Shopping While Pregnant

by Melissa Kagan (see more from this expert)
http://beauty.ivillage.com/rantsraves/0,,7z77w11x,00.html

Nobody prepares you for the emotions you experience when you first become pregnant. I knew that. What took me by surprise were the emotions I experienced the first time I went shopping for maternity clothes.

I had accepted the fact that I was going to wear pants with paneling, skirts with elastic waistbands and some "tunic style" tops. But when I walked into my first maternity store, it was as if I had stepped onto another planet, a planet where none of the clothes seemed anything like me. Planet Pregnancy.

left the planet immediately. But when I was about four months pregnant, the selection of my jeans and skirts I could squeeze into was becoming quite limited. My T-shirts were becoming "Britney Spears" tight, and my jeans were cutting off my circulation.

So I took a deep breath, ate a cookie, ate another cookie and then braced myself for feeling lost in space. The store was huge and there were not just clothes. There was a maternity spa. There was a maternity accessories shop. (And by accessories, I don't mean cute shoes and handbags. I mean baby carriers and "boppies." If you don't know what a boppy is, don't worry about it - I still don't.)

Not Now, We're Bonding

When baby arrives, so do the guests. How do you get what you need—and discourage what you don’t—in those first few weeks at home?The time: two weeks postpartum. The players: me, my husband, our new baby...and our friends just in from Boston for the weekend. The scene: me, determined to wow ’em with Bolognese, crawling on all fours to gather a pound of spilled spaghetti, while everyone else laughs over drinks in the living room and our friends’ 5-year-old polishes off the Godiva truffles

—my Godiva truffles.Let’s face it, babies are magnets. It’s like Bill Gates announcing he’s giving away Microsoft shares to all comers—the hordes descend. But, after 40 weeks of pregnancy, interminable hours of labor, and that long final push or C-section, you’re not exactly in party mode. How do you cope? Know what you need—and what you don’t need. Then make a plan to whip those visitors into shape.

Pregnancy - identifying fertile days
Definition
Fertile days are the days a woman is most likely to get pregnant.
See also: Infertility
Information
When trying to conceive a baby, many couples plan intercourse around days 11 to 14 of the woman's 28-day cycle. However, it is often difficult to know exactly when ovulation is going to occur. Doctors recommend that couples who are trying to have a baby have intercourse between days 10 and day 20 of a woman's menstrual cycle. Studies have shown that having intercourse every other day works just as well as having intercourse every day in order to become pregnant.
If you have an irregular menstrual cycle and are no sure when or if you are ovulating, ovulation predictor kit can help. These kits, which can be bought at most drug stores, check for LH (luteinizing hormone) in the urine.

There are other various methods to help detect when you are most likely to be able to conceive a baby.

Evaluating Your Cervical Fluid
Cervical fluid plays protects the sperm and helps it move through the cervix toward the uterus and fallopian tubes. Cervical fluid changes in preparation for ovulation. You will notice clear differences in how it looks and feels over the course of the cycle. Menstrual period occurring (no cervical fluid is present) Vagina is dry (no cervical fluid is present) Sticky/rubbery fluid

Wet/creamy/white fluid -- FERTILE
Slippery/stretchy/clear "egg white" fluid -- VERY FERTILE
Dry (no cervical fluid)

The cervical fluid will be slippery and stretchy on your most fertile days. You can use your fingers to check the consistency of your cervical fluid. Find the fluid inside the lower end of the vagina. Tap your thumb and first finger together -- if the material stretches while you spread your thumb and finger apart, this could mean ovulation is near.

12 Tips for Coping With Stress During Pregnancy

From Henry Lerner, M.D., OB/GYN
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board

How to Gain Control of Your Life
As a psychologist friend of mine once told me if you don't feel stress in your life you're not paying attention. Everyone experiences stress, even pregnant women. What is not clear, however, is whether stress can have harmful affects on pregnancy.

For years obstetricians have looked to see whether an increase in stressful events can either cause miscarriage, result in preterm delivery, or in some other way harm a fetus. Up until recently the consensus had been that while excessive physical work can bring on preterm labor, emotional stress did not seem to have negative effects on pregnancy outcomes. This conclusion, however, has recently been challenged. There now is information to indicate that stress can cause the body to produce certain hormones that can perhaps cause miscarriage and that very likely can bring on preterm laborAdditionally, even if doctors have no "smoking gun" linking stress with negative pregnancy outcomes, pregnant women would want to decrease the amount of stress they have to contend with just because of how unpleasant it makes them feel. These emotional consequences of stress can range from a mild sense of being overwhelmed to severe episodes of depression. They can eventually lead to pregnant women feeling withdrawn and being unable to function.

