During pregnancy, the woman’s body undergoes a number of changes. This is because her body is now preparing to incubate the baby and ultimately give birth to it. The first step in prenatal care is detecting the early signs of pregnancy. Once you have correctly detected pregnancy, the rest is taken care of by your medical practitioner.

According to surveys, approximately 40% of pregnancies in the US is unplanned. Quite a few unplanned pregnancies end up in abortion or babies develop developmental problems due to the lack of proper prenatal care. This happens when an unplanned pregnancy goes undetected for a fairly long period of time. So, early detection of pregnancy is important to the health and development of the baby.

One of the earliest signs of pregnancy is the missing of the period. This is one sign that appears in all pregnant women. But it is easy to miss this sign because many women have irregular periods. Stress, medication and emotional problems can cause changes in the menstrual cycle. Thus, this is not a very reliable early sign of pregnancy unless your menstrual cycle is predictable to the day.

During the early phases of pregnancy, there is a lot of hormonal activity within the woman’s body. This will have a corresponding effect on her physical and emotional states. Therefore, a common early sign of pregnancy is sudden changes in dietary habits. Some women unexpectedly feel ravenous and have sharp cravings for certain kinds of food. The main reason for this is nutrient imbalance. When the body is not getting its required supply of nutrients, it induces cravings to fulfill the need. On the contrary, other women go completely off food. They feel mild to acute nausea due to the production of certain hormones. It could only be a feeling of nausea or it may even lead to bouts of vomiting. The characteristic feature of this symptom of pregnancy is that anything can trigger this nausea, particularly thoughts, pictures, smell or presence of some type of foods. Fortunately, most women get over this uncomfortable phase after their first trimester, when hormonal activities settle down, though there are some women who continue to suffer from it throughout their term.

Another important early sign of pregnancy is tiredness and exhaustion. When there is a baby growing within you, your energy levels dip unless you take extra care to fulfill your nutrient needs. However, since most women are already quite energy depleted, this sign too is easy to miss.

Many women experience a sudden increase in the frequency of urination. This is because the growing uterus presses down on the uterus, thus creating pressure.

These are some of the most common early signs of pregnancy. These signs help you detect pregnancy at its earliest stages. Early detection helps you take proper care of yourself and your fetus. This paves the way to a safe and relatively uncomplicated pregnancy and birth.



By: Kathleen Chester

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It is commonly known that nutrition is a critical part of everyday life. However, during pregnancy nutrition becomes even more critical for the health of you and your baby. Not only is nutrition critical during pregnancy, the nutritional needs of your body are different during this period of your life. Different nutritional needs develop because of changes in your body as well as the needs of a developing fetus. Your body is under a lot of physical stress during pregnancy which increases the need for special nutrition and added vitamins.

As soon as you find out that you are pregnant you need to consult your physician. The two of you should develop a pregnancy nutrition and fitness plan, that should be implemented as soon as possible. The first three months of your pregnancy are the most important because this is when most of your baby’s organs and brain are being developed. Proper nutrition during pregnancy can minimize the risk of birth defects, malformations and miscarriage. The first three months are when most miscarriages occur.

You should immediately begin taking special prenatal vitamins to ensure the health of you and your baby. This will help to ensure that your developing baby receives all the right vitamins that are needed. Folic acid is one of the most needed vitamins during pregnancy and women rarely obtain a sufficient amount through their diet. Prenatal vitamins need to replace the vitamins that you are currently taking. Your regular vitamins although sufficient when you are not pregnant, may be detrimental to your developing baby during pregnancy. A pregnancy specific nutrition and fitness plan will help ensure a happy and healthy baby and will also make you feel better during your nine month journey.

Turn on the Water Works

Although drinking 6-8 glasses of water is highly recommended for everyone, water becomes more important when you are pregnant. In fact, during pregnancy many experts recommend that you drink 10-12 glasses of water daily. Water does not include juice, soda, coffee of other types of beverages, it only includes water. You need to keep in mind that everything that you consume during pregnancy passes through to your unborn baby. Not only is water extremely important for a multitude of reasons, you should probably avoid or severely limit your intake of soda and coffee. These beverages, provide numerous chemicals that may not be healthy for your developing baby.

Drinking a lot of water may be difficult and many women find it easier to keep a water bottle with them at all times so they can continuously sip water throughout the day. If you do not like the taste of plain water, you can always add a small amount of juice or a twist of lemon to add some flavor. Extra water is needed to aide in your baby’s development, to remove waste from your system and to help ensure adequate flow of nutrients to your baby.

Drinking alot of water may also minimize or prevent some of the ailments you commonly experience during pregnancy, such as nausea, constipation, and swelling. Severe constipation is a common symptom during pregnancy because your developing baby depletes the water in your system.

