1st trimester of pregnancy
Your first trimester pregnancy months are the time when you need to accept and absorb all the changes you and your body are about to go through ....more
The toughest bit of the 1st trimester of pregnancy is morning sickness and any woman who has gone through or is going through it, knows the first signs usually develop during the month following the first missed menstrual period, when hormone levels increase ....more
Moving through pregnancy often raises some tricky questions. In fact, sometimes there just seem to be too many. There are often some common questions like - do you gain weight the first trimester of pregnancy and similar questions. What can I say - read on and we'll try and help you with this one ....more
Finding out that you're pregnant is a very happy time. There are so many things to do like buying a crib, diapers, stroller, and much, much more! ....more
So – you're an expecting couple, aye? There are many books and guides out there on pregnancy, but most of them are targeted at the woman. This article is a very basic guide to pregnancy, targeted at men, so you can support your wife / girlfriend through the process and be involved in the pregnancy ....more
1st Trimester pregnancy experiences - by David Everett
Your first trimester pregnancy months are the time when you need to accept and absorb all the changes you and your body are about to go through. When you first suspect that you are pregnant, a lot of different feelings go coursing through your body and mind. You may be thrilled at the prospect of becoming a parent, and at the same time you may be terrified of the very idea that you’ll be responsible for the life of another human being.
During the first trimester pregnancy months you’ll have many things to think about. One of these is your choice of doctor to guide you through your pregnancy. Although many women visit their general practitioner throughout their pregnancy, it’s advised that you seek out the care of an obstetrician during the first trimester pregnancy weeks.
This type of doctor has extensive training and experience in dealing specifically with pregnancy and delivery. It’s a good idea to visit an obstetrician during your first trimester pregnancy weeks to find out your exact due date and also to learn more about nutrition. He will also prescribe a pre-natal vitamin for you during your initial visit.
One body change you are likely to notice during the first trimester pregnancy weeks is how easily you become tired. As your hormones change, so does your need for rest. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself having to catch a quick nap in the middle of the afternoon or when you return home from work. Your body is telling you to rest and you need to listen and obey it.
One effect you may also experience during the first few weeks of your pregnancy is morning sickness. Although this doesn’t happen to all women, a good majority suffer from at least some symptoms of morning sickness. The name itself is a bit misleading as morning sickness can occur anytime during the day or evening. If you happen to experience this first trimester pregnancy symptom, keep in mind that it will pass. Morning sickness rarely lasts for the duration of the pregnancy, it’s almost always restricted to the first trimester.
Things can go wrong during a pregnancy and in most cases, if that does happen, it will be during the first trimester pregnancy period. Miscarriages are unfortunately a fact of life, and quite often are nature’s way of protecting a fetus that has some sort of birth defect. Should you suffer from a miscarriage, take comfort in the fact that most women who lose a pregnancy go on to give birth to one or more healthy children. It’s very rare for a miscarriage to happen beyond the first trimester, so if you are into your second trimester, take comfort in that.
It is for this reason that many people wait beyond the first trimester pregnancy weeks before informing others of the impending birth. You usually won’t be showing until your fourth or fifth month of pregnancy so it is relatively easy to keep the secret until you are far enough along to know that the baby is healthy and secure.
Make sure that you take time during the first few months of your pregnancy to do some research into caring for a new baby. Many people, particularly first time parents, don’t have the experience or knowledge they would like to have when the baby arrives. Read as much as you can about both child birth and caring for a newborn so you can feel confident in your parenting skills once the baby arrives.
Babies are a joy and you should cherish each and every day, right from your first trimester pregnancy weeks through to the day you give birth. These are memories that will last forever, so be certain you take some time to thoroughly enjoy all the changes you are experiencing.
Pregnancy and Morning Sickness - by Ashely Farrar
The toughest bit of the 1st trimester of pregnancy is morning sickness and any woman who has gone through or is going through it, knows the first signs usually develop during the month following the first missed menstrual period, when hormone levels increase. It may range from mild, occasional nausea to sever, continuous, debilitating nausea with bouts of vomiting. In most cases, symptoms may be worse in morning, albeit they can strike day or night.
Despite all advances in medicine, there is no way of predicting how long your morning sickness will last even if you have suffered it before. Generally, nausea and vomiting last till about 12 - 13 weeks of pregnancy. However, some women continue to feel ill beyond their 22nd week as well.
However, some studies show that mild to moderate sickness is a sign of a good pregnancy, and less risk of miscarriage.