Are there things pregnant women can do to reduce the stress they have and to change how it makes them feel? The answer is yes. Below are listed several techniques that both women and the clinicians who care for them have found useful in helping to relieve the sense that life is getting out of control. I have divided these techniques into two groups: (1) readjusting your lifestyle to reduce stress and (2) specific maneuvers and activities you can do to change how you feel -both physically and emotionally-about the stress you are under.

Gaining control of your life:
1. Take a close look at your lifestyle. Make yourself do this on paper. Look at your work activities, home and family responsibilities, other obligations (church, community activities, clubs and organizations to which you belong). Then look to see how "doable" it is. Make sure you include in your calculations time for yourself for such activities as exercise, down time, and socializing Once you have done this, be honest with yourself as you ask the following: Is this schedule achievable? Sustainable? Satisfying? If not, accept the reality that you have to change the schedule.

2. Accept the fact that even if you currently can thrive on your busy and demanding lifestyle, you likely will not be able to sustain it as pregnancy progresses and makes more physical demands on you. Therefore prepare yourself to cut back on what you're doing and to allow yourself more time for rest and relaxation. You will need to sleep more. You will need to change the time you a lot for meals to make sure that you are able to eat a balanced diet. You will feel better if you allow time to engage in a reasonable exercise program. Finally you will need to allow yourself some "mental growth" time. This is time for reading, thinking, and planning for the new, incredibly important role of mother you will soon assume.

3. Be prepared to give up some control over the life-style you have worked so hard to attain. Many things about pregnancy are not in your control. You may experience severe morning sickness. You may have overwhelming fatigue. You may develop a pregnancy complication requiring hospitalization or home bed rest. For many women, especially those who have demanding jobs, the thought that biology might interfere with their responsibilities borders on the intolerable. But it happens. Be prepared to accept this.

The Latest Spin on Pregnancy

The Latest Spin on Pregnancy

Many women find spinning classes to be a great form of exercise when they are
pregnant. When a woman is set-up correctly on the bike, there shouldn't be any
impact on her body or joints. Some women even attend classes right up to their
due date. Some spinning classes are designed for pregnant women. Those that
aren't can easily accommodate pregnant women. Many expectant moms also enjoy the
camaraderie of an exercise class with other pregnant women.

Source: Leanne Delap, Globe and Mail



Pregnancy 'Is Trigger For Abuse'

A survey of midwives in Scotland has noted that there are a notable number of
pregnant women who are victims of domestic violence. Researchers are disturbed
by the findings. However, the midwives believe that the pregnancy itself is a
trigger for the violence.

Source: Daily Record (no writer given)

Bias Against Pregnancy Foul and Distressing

In Britain, it has been found that approximately 1,000 women are fired each year
from their jobs because they are pregnant. One women in Wales was ordered by her
superiors to get an abortion.

Source: David Williamson, The Western Mail

Montreal Researchers Identify Maternal Factors that can Lead to Bullying
Offspring

A study done at the Universite de Montreal identified four family traits that
children with aggressive behavior shared. These traits included a mother who is
young, quits school after a series of problems, is poor and smokes. These traits
combined gave a child a ten time greater risk of having higher aggression
levels.

Source: CanWest News Service, National Post

http://www.pregnancy-info.net/in_the_news.html

Good Unplanned Pregnancy Links

good links

• pregnancy.families.com/blog
• unplanned-pregnancy.adoptionblogs.com
• pregnancy.blogtodo.com
• mypages.iparenting.com
• pregnancyandbaby.com/blog
• blogs.webmd.com/healthy-pregnancy

Germs and Your Children

Germs Lead to DiseasesIt's important to teach children the association between germs and diseases. Remind them of a time when they were sick with the flu or a cold. Ask them to recount what it made them feel like and help them remember what it did to them physically. Once that illness is refreshed in their mind, tell them that germs are what caused those illnesses and can cause many others.
Try to explain what a germ is: that you can see it under a microscope; that they come in different shapes and sizes; and that there are germs on our hands, clothes and surroundings. Let your child look at her hands through a magnifying glass and point out all the wrinkles and little crevices, explaining that this is where germs can lurk. Ask them to think up places where they can pick up germs (bathroom, kitchen counter, playgrounds, sidewalks, floors, etc).