Pregnancy Nutrition - Foods to Avoid

Your body and developing baby are much more vulnerable to bacteria and other contaminants during pregnancy. As a result, there are certain foods that you will be advised to either avoid completely or limit during your pregnancy. Here is a partial list of items that you need to avoid or limit:

1) raw eggs, this may include certain dressings or sauces;

2) unpasteurized milk and cheese, this may include certain soft cheeses;

3) raw or rare fish and meats;

4) fish that tend to have high mercury levels;

5) caffeine and alcohol;

6) unwashed vegetables; etc.

Unwashed vegetables are very bad because of the pesticides and bacteria that they may carry. Caffeine in moderation may be acceptable but make sure you obtain specific details regarding the quantity that is advised. Your doctor and a pregnancy nutritional guide should be consulted to develop a complete list for you to follow.

Summary and Additional Resources

Pregnancy nutrition and fitness are extremely important for the health of you and your developing baby. Your baby has special nutritional requirements that begin at the moment of conception. The first three months of pregnancy are the most important because that is when your baby’s organs and brain are being developed. It is also the time that most miscarriages occur.

Proper specialized nutrition can also make you feel better and provide additional energy during pregnancy which is critical because of the added stress that is being placed on your body. You will need to make sacrifices but it will pay off in the long run for you and your baby. When you see your healthy beautiful baby for the first time, you will know that it was all worth it!

There is a lot of information that you need to know about pregnancy and pregnancy nutrition. Although your doctor and loved ones can help, there is too much to learn for this method to be sufficient. We provide comprehensive pregnancy information and recommended pregnancy guides. We review the most popular guides to find the ones that are best for your needs.



By: Donna Deerkoski

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A very early pregnancy symptom - cramping reduce joy of conceiving with its acute pain in the abdomen. Though, most of the women complain about the discomforts of abdominal cramps, but as per medical professionals, this pregnancy symptom is completely harmless. Doctors ascertain that women who are expecting motherhood must consider cramping as a positive indication of pregnancy. Cramps can be experienced as a pain in your back and that means you are just at the primitive stage of primitive stage of pregnancy. Because this cramp in the back indicates the woman has just conceived so it is considered as a very early pregnancy symptom – cramping. Now, lets us discover what bodily changes lead women feel cramping during the earliest stage of pregnancy. Understanding causes of the very early pregnancy symptom – cramping can help women adopt tactics to cope up with this symptom better.

Causes Of Cramping Symptom Of Pregnancy

As the fertilized egg gets implanted at the inner lining of the uterus, the size of the uterus starts blooming. Increase in the size of the uterus is considered to be the main reason behind pregnancy cramping. Medical professionals presume cramping as an indicator of successful conceiving. Because your body is on the verge of bring forth and accommodating a new life into it, expecting mother’s body experiences drastic changes. Due to the implantation of the fetus to the uterus, you will notice this very early pregnancy symptom – cramping to accompany slight vaginal bleeding, that is termed as implantation bleeding or common to many women as vaginal spotting. Compared to normal menstruation periods, this vaginal spotting is light. Vaginal spotting can be observed with the following features –

Can be perceived within 7 to 15 days after conceiving

This spotting does not continue for more than a couple of days

Implantation bleeding is pink in color unlike normal menstruation periods

If you notice this short-term period to team with cramping sensation, you should be certain of your pregnancy. To confirm about the pregnancy, get a home pregnancy kit after you have undergone this combination of very early pregnancy symptom – cramping and slight vaginal bleeding. Home pregnancy kits are useful to women to test pregnancy at your own space and privacy of home. Once the tests return positive results, consult your physician through other pregnancy tests. However, in order to reduce discomforts of cramping, women may undergo hot or cold compresses or may dip into their bathtubs for warm soaking treatment.

When Cramping Is Serious?

Apparently, this very early pregnancy symptom – cramping gives no reason to be apprehensive about, rather gives positive indication of successful conceiving, instead. Doctors suggest women who are anticipating pregnancy to look for this symptom to arrive. However, cramps felt during the normal menstruation resembles cramping sensation felt at the onset of pregnancy, therefore, some women find it difficult to detect pregnancy through this symptom.

Although, cramping is considered harmless and natural after conceiving, however an increase in the degree at which cramping is felt may signal pregnancy complications. Following features of vaginal bleeding requires medical attention –

If you experience heavy bleeding

If the bleeding is dark colored

If the cramping pain does not reduces even after taking rests for sometime.

If you have a previous records of miscarriages

If you detect something negative through your very early pregnancy symptom – cramping, without any delay, call for your gynecologist immediately.