There is no simple treatment. The best course of action is home treatment. The following tips work wonders not only when you wake up feeling nauseous but also work when you get that queasy feeling during the day.
Changing what, when and how much you eat coupled with certain changes to the way foods cooked helps.
During morning or for that matter all day sickness, you may find that eating five or six small meals, rather than the usual three large ones, is easier on the body. Make sure each meal contains some protein and carbohydrate, like whole wheat bread with grated cheese and a slice of tomato, rice or wheat preparation with some easily digestible / light cereals, orange juice and a whole wheat biscuit. Be creative; choose low fat health foods you know will tempt your appetite. Aversions to food because of nausea are perfectly normal and understandable.
Try not to miss meals
Eat small, dry snacks.
Don't jump up out of bed immediately. Lie quietly for a while and ask you husband to bring you a slice of fresh lemon or orange or a dry, bland biscuit.
Avoid large drinks, have frequent small one between meals.
Spicy, fried foods, and fatty foods like very rich sweets, are best avoided.
Avoid excessive consumption of pickles or chutney, which is rich in salt.
Don't spend much time in the kitchen and avoid the strong smell of certain foods when shopping.
Prepare food when feeling least nauseous.
Taking lemon or orange juice in the morning and before meals relieves nausea of early pregnancy.
Suck an ice cube till the nausea passes off.
Sip on cool water.
However, if you have severe, persistent nausea and vomiting, see your doctor. This not so common complication of pregnancy can lead to dehydration and malnutrition, sometimes calling for prescribed medication and in some cases even hospitalization. Although drugs are best avoided in pregnancy, especially in the early months, there are some that have been in use for many years with no apparent danger to the developing baby.
Do you gain weight the first trimester of pregnancy or not? - by Kitty Barker
Moving through pregnancy often raises some tricky questions. In fact, sometimes there just seem to be too many. There are often some common questions like - do you gain weight the first trimester of pregnancy and similar questions. What can I say - read on and we'll try and help you with this one.
Recapping; Do you gain weight the first trimester of pregnancy? Is a common question among expecting mothers so we thought we could offer some insight on this.
When you are pregnant, you have to be careful with a lot of details if you want to have a healthy baby (and of course you want this!). One of this is the weight you have to gain during pregnancy. If you are an expecting mother, you probably know that an adult normal-weight woman must gain something between 25 and 35 pounds, by the ninth month. You must also know that you have to gain weight mainly in the second and in the third trimester, but many of you ask yourselves: do you gain weight the first trimester of pregnancy?
The first trimester is the beginning of this important journey that is pregnancy. Even if it won’t get obvious that you are carrying a baby from the outside, you will feel different and you will notice many changes in your body. These include breast changes, you will urinate more often, you may be much more tired than usual, and you may have nausea, heartburn, headaches. Besides these, some women reclaim feelings of depression, anxiety, fear and mood swings. You might also feel the weight gain (that will most probably occur from the first trimester) as one of the important changes in your body, especially if you’ve had constantly swinging weight gain over the past few years.
It is recommended to gain about 3 to 5 pounds in the first trimester of pregnancy. Sometimes it’s difficult to gain weight during pregnancy, even if you want to. You might even lose weight in the first trimester, because of the morning sickness, lack of appetite and tiredness. How risky might this be for your baby? On the other hand, it is possible to gain much more than the normal amount of weight in the first trimester. This is also not healthy for either of you. Let’s discuss these two situations separately.
Do you gain weight the first trimester of pregnancy if you eat barely anything? Perhaps not, but you don’t have to worry about this. During the nausea-prone first trimester, few women manage to eat “by the book”. That’s why it is important to enter pregnancy with enough nutritional reserves to provide for you and your baby.
If you didn’t manage to gain at least 2 pounds after the first trimester of pregnancy, or even lose some weight you don’t need to panic, this is not a reason for the baby not to develop normally, but you should consult a specialist in nutrition. If you didn’t have healthy-eating habits before, pregnancy is the time to develop these good habits. Even if you don’t have an appetite and you feel a little sick, make sure that what you eat , at least, is high-calorie but healthy food. You don’t have to exaggerate with eating junk food and having endless desserts, even if you didn’t manage to gain the proper weight in the first trimester. This may be harmful for the baby.
On the other hand, excessive weight gain can lead to health problems for the mother, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and varicose veins, and will increase the difficulty of delivery. Besides these, it might become difficult for you to manage your weight properly after delivery. You probably know that much of the extra weight goes to your baby (7-8 pounds), the extra blood and fluid volume (8 pounds), amniotic fluid (2 pounds), uterus, placenta, breast enlargement, and extra fat stores (7 pounds) in case of illness or "hard times."