Teaching Children About Germs
A fun experiment will catch your child's attention and provide a good introduction to germ information. You will need: three bowls (1/4 cup of water will go in each bowl) and three packets of yeast (and sugar if the yeast needs activation). Fill the first bowl with boiling water, the next with room temperature water and the last with ice-cold water. Dissolve the yeast and wait for it to activate. The bowl with room-temperature water will produce the most germs. Teach them that this means germs thrive at room temperature, on hands and surfaces. You can also point out that one way to kill germs is to boil infected objects or that hot soapy water helps keep your hands germ-free.

Prenatal development and sonograph images

Prenatal development is divided into two primary biological stages. The first is the embryonic stage, which lasts for about two months. At this point, the fetal stage begins. At the beginning of the foetal stage, the risk of miscarriage decreases sharply, all major structures including hands, feet, head, brain, and other organs are present, and they continue to grow and develop. When the fetal stage commences, a fetus is typically about 30 mm (1.2 inches) in length, and the heart can be seen beating via sonograph; the fetus bends the head, and also makes general movements and startles that involve the whole body. Brain stem activity has been detected as early as 54 days after conception,and the first measurable signs of EEG activity occur in the 12th week. Some fingerprint formation occurs from the beginning of the fetal stage.

Embryo at 6 weeks after fertilization	Fetus at 8 weeks after fertilization	Fetus at 18 weeks after fertilization	Fetus at 38 weeks after fertilization
Relative size in 1st Month (simplified illustration)	Relative size in 3rd Month (simplified illustration)	Relative size in 5th Month (simplified illustration)	Relative size in 9th Month (simplified illustration)
7 weeks	13 weeks	17 weeks	20 weeks

Does The Fetal Heart Rate Change During The Second Trimester?

Does The Fetal Heart Rate Change During The Second Trimester?

The fetal heart rate will change during the second trimester, just as it changes throughout the various stages of pregnancy. In fact, the fetal heart rate can change on a moment-by-moment basis, in response to various stimuli or various conditions that can be affecting your baby. While your baby's heart rate does tend to spike briefly around the age of ten weeks of pregnancy, by the time that the second trimester rolls around, your baby's heart rate will not change much until after your baby is born.The fetal heart rate can, typically, be heard at around eight to ten weeks of pregnancy, depending on the mother's body size and the method used to find the fetal heart rate, whether a transvaginal ultrasound or a Doppler or some other method. At around the tenth week of pregnancy, roughly three weeks before the second trimester begins, the fetal heart rate will peak at around 175 beats per minute. By week fifteen, which is during the very early part of the second trimester, the fetal heart rate will have dropped down to around 140 beats per minute.It was once thought that the fetal heart rate could predict your baby's gender. It was thought that, if a baby's heart rate was under 140 beats per minute that it would be a boy, and that if it was over 140 beats per minute it would be a girl. The theory behind this idea was that, because women usually have a higher metabolic rate than men, that unborn girls would have a slightly higher pulse rate than unborn boys. However, most research does seem to disprove this idea, and demonstrate that there is not necessarily a connection between the fetal heart rate and the gender of your baby.If you have concerns about your fetal heart rate, you should speak with your health care provider. Your health care provider can help to interpret what a high or a low fetal heart rate might mean, as well as help to figure out if it indicates some sort of a problem that will need to be addressed.

Help! Nothing is helping with this all day morning sickness!

Help! Nothing is helping with this all day morning sickness!
Morning sickness affects more than seven out of every ten pregnant women. For many of these women, morning sickness comes out as an occasional nausea, that might hit for a few minutes a day and then pass. However, for some women, morning sickness will last all day. When this happens, it can be difficult to find anything that can help with the morning sickness. Fortunately, there are things that you can try to help with your all day morning sickness.The first thing that can help with your all day morning sickness is changes in diet. You should avoid foods that are high in fat, especially foods that are high in saturated fats. You should also avoid foods that have strong smells, which might trigger nausea. You should try, if at all possible, to eat small frequent snacks over the course of the day, rather than having three larger meals every day. This will help your stomach from being either too full or you getting too hungry, either of which can help to trigger morning sickness.There are other things that you might try that may be able to help with your all day morning sickness. Some women find relief through ginger products, such as ginger tea or ginger root supplements. You might have some help from sea bands or motion sickness bands. You might try rice cakes or crackers when you start to feel your morning sickness.Your all day morning sickness may be caused by your prenatal vitamin. In some cases, the high iron content in prenatal vitamins may lead to nausea and your all day morning sickness. If you think that this may be the case, however, it is important that you don't just stop taking your prenatal vitamins. You might speak with your health care provider about other options in prenatal vitamins.If you have severe nausea and vomiting, or if you have vomiting that lasts for more than 24 hours, you should talk to your health care provider immediately. If nothing at all can help with your all day morning sickness, your health care provider may decide that it is actually safer to prescribe an anti-nausea medication rather than running the risk of dehydration due to the constant vomiting.

