Pregnancy – Every little and Helpful detail you must know

Pregnancy is a time during which one or more child developing inside a woman body. Pregnancy is also known as gestation.

When more than one child developing inside the human body is called a multiple pregnancies.

Pregnancy can occur through sexual intercourse or assisted reproductive technology. Childbirth takes around 40 weeks from LMP (last menstrual period).

If we measure this from fertilization it is about 38 weeks.Gestation lasted 39 to 41 weeks is considered a full term pregnancy.

After 41 weeks is considered late-term and after 42 weeks considered post-term and before 37 considered preterms.

You can confirm pregnancy by a pregnancy test

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Symptoms

  • Tender breast is common in those women who are pregnant at a young age.
  • Missed periods
  • Vomiting and Nausea
  • Frequent urination
  • Hunger
  • Constipation
  • Back pain
  • Sporadic uterine contraction starts around six weeks of pregnancy. Occasional, irregular, and painless contraction occurs several times a day.
  • Compression of both the abdominal aorta and inferior vena cava can cause low blood pressure.
  • Varicose veins caused by increased intravascular pressure and relaxation of the venous smooth muscle.
  • Stretch marks
  • Heartburn, nausea, and regurgitation
  • Morning sickness.

Am I pregnant or not?

If you still don’t know that you are pregnant or not then you should do some test. You can check pregnancy at home you just buy a kit.

If you don’t know what is this you can check here. This will redirect you to Amazon

Pregnancy Stages

Pregnancy can divide into 3 parts called trimester. The first trimester is from 1 week to 12 weeks, second-trimester form 13 weeks to 26 weeks and last trimester from 27 weeks to 40 weeks.

First trimester (1 week to 12 weeks)

The first trimester starts from the first day of your last period to the last day of 12 weeks.

During this time a lot happens in your womb. The fertilized egg divides into cells and implant in the walls where it will grow. These layers of the cell become an embryo, this is called a baby.

During this time, the baby grows faster than at any other trimester.

  • By six weeks 6 baby start to sprout legs and arms and by 10 weeks finger and toys start to see.
  • Hair and nails start to forming between 5 weeks to 8 weeks.
  • By the 8-week Babu’s intestine start to form.
  • At that time sense of touch, eyesight, heart, brain, and sense of touch start to form.

By the six months you can heartbeat and by the 12 weeks, baby’s baby’s muscles, bones and all the organs of the bodies of the body have formed.

At that time baby formed in the tiny human being and called a fetus. starts

Second trimester (13 weeks to 26)

During this time your baby can hiccup and even. By three weeks of 21, your baby starts to kick and jabs. At the end of the second trimester, your baby will weigh 2 pounds.

  • At the time second trimester digestive system fully formed and your baby starts to the swollen outside of the womb.
  • Around 16 weeks, baby’s hair starts to sprout and by the week your baby got eyebrows and eyelashes.
  • Ear, and eyes start to move into the correct position. By weeks 22, your baby starts to smell, hear and see.
  • By the 17 weeks, a baby’s brain starts to regulate his heartbeat. Now you can hear the heartbeat with the stethoscope.
  • Baby’s brain starts to control the baby’s body like blinking and kicking.

Third trimester (28 weeks to 40 weeks)

Your baby is growing 19 to 22 inches long and 6 to 9 pounds weighs. However, 30 % of babies pass the 40 week mark. But if you reach 42-week mark then you will officially overdue.

  • Your baby transforms cartilage to bones. At that time your baby will be getting all the calcium from you.
  • By the week 32 you baby skin opaque in the week 36 fat continues to accumulate as baby sheds vernix and lanugo.
  • Your baby’s touch receptor fully developed and your baby will get all signals from all five senses.
  • In the third trimester, your baby’s brain grows very fast.

How to calculate pregnancy date?

Pregnancy age is also called gestational age, which taken from the woman’s LMP (last menstrual period).

Corresponding age of the gestation estimated by ultrasonography or including 14 days to a known duration of fertilization.

