A Guide To Your Pregnancy

The first step of your pregnancy, after seeing the little positive stick should to have it confirmed. Call immediately to have a pregnancy test done with your local doctor, you may be in luck and get in that same day or have to wait about a week or two. Patience will become your best friend during this time or your worst enemy, waiting can become a very hard thing when you want to know for sure whether you are or aren’t pregnant. More than likely you’ll get a phone call a few days later to confirm it.

Set up an appointment to see your OB/GYN or midwife as soon as possible, chances are you’ll be meeting his/her staff before you ever meet them. This is the first appointment where your doctor/midwife will want to know all your medical history. If you’ve been pregnant, what types of sicknesses run in your family, etc. If you can, try making sure you know all of this ahead of time, maybe even have it all down on paper so when he/she asks you are prepared. During the days or weeks leading up to this meeting you may have concerns, write them down and ask them. Believe it or not doctors are there to help you, and they’ve been asked every question you can possibly think of. Before leaving your doctor may even give you a bag full of goodies all about being pregnant. Read these, they may prove beneficial and not to mention they’ve got coupons. Your doctor will either give you another appointment or have you set one up before leaving. There are some great books out there if you are really worried about what will happen next or how birth is going to be, check them out at your local library.

Make sure that you get your prenatal vitamins, they are very important during pregnancy. If for some reason you can’t take them, talk with your doctor he/she may be able to prescribe a lower dosage or something else. You’ll get your first ultrasound, also known as US around week 20, this is normally when you find out what sex the baby is. However some doctors like to call it safe and give you an ultrasound around 10-12 weeks just to make sure the baby is in the proper location and all is going well. You will also be asked to take an orange drink that you must drink in five minutes. You’ll wait around for an hour to three hours, at which point your blood gets drawn and you can go home. The test determines if you have or have a chance of getting gestational diabetes.

At first your appointments will be about 4 weeks apart until you hit the 36 week and at that point it’ll be two weeks later and a week later after that until the baby is born. By now you should be preparing to have the baby. Yes, I’m sure you’ll have some anxiety towards the end of your pregnancy. You’ve went this far, it’s time you see your reward.

Signs and Symptoms of Early Pregnancy

A pregnancy actually begins long before you ever realize that something is happening to your body; when the egg meets the sperm and the result is fertilization. By the time that you miss a period and take a pregnancy test or head to the doctor, you are already well into the developments that can occur during a full pregnancy term. In fact, throughout the first eight weeks of early pregnancy, your baby will grow to an inch in length and has developed most of his major body organs. This time of early pregnancy, also known as the embryonic stage, is a critical point of your baby’s growth, which can be negatively affected by alcohol use, radiation exposure and infectious diseases. That is why it is a good idea to use caution when you are trying to get pregnant, so that the early pregnancy stage can be as safe for your unborn baby as possible.

While the first sign of early pregnancy is often a missed period, there are some other symptoms that you may experience as well. Most of these signs of early pregnancy are due to the hormone changes that your body undergoes to prepare it for the process that lies ahead. These signs can include fatigue, an increased need to urinate, tenderness in the breasts, a mild aching sensation in your lower abdomen or nausea and/or vomiting, also known as morning sickness. Any or all of the symptoms may indicate early pregnancy, and when combined with a missed period, should be checked out by your doctor. The earlier you know for sure that you are pregnant, the more time you have to take the best care possible of you and your baby.

Pregnancy: Weeks 5-8 (Month #2)

Morning sickness? Unfortunately! This video shows you what to expect during month two of your pregnancy.

Pregnancy Yoga With Esther Ekhart and Jess/Part2

9 Months Pregnant Jess, shows a pre natal standing routine.

Pregnancy Yoga With Esther Ekhart and Jess

9 MONTHS PREGNANT Jess shows the routine she’s been doing every day.

What to do when bleeding during pregnancy

Bleeding during pregnancy can be a scary symptom for many women. The best course of action is to call your doctor right away if you experience this symptom at any time during your term.

When a woman has bleeding during pregnancy in the first trimester, it is often called a threatened miscarriage. This does not mean that you will inevitably have a problem with your pregnancy, but some caution is indeed called for here.

 When you go into your doctor’s office with bleeding during pregnancy in the first trimester, he will probably check the baby using an ultrasound. If you see a strong heartbeat during his exam, it is a good sign that the pregnancy may progress normally. If your doctor gets an indication that anything is wrong, he will be able to proceed accordingly with the information that the ultrasound gives him.