How Do Your Senses Change During The Second Trimester?

How Do Your Senses Change During The Second Trimester?
It is not uncommon at all for your senses to go through certain changes during the second trimester, as well as through out the rest of your pregnancy. While it is true that those sensory changes typically happen earlier on in pregnancy, during the first trimester, many women don't experience changes to the senses until some time during the second trimester. Of all of the senses that change during the second trimester, the sense of smell and the sense of taste seem to be the most pronounced, although changes to the other senses during the second trimester are not uncommon at all.The hormonal changes that your body goes through during the second trimester, as well as during the other trimesters of pregnancy, will often affect your senses. This is especially true for your sense of smell. A pregnant woman's sense of smell becomes highly sensitive during the second trimester, and even before. In fact, some experts believe that the increased sense of smell is, at least in part, responsible for morning sickness.Taste also often changes during pregnancy, often during the second trimester. You may discover that you start to crave certain foods during the second trimester, or that you have a strange metallic taste in your mouth. While the metallic taste can often be due to other factors, such as your prenatal vitamins, the fact of the matter is that you are probably more sensitive to in during pregnancy. The heightened sense of smell that occurs during pregnancy may be connected to the changes in taste that often occurs during the second trimester, as much of our taste comes from the smell of food.Finally, your other senses may change as well during the second trimester. You may find that your vision becomes worse during the second trimester, or at another point during pregnancy. As it turns out, the changing levels of hormones can actually affect the shape of the eye during pregnancy, causing a bit of blurriness. Your sense of touch can change during the second trimester too, as you may find that you are increasingly sensitive in terms of touch. Some women even report a change to their sense of hearing during the second trimester.

How Much Does My Baby Weigh During The Second Trimester?

How Much Does My Baby Weigh During The Second Trimester?

Your baby will, obviously, gain some weight during the second trimester. As a matter of fact, at the beginning of the second trimester, your baby can weigh as little as just two ounces. By the end of the second trimester, however, your baby may weigh as much as 20 times more, and be right around two pounds or even more!Every day during the second trimester, your baby will be gaining weight. His organs are developing more and more. He is starting to move, and his tiny muscles are adding mass to his body. In addition, your baby is going through all sorts of other growth and development during the second trimester. By the end of the second trimester, his lungs will inflate and deflate, her hand will be fully formed, as will her eyes (although her eyes won't be open yet). It is important to recognize that, for your baby to grow and develop properly, you are also going to gain some weight during the second trimester. By the end of the second trimester, you should be gaining in the neighborhood of a half a pound to a pound each and every week. Obviously, not all of this weight is baby. Much of this weight goes to the placenta, and to the uterus, and to an increased blood volume. You need to keep in mind that, just because your baby is only going to weigh a couple of pounds, you should have gained between fifteen and twenty pounds by the end of the second trimester.During the second trimester, your health care provider might want to make certain measurements of your baby. Your health care provider may decide to use an ultrasound to determine how big your baby is, and to figure out how much that she weighs. Your health care provider will probably take some measurements of your abdomen, as well, to make sure that everything is growing along the path that it needs to be. You may be able to get your health care provider to help you figure out exactly how much your baby weighs during a second trimester prenatal visit.