According to American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists the main methods to calculate pregnancy periods are

  1. Early obstetric ultrasound, comparing the size of the embryo to reference a group of pregnancies (size of the embryo already known with age) of known gestational age and using the mean age of other fetuses of the same size.
  2. In the case of fertilization, calculating days since egg combined with sperm outside the body and 14 days to LMP.
  3. Calculating the days since the beginning of the woman’s last menstrual period

Estimated due date

The estimated due date follows two steps

  • Determination of the origin of gestational age.
  • Adding an estimated gestational age to the above time period.

Childbirth on average occurs at the gestational age of 40 weeks (280 days). This is a standard estimation for pregnancies. However, there are more individual methods are available.

What Kind of changes occurs in the mother during pregnancy?

Many kind of changes occur in moyher during pregnancy.

1. Change in the uterus

Uterus provides a protective and nutritive environment to the fetus.

The tissues which made uterus grow in the first 20 weeks and increase the weight 50g to 1 kg.

After this, it will not grow but stretches. Its height becomes from 7 to 30cm, width from 5 to 23 cm and depth from 3 to 20 cm.

2. Cervix

Cervix doesn’t change throughout the pregnancy, but it becomes softens in late pregnancy in response to become painless contraction.

3. Vagina

The vagina also becomes elastic toward the end.

4. Change in posture

Pregnant women posture become bigger. Abdomen shapes change from flat or concave to conceive.

Women’s fetus puts a large strain on women’s body.

Pristegent causes a loosening of a ligament.

5. Changes in body weight

Woman gets approximately 2 kg weight in first 20 weeks after that 500g weight per week if we see in total women can get approximately 9-12 kg weight during the whole pregnancy.

6. Changes in the cardiovascular system

In the cardiovascular system, we generally consider the heart and blood vessel.

All tissues and cells this system to transform all the nutrients and oxygen to the fetus and also return the carbon dioxide and waste product of respiration to the lungs where breath out.

Several complex changes occur in Cardiovascular sytem during pregnancy.

  • Workload increase on the heart
  • Blood volume also increases by 30-50%.
  • Circulation of oxygen is increased by 18%.

7. Blood pressure

Drop in blood pressure is very common in early pregnancy.

That’s why women feel dizziness in early pregnancy.

Lying on the flat back can result in a sudden drop in blood pressure and loss of consciousness because enough oxygen will not reach the brain.

8. Oedema

A combination of a slight increase in the permeability of the smallest blood vessel, the downward force of gravity and weight of uterus down the rate of flow of blood to the heart.

Fluid collects in the tissue of feet and leg of women. After the first trimester, if the fluid not absorbed by the blood circulation then this cause swelling which called edema.

9. Respiratory changes

During the pregnancy air volume increase by 50% due to the rate of breathing increase slightly and each breath contain a larger volume of air.

10. Change in the urinary system

The kidney must work extra hard to extract waste from the blood and those from fetus to convert into the urine.

A woman needs to pee more often than normal. In late pregnancy, women often have to get up in the night to urinate.

11. Skin changes

In some pregnant women, brownish pigmentation of the skin covers the face which also called chloasma.

Stretching of the skin occurs over the maximum growth breast, thighs and in the abdomen.

This can cause stretch marks, but this will disappear gradually after delivery.

Women’s sweat gland activated during the pregnancy, which causes sweats more than usual.

12. Change in the breast

In early pregnancy, the breasts may feel tingly.

The dark area around the nipple increases.

The surface of blood vessels of the breast may become visible.

Initiation of pregnancy

follicle stimulating hormone stimulates the folliculogenesis and oogenesis, creates a mature egg.

Egg cell fuse with male sperm called fertilization. After fertilization, the fused eggs is called fertilized egg.

The pregnancy rate is highest during the menstrual cycle from 5 days before and 1 to 2 days after ovulation.

Fertilization can occur by artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization.

Fertilization is used as the initiation of pregnancy. Fertilization usually occurs about 14 days before the next menstrual periods.

The third point is also considered the true beginning of pregnancy by some people.

This the time when the future fetus attached to the lining of the uterus. This comes about 10 to 14 days after fertilization.

How did you fetus develop during pregnancy?