But in the first trimester of pregnancy the baby and her “housing” are still yet very small, and your pregnancy weight gain needs are covered with 5-6 pounds. The extra pounds you gain above these 5-6 are yours only. Don’t even consider compensating them with gaining less in the second or in the third trimester. Anyway, it gets physically improbable; even if you starve yourself you could gain weight.
The question “do you gain weight the first trimester of pregnancy?” is usually posed by mothers who are concerned about their baby’s health and proper development.
How To Calculate Your Pregnancy Due Date - by Gen Mason
Finding out that you're pregnant is a very happy time. There are so many things to do like buying a crib, diapers, stroller, and much, much more!
Nine months seems like an eternity when you first find out you're pregnant, but it really is not. There are so many milestones that happen and so much to do it will go by in a flash.
So you're pregnant, what is a due date and when is it?
Your due date is the date that is given to you of when you can expect to go into labor. The dates are not usually very accurate. More often women go into labor with 2 weeks of the expected due date.
The most accurate way to determine a due date is when the woman knows the day of conception. This rarely happens so normally due dates are determined by using the 1st day of the woman's last period. Normally the total gestation time is added to the 1st day of the last period minus 2 weeks.
Example:
The total gestation time is 40 weeks (9 months). If the woman's last period was on October 1st, 2005, you would add for weeks to that date and the date you would have then would be July 1st, 2006. You take away 2 weeks from this date and you have June 15th, 2006. So your due date would be June 15th.
This method is called the LMP Method (last menstrual period).
Two weeks are taken away from the 40 weeks because it is said that women can ovulate within 2 weeks of their last period.
Another interesting way to calculate your due date is called Naegle's Rule. As with LMP, Naegle's Rule also uses the first day of your last period.
Calculate the 1st day of your last period. Count back 3 months from that day Add 7 days
This is another easy way to calculate your due date.
Ultrasounds can also give an expecting mother her due date. Ultrasound technicians use the ultrasounds to determine the baby's age by looking at different body parts and organs.
There are also many online websites for expectant mothers that offer pregnancy due date calculators. These calculators often use the LMP method by asking you to put in the first day of your last period and calculating your due date from there. The calculators not only give the mothers a due date to anticipate, but can also be used to mark the different milestones of pregnancy.
For example:
the time when a baby develops organs 2nd trimester 3rd trimester and your due date
In ancient times women used the different phases of the moon. When a woman suspected that she could be pregnant she would look at the moon and what phase it was in. Over time she would count how many times the moon was in that phase. At the 10th time the moon entered into that phase and the 10th period she missed, the woman would know she was due soon.
Dr. Naegle (with Naegle's Rule) determined that the ancient way was also an accurate way to determine a due date since a woman's cycle seems to follow by the moon's cycle.
Although the ancient way is no longer used it normally came pretty close. Whether you want to calculate the moon's phases or use LMP to calculate it, there are many, many ways to find out a round about date as to when your new baby will be born!
A simple guide to pregnancy for guys - by Gabriel J Adams
So – you're an expecting couple, aye? There are many books and guides out there on pregnancy, but most of them are targeted at the woman. This article is a very basic guide to pregnancy, targeted at men, so you can support your wife / girlfriend through the process and be involved in the pregnancy.
The pregnancy is divided up into three periods of about three months each. They are called the first trimester, second trimester, and third trimester. Here is what you can expect in each trimester.
The1st trimester is the first 14 weeks. During the first trimester, your baby will grow from a microscopic size to the size of a small melon. By then end of the first trimester, the baby will have defined facial features and you will be able to determine the sex of the baby with an ultrasound.
During the first trimester, the mother may begin experiencing morning sickness, and or unstable emotions. Be loving, supportive, and communicate as well as you can with your wife / girlfriend.
The second trimester is the 14th to 28th weeks of the pregnancy. During the second trimester, the mother will generally have much less morning sickness and nausea. The baby will be growing rapidly – weighing in at about two pounds by the 28th week.
The third trimester is from week 28 to birth. During the third trimester, the baby is nearly completely formed, and can live with specialized care, should it be born early. The mother will likely have various physical discomforts due to the growing baby, such as backaches, trouble sleeping, heartburn, etc. As throughout the rest of the pregnancy, communication, support, and love are very important.
As the baby's due date nears, you'll have many decisions to make with your wife / girlfriend, with help from your doctor. Of course, you'll want to pick out name(s) too!
1st Trimester
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