By: Apurva Shree

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Discovering that you are pregnant can be a joyful moment and all you want to do is celebrate as you learn about the signs of pregnancy. The wonder of becoming pregnant is so great that with so many advances in science, there is no way to know exactly when you conceived. There are plenty of home pregnancy tests that tell you instantly whether you are pregnant; nevertheless it is good to know what you can expect in terms of pregnancy signs so that you are pleasantly surprised rather than shocked.

Here Are The Signs Of Pregnancy You Can Watch Out For –

Did you miss your period?

The first thing you want to check is whether you missed your period. This is not a definite sign of pregnancy since the cause can be varied. But if you are normally regular and missed one, you can get suspicious about being pregnant.  

Are your breasts tender?

During early pregnancy, the breasts get tender, similar to how they do before your period. But if you are pregnant, they also get swollen, sort of painful.

Do you have morning sickness?

Morning sickness is a common pregnancy sign.  But you will have to also confirm that it is not because of something you ate. Quite a few women experience morning sickness or nausea as the first sign of pregnancy.

Are you more exhausted than usual?

Another early pregnancy sign is exhaustion. But fatigue alone is not decisive when it comes to pregnancy as it could be due to other reasons too. However, when combined with other signs it could mean you are pregnant since you need to rest more during pregnancy due to the changes you experience in your body.

Do you urinate too often?

After you conceive, for the first six or eight weeks, you will find yourself visiting the bathroom too many times. This pregnancy sign is quite common. The reason for this is as your baby grows, you feel the pressure on your abdomen and feel the need to urinate often.

Do you have frequent headaches?

Headaches are one of the pregnancy signs that you can start feeling around the sixth week after conception. Usually taking a nap can get rid of it.

Are you experiencing spotting blood? 

Amazingly, pregnant women experience spotting blood as a sign of pregnancy. It happens when the embryo implants itself. So if you have a period that is too light to be called one, it might be a good time to test for pregnancy.

Mood swings, constipation higher body temperature, aversion to food or food cravings are also other pregnancy signs to watch out for. While these are not conclusive, they can certainly be an indication that you must get ready to make that appointment with your doctor so that you can do everything you can to give birth to a healthy baby.

Pregnancy is a wonderful experience and the sooner you find out the better. All of the pregnancy signs listed above are indicative of pregnancy, but you must get a pregnancy test done to be sure.

 



By: Ling Tong

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Pregnancy complications can often adversely affect the pregnancy outcome, putting an end to your dream of starting a family. However, awareness about the complications and related pregnancy symptoms can help minimize complexities during childbirth.

Pregnancy complications can arise due to various reasons anytime during your pregnancy week by week development. The most common complications like premature birth are often diet and health related. Quite a few are triggered, if conception happens after the age of 30 years.

Preventing Premature Delivery

Quite often, serious problems have simple solutions. Prevention of premature birth, you will be surprised to know, calls for just an increased intake of Vitamin C.

A normal pregnancy usually stretches over 40 weeks. Pregnancy complication arises, if delivery happens before 37 weeks. This occurs when the foetus membrane ruptures untimely. Premature rupture of membrane (PROM) is the most common cause of premature birth and happens in about 10-20% pregnancies worldwide. Studies indicate that while vaginal infection, improper diet, etc., increase PROM risk, the deficiency of Vitamin C is a major contributor. Vitamin C, found in fruits and vegetables, is critical for the maintenance of foetal membrane. Further fortifying the significance of Vitamin C, a recent study revealed that women with high intake of Vitamin C are less susceptible to PROM.

Hence, by simply supplementing pregnancy diet with Vitamin C rich content, you can say good-bye to one of the most common pregnancy complications.

Minimizing Pregnancy Complications After The Age Of 30

In recent times, more couples are deciding to start their family little late in life, once they have settled well in their career. This has led to a rise in pregnancy complications, as age and fertility are closely related. However, taking a few precautions during the pregnancy period will put an end to many pregnancy complications.

Fertility drugs are to be avoided and taken only on doctor advice. Other than increasing the incidence of multiple births, such drugs can become a major health hazard and can cause a number of pregnancy complications.

Medical check-up before and after conception are a must, to deter any kind of pregnancy complication arising due to age, diet, health, etc. As with any regular pregnancy, smoking, alcohol and other drugs should be shunned. Follow a regular exercising routine, as suggested by your gynaecologist, to strengthen your body against the regular pregnancy aches.

To sum up, the secret to happy pregnancy and delivery lies in following a simple lifestyle, which involves a wholesome diet, regular exercise and consistent medical counselling?



By: Apurva Shree

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