Sperm and egg cells fertilized in one of two Fallopian tubes. This fertilized egg move toward the uterus, this can one week to complete its journey.

Cell division starts to begin in 24 days to 36 hours after fertilization. Cell division continues with a very fast rate and becomes a blastocyst.

Blastocyst reaches into the uterus and attaches to uterine this process also implantation.

The development of the mass of cells become an infant in about the first 10 weeks.

During that time, cell start to division in the different parts of the body.

Till this time, the body, organ, nervous system is established.

By the end of the embryonic stage, all the organs are formed such as eyes, mouth, finder, ears, nervous and digestive system are formed.

During this important structure which supports the embryo, such placenta and umbilical cord also develop.

Placenta connects the embryo to a uterine wall which allows the embryo to take nutrient, gas exchange via mother blood supply and waste elimination.

the umbilical cord connects the placenta to the embryo. After ten weeks, the embryo becomes a fetus.

This is the end of the gestational stage and the beginning of the fetal stage.  

At that time miscarriage risk decreased. At that time the fetus was about 30mm (3cm).

During this stage, already formed body system develop.

In this stage, the fetus continues to develop in both length and weight.

This speed has become very fast in the last weeks of the pregnancy.

Electrical brain activity first detected in the weeks 5-6. This just a neural activity.

Synapses start forming in 17 weeks and multiply very quickly till 3-4 months of pregnancy.

Childbirth

Childbirth is a process where an infant, leaving the woman’s uterus through the vagina. The most common way of delivery is the vagina.

Symptom of childbirth
  1. Women might feel that their baby drops into the lower position of the pelvis. This can lower the pressure on diaphragm making easier to breathe but can make her often visit the bathroom.
  2. You will feel a stronger and regular contraction. Near the end of pregnancy, the uterine contraction starts to move the baby down into the birth control. At the end of pregnancy, you will feel a regular, more intense and rhythmic contraction.
  3. A woman’s uterus fetus is surrounded by the fluid called amniotic fluid. Pregnant woman’s water can break before labor starts. Once the water breaks the baby is no longer surrounded by a protective layer so there could be the risk of fluid.
  4. A woman might feel cramped in her pelvis. She may also feel aches in her lower back.
  5. As labor begins or several days before labor woman might notice brown, pink or slightly bloody vaginal discharge.

It involves three stages

1. shortening and opening of the cervix

The first stage begins with woman’s start to regular contraction, this cause cervix to open, soften and thin (effacement). This allows the baby to move into the birth canal.

This is further two types

I. early labor

During early labor cervix open and effaces. A woman can feel an irregular and mild contraction. as your cervix starts to open and you might notice a pink or slightly bloody discharge from the vagina.

It can last from several hours to days.

II. active labor

During active labor cervix will open from 6 cm to 10cm. During active labor cervix will open from 6 cm to 10cm. Contraction becomes stronger and regular. You might feel nauseated. You might feel your water break, if it hasn’t already.

Active labor may last long 4-8 hour or more. In this, your cervix may dilate approximately 1 cm per hour.

During this time you can take a bath, take a walk and gentle massage between contraction.

2. The birth of the baby

This is the time of delivery of your baby. This can take a few minutes to hours to baby into the world.

During this, you might ask to push. When you push don’t hold the attention in your face just concentrate on your pushing.

Slowing down, pushing gives time to stretch rather than tear. You can see your baby head between your legs see it in the mirror.

3. Delivery placenta.

You will likely feel relief when your baby born.

But a lot is still happening during the third stage of your labor, you will deliver the placenta.

Placenta delivered in 5-30 minutes but can last long for an hour.

Your focus on will on your baby and you will breastfeed for your baby.

But will continue to have mild contraction close together, but less painful. You might be asked for one more lush to deliver the placenta.

After you deliver the placenta, your uterus will continue to contract to return its normal size.

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Nutrition during pregnancy

Pregnant women need more nutrition than normal women she needs more energy minerals.

1. Folic acid

The folic acid supplement is recommended to the pregnancy to prevent Spina and other neural defects. You should take 0.4mg/day through first and.06mg/ day through the last trimester. Eat green leafy vegetable.

