the half shell? Before you visit your favorite raw bar or local sushi joint, keep in mind that uncooked or even seared seafood is off-limits during pregnancy the risk of ingesting bacteria and parasites along with your meal is too high.
So you’ll just have to say “no” to raw oysters, clams, ceviches, fish tartares and carpaccios, along with the smoked stuff that can also harbor illness-inducing parasites and bacteria.
While this doesn’t mean you should shun your favorite Japanese restaurant for the next nine months, it does mean that you’ll need to be careful about what you order. Most places, for example, offer rolls made with cooked seafood or vegetables right at the sushi bar! Just make sure that any seafood you order is well cooked: Fish should flake and shellfish should be firm.
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Raw Or Undercooked Eggs
While it may seem like commonsense to refrain from raw or runny eggs, you’ll find them in more places than the yummy bits of batter that stick to the spatula. So unless something’s been made with pasteurized eggs, avoid consuming foods where rawness runs rampant: soft scrambled eggs, homemade ice cream or mousse, raw batter or cookie dough, homemade mayonnaise, tiramisu and homemade eggnog.
Skip the Caesar dressings and hollandaise sauce , and make sure those breakfast omelets and scrambles are cooked through and through. As with raw meats and poultry, you don’t want to take the chance of being exposed to Salmonella.
To be absolutely safe, make sure the eggs you buy have been kept refrigerated and the sell-by date hasn’t expired.
First Month Of Pregnancy
If you are aiming to conceive or have verified that youre pregnant, it is obvious to have so many concerns in mind. You might need to know about the earliest symptoms of pregnancy. You may likewise inquire about how it feels during the first month of pregnancy. You will observe the symptoms of pregnancy in the first few weeks after conception, which might be anything from tender breasts and nausea to mood swings and dizziness. You may observe a change in your symptoms by the end of first month or by six weeks after your last period when your child has actually grown 10,000 times in size.
A missed out on period is generally the first symptom of pregnancy. In addition, you might also have the following symptoms.
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How Do I Know Im Pregnant
A missed period is often the first sign of pregnancy. You may have some other physical signs as well. These include mild cramping and a little bleeding when the fertilized egg implants itself in your uterus.
If youve missed your period and think you may be pregnant, you can take a home pregnancy test. These tests are very accurate if you take them a few days after you expected to get your period. Call your doctor if the test is positive.
The Process Of Implantation
The zygote thus formed starts to travel through the fallopian tubes towards the uterus. The zygote then divides into morula a solid cluster of cells, by around the fourth day. In the next few days, the morula divides into the blastocyst and tries to attach itself to the uterine wall for nutrition. As it implants itself, the embryo gets surrounded by the yolk sac and some blood vessels to obtain nutrition until the placenta is formed.
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What If Ive Had More Than One Miscarriage
If youve had two or three miscarriages, your OB/GYN will probably run extensive tests to see if he or she can find a cause. Around half the time, your doctor wont be able to find a single reason youve had multiple miscarriages. But sometimes he or she may discover an untreated health problem, such as an autoimmune disease where the mothers immune system attacks the embryo a thyroid problem, a misshapen uterus or one of a few very rare disorders that can make your body reject pregnancies.
You and your partner may be tested, too, for blood-clotting disorders some women produce antibodies that attack their own tissues, causing blood clots that can clog the maternal blood vessels that feed the placenta. An ultrasound, MRI or CT scan may be performed on your uterus, your uterine cavity may be assessed with hysteroscopy and the miscarried fetus itself can be tested for chromosomal abnormalities.
If your doctor does pinpoint one of these causes, he or she will be able to help reduce your chances of future miscarriages with treatments, including surgery to correct cervical or uterine issues and medications to manage hormonal imbalances.
What Are The Signs Of Pregnancy
For a lot of people, the first sign of pregnancy is a missed period. Most pregnancy tests will be positive by the time youve missed your period. Other early pregnancy symptoms include feeling tired, feeling bloated, peeing more than usual, mood swings, nausea, and tender or swollen breasts. Not everyone has all of these symptoms, but its common to have at least 1 of them.
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Talk To Someone About Your Pregnancy
- Even if you are going to keep your pregnancy a secret from the majority of people, it can really help to have someone to talk to your mum, a friend or even a group of people youve met online on a message board. I had pregnancy anxiety in my first trimester, due to many factors. Talking to someone about it helps.
Read my post on the signs of pregnancy anxiety.
When To Tell Your Friends Family And Employer
The first trimester is the most common time for a loss of pregnancy , so you may want to wait for the pregnancy to settle into the second trimester.
You may also want to consider whether or not you will keep working or quit your job as your pregnancy progresses, and if your employer provides unpaid maternity leave for the birth and care of your newborn.
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Look At Your Employers Maternity Leave/paternity Leave Policies And How These Might Affect Your Income
Most expecting parents request leave no later than 30 days before they use it, and many ask for it several months in advance. Also, think about whether you will return to work or stay at home with the baby. Find out if your employer offers family-friendly work arrangements or at-work day care. See if your short-term disability policy covers maternity or paternity leave for part of your delivery and recovery time.
Look Up Nct Classes In Your Area
- NCT run childbirth classes across the country, where groups of local parents-to-be learn about childbirth, babies and make friends. Although you dont take the classes till the third trimester, they can get booked up quickly
- We still see our group regularly! Heres everything they dont tell you in NCT classes though
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Stop Smoking And Taking Any Illegal Drugs
Smoking cigarettes and taking any street drugs, including using marijuana, increases the risk of problems during pregnancy including low birth weight, , stillbirth and other serious issues. The fetus is especially sensitive to nicotine, which passes through the placenta and slows its growth. The first trimester of pregnancy is the time when the fetus is most at risk to harm from substances like alcohol, drugs, and nicotine. Ask your partner to stop smoking and using drugs, too, especially around you and the baby. Reducing the risk of birth defects is worth not lighting up whenever possible.