Pre-Term Labor During The Second Trimester

Pre-Term Labor During The Second Trimester
Going into pre-term labor during the second trimester is never an easy thing. The fact of the matter is that going into pre-term labor is risky for both the baby and for the mother. Any number of things might cause a woman to go into pre-term labor during the second trimester. Pre-term labor is defined as labor that begins any time between the 20th and the 37th week of pregnancy. While the causes of pre-term labor can vary greatly from one case to another, the fact of the matter is that sometimes a cause can't be determined at all. Pre-term labor during the second trimester may be caused, for example, by a problem with the placenta, such as placental abruption. Pre-term labor during the second trimester can be caused by having an incompetent cervix. It can also be caused by drug or alcohol abuse, or even something as simple as the mother having an infection.When a woman goes into pre-term labor during the second trimester, a health care provider will typically try to assess the cause of the pre-term labor, and then to help figure out whether you should go through with labor or whether she should try to delay your labor. While it is not uncommon to let labor proceed later on in the third trimester, typically if you go into pre-term labor during the second trimester your health care provider will attempt to delay your labor.If you go into pre-term labor during the second trimester, it is imperative that you see your health care provider immediately. She will check the state of your cervix, to see if it is an incompetent cervix, and possibly perform a cervical cerclage, in which stitches are placed in the cervix to help keep your baby in place. Your health care provider will probably also check the growth and position of your baby, and may look at the amount of amniotic fluid. While pre-term labor is never desirable, the prospects are much better today than they were just a few years ago. Most babies that are born sometime after the middle weeks of pregnancy are in a good position to survive. While it is true that not all pre-term babies will make it, many do, and are able to develop normally and grow up to live happy and healthy lives.

Progesterone Levels During The First Trimester

Progesterone Levels During The First Trimester
To understand what progesterone levels during the first trimester of pregnancy mean, it is important to understand exactly what progesterone is, where it comes from, and what its function is during the first trimester, as well as during the rest of your pregnancy. In many cases, your health care provider may wish to check your progesterone levels during the first trimester, particularly during the first half of your first trimester. If your progesterone levels are too low during the first trimester, your health care provider may want to do more testing, and may take certain precautions to help you avoid a miscarriage.Progesterone is produced in the ovaries. Specifically, something called the corpus luteum produces the progesterone. Later on, the placenta will take over the role of trying to maintain the progesterone levels during the first trimester. Progesterone has a specific role to play in the pregnancy process. Progesterone helps to prepare the lining of the uterus for the implantation of a fertilized egg, for example. Progesterone helps to provide a lining in the uterus that is rich in nutrients for your baby. Progesterone also helps to create the mucus plug during pregnancy. Progesterone even plays a role in helping to raise the basal body temperature after you ovulate.During the first trimester, progesterone levels will rise. They will be at approximately 1 to 1.5 ng/ml during the first two weeks of the first trimester, right after conception. During weeks 2 through 4 of the first trimester, the levels of progesterone will rise to somewhere between 2 and 28 ng/ml. Progesterone levels will continue to rise during the first trimester, reaching a level somewhere between 9 and 47 ng/ml by the end of the first trimester. During the second trimester, progesterone levels will be in the 17 to 147 ng/ml range, and they will be between 55 and 200 ng/ml during the third trimester of pregnancy.Low levels of progesterone during the first trimester can indicate that there is a threatened miscarriage. If you are concerned about your progesterone levels during the first trimester, you should speak with your health care provider.

Pregnancy Stages

Important Information About First Trimester Pregnancy

You may have recently heard the words from your doctor, “Congratulations, you are pregnant!”. Or perhaps you have seen positive results from your pregnancy test this morning. You are now ready to embark on your first trimester of pregnancy no matter how the results came to light. Since you will be seeing a host of changes in your body over the next few months you will probably have many questions and even more concerns.

What Can You Expect During First Trimester Pregnancy? The advantage is the fact that there are many resources available to help educate yourself about what is coming. Because of the risk of complications and the uncomfortable symptoms you may experience the first trimester of a pregnancy can be the most difficult. However, you can take heart since the first trimester pregnancy only lasts about twelve weeks and the second trimester often has less symptoms. During these first weeks of adjusting to being pregnant it can be a good idea if possible to take it a little easier on yourself and your body.

Fatigue, nausea, light-headedness and breast tenderness are some of the symptoms that come with a first trimester pregnancy. If possible this is a good time to squeeze in a little extra sleep. Some extra rest right now will definitely benefit your body.

To help you throughout the pregnancy it is also a good time to start developing some good nutrition habits. You will probably start feeling better in a few short weeks even if nausea curbs your appetite right now and you can get through the rest of your nine months with a good diet.
You may only see your doctor every four weeks during the first trimester of your pregnancy.Using an Early Pregnancy Test You doctor will make sure the early development of your baby goes smoothly by screening you for potential risks and complications. You will probably be scheduled for many other routine tests to ensure that both you and your baby progress normally after the first trimester pregnancy. It will usually be early enough if problems are detected to alleviate the risk to mother and child.

There are things you can begin to do during the first trimester of your pregnancy to prepare for the birth of your baby even if nine months seems like a long time. You can begin by reading any of the many pregnancy books to inform yourself of what is coming. You can start window shopping for maternity clothes, plan a budget for a larger family and work on travel plans around your pregnancy.