2. Take iodine

Iodine is necessary for mental development and normal thyroid function of the fetus. So women should take a vitamin containing iodine.

3. Vitamin D

Pregnant women should take 1000 IU of vitamin D daily through the whole pregnancy. You can take vitamin D from sun exposure.

4. Vitamin B12

A large number of women are showing a lack of vitamin B12. so try to take fish, meat, eggs, and milk

5. Iron

Iron is necessary for the healthy growth of the placenta and fetus. You should very conscious about taking iron in the second and third trimester.

So you should eat beans, tofu, tempeh, nuts, seed and a leafy green vegetable such as silverbeet, asparagus, broccoli, and spinach.

6. omega -3 fatty acid

the omega-3 fatty acid is important for neurodevelopment of the child. You can take fish such as anchovy, salmon, herring, mackerel, sardines because fishes are a good source of vitamin A and B12 too. Nuts, seeds, and pumpkin are also omega 3 fatty acid rich foods.

Nutrition after pregnancy

Proper nutrition helps the mother to recover and giver her energy and nutrient to breastfeed her child.

Women taking ferritin (the intracellular protein that stores the iron) less than 70 ug/g need an iron supplement to prevent anemia, iron deficiency, during pregnancy and after pregnancy

Exercise during pregnancy

Exercise throughout your pregnancy can help you to stay healthy. regular exercise can decrease some common discomforts such as back aches and fatigue.

Who shouldn’t do exercise?

You shouldn’t do exercises if you are asthma, diabetes or asthma. You should ask your doctor before doing any exercise.

But if you have a pregnancy-related condition like

  • Low placenta
  • Recurrent miscarriage
  • History of early labor.
  • Bleeding
  • Weak cervix
Safe exercise for you
  • Swimming.
  • brisk walking.
  • low-impact aerobics.
  • Indoor stationary cycling.
  • Tennis (during late pregnancy, avoid rapid movement).
  • Jogging in moderation.
Exercise you should avoid.
  • An activity that involves breath holding.
  • An activity which risk of falling is high such as horse riding, skiing.
  • Football, basketball, volleyball.
  • Bouncing, stretching, running, skipping, jumping and hopping
  • Waist-twisted movement while standing.
  • Heavy exercise.
  • Exercise in hot and humid weather
Stop exercising or consult your doctor if you feel
  • Abdominal pain
  • Pelvic pain
  • Feel chest pain
  • Feel nauseous, faint and dizzy
  • Vaginal bleeding
  • The fluid that leaks steadily through the vagina.
  • Irregular heartbeat.
  • Short of breath
  • Feel muscle weakness 10. Difficulty in walking 11. Have a headache.

Sex intercourse during pregnancy

There will not any change in your sex life during pregnancy unless your doctor advises.

Orgasm or sexual intercourse will not harm your baby until you are going through a medical condition.

You shouldn’t do sex in early pregnancy if you have a history of miscarriages. If you have certain pregnancy complication then you should also restrict your sexual intercourse.

Type of sex

During sexual intercourse, you shouldn’t feel pain. During intercourse, your uterus will contract. If you have feel contraction that is regular or painful you should see you, doctor.

Without sex keeps your partner happy?

If your doctor has limited your sexual intercourse or if you are not in the mood, then you should take time for intimacy with your partner.

For intimidation doesn’t require having intercourse. You show your love and affection in many ways.

You can go on a romantic walk, enjoy dinner with each other, or enjoy time together.

Sex after your baby born

In general, you can enjoy your sexual activity after 4 to 6 weeks after delivery, but before any sexual intercourse ask your doctor first.

Your doctor may recommend waiting until your first postpartum appointment, which is typically about 6 weeks.

After pregnancy, some woman may notice a lack of vaginal lubrication during intercourse to decrease the discomfort of vaginal dryness water-based lubricants maybe recommend to them.

Women who feed baby breast milk may have a delay in ovulation or menstruation.

Best sex position for you during pregnancy time

  • You on top
  • You on the couch allow him to penetrate from behind.
  • Lying side by side with him.

The position you should avoid

  • Standing position
  • Missionary position.

Pregnancy Facts

  • In 2012 213 pregnancy occurs of which 89% (190 million) and 11 % (23 million) in the developed country.
  • There were 13.3% of women from age 15 to 44 were pregnant.
  • About 10 to 15% of pregnancies end in miscarriage.
  • In 1990 there were 377,000 deaths which down to 230,600 in 2016.
  • Globally 44% pregnancies are unplanned and 56% of unplanned pregnancies are aborted.
  • In 2015 135 million births globally while 15 million births were 37 weeks and between 7-12% were born after 42 weeks.
  • Beulah Hunter, who in 1945 set world record for being pregnant 375 days.
  • Almost 85% of teen pregnancies are unplanned.
  • Teen mother gives birth share around 11% in the whole country.
  • A teenager who does unprotected sex, there are 90% of the chances to get pregnant.
  • About 40% of women become pregnant before they reach 20. And 80% of these pregnancies are unplanned.
  • Only 5% of babies arrive at an exact due date.

Summary

Pregnancy is the time when a child is developing inside a woman. This is also called gestation. Pregnancy can occur through sexual intercourse or assisted reproductive technology. Childbirth takes around 40 weeks from LMP.

Pregnancy symptom may include a missed period, vomiting, constipation frequent etc.

Your pregnancy date can be calculated by obstetric ultrasound and LMP. pregnancy initiated when the egg is fused with sperm also called fertilization. Which is 14 days before your next menstrual periods.

Development of fetus

Fertilized eggs reach the uterus in one week and cell division of the cell starts within 24 to 36 hours of fertilization. After 10 weeks every organ is formed after your baby just start to develop throughout the pregnancy

Pregnancy Stages

Pregnancy has tree stage called trimester First trimester (1 week to 12 weeks), Second trimester (13 weeks to 26) and Third trimester (28 weeks to 40 weeks).

Changes occur in the mother during pregnancy.

1. Uterus height become from 7 to 30 cm, width from 5 to 23 cm and depth from 3 to 20 cm.

2. The vagina also becomes elastic toward the end.

3. Abdomen shapes change from flat or concave to conceive.

Childbirth You may notice some symptom just before childbirth, such as water break, contraction etc.

Childbirth comes in three stages Shortening and the opening of the cervix, The birth of the baby and Delivery placenta.

Nutrition: you should take proper nutrition, which is rich in folic acid, iodine, vitamin D, vitamin B12, iron, and omega-3 fatty acid.

Exercise: Exercise throughout your pregnancy can help you to stay healthy. Like Swimming, brisk walking, etc. But you should avoid this exercise An activity that involves breath holding, Activity which risk of falling is high such as horse riding, skiing, Football, basketball volleyball, Bouncing.

Sexual intercourse: you can make sex during pregnancy, but if you have any kind of medical condition and history of miscarriage then you should ask your doctor first.

After baby born commonly, you can do sex after 6 weeks again after your doctor advise.

[showhide type=”links” more_text=”+Source(8)” less_text=”-Source”]

Tommy’s  “First trimester: weeks 1 to 12”  “https://www.tommys.org/pregnancy-information/im-pregnant/pregnancy-calendar/first-trimester-weeks-1-12

What to Expect   “Your Guide to the Third Trimester of Pregnancy”   “https://www.whattoexpect.com/third-trimester-of-pregnancy.aspx

Open Learn Create      “Physiological Changes During Pregnancy”    “http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=37&printable=1

Mayoclinic   “Stages of labor and birth: Baby, it’s time”    “https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/labor-and-delivery/in-depth/stages-of-labor/art-20046545

Wikipedia   “Nutrition and pregnancy”    “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutrition_and_pregnancy

WebMD    “Exercise During Pregnancy”   “https://www.webmd.com/baby/guide/exercise-during-pregnancy#1

MomJunction  “32 Shocking Facts And Statistics About Teen Pregnancy”  “https://www.momjunction.com/articles/teen-pregnancy-and-statistics_00361369/#gref

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