Pregnancy Symptoms

Pregnancy produce symptoms in all the women and the main symptom is missed or delayed periods. Other symptoms, differs from woman to woman. Some may experience the symptoms in the first week of conception; some may not have any symptoms apart from the delayed cycles or may manifest the symptoms after many weeks of conceiving.

Some common symptoms of pregnancy are explained below: Some may develop mild bleeding as soon as they miss the period or just before, the cause being implantation of the embryo into the wall of the womb. Some women develop swollen and tender breast due to the hormones produced during the pregnancy. Some of them have a nausea and vomiting, commonly referred as morning sickness due to increase in the pregnancy related hormones.

Pregnant woman may feel tired, sleepy and exhausted; some may develop aversion to certain food or perfume. Other times they may develop cravings for certain type of food. Some women may develop slight backaches and frequency of urination. Some may feel depressed and gloomy. Some may be bursting with happiness as mood swings become common during the early pregnancy. Most of the symptoms are mild and women need not worry over it. She should fix an appointment with her doctor and discuss any concerns she may have.

Breast Examination During Pregnancy

Breast cancer is one of the most feared conditions in the world. There is an one in eight chance to develop breast cancer during one’s life time. So any woman who attends any clinic should be told about the benefits of breast examination and taught self breast examinations. During pregnancy woman comes to the antenatal clinic during her checkup. She needs to have at least one breast examination. During pregnancy breast enlarges in size and the area around the nipples known as areola becomes more pigmented. Some nodular structures known as montgomery follicles, becomes prominent around the breast. Some pregnant woman may have slight milky discharge although rarely it may have an ominous significance portraying death of the fetus in the womb. Pregnant woman sometimes get a strange pain on the nipples because of erected hardened nipples. If the pregnant woman feels a lump and has signs of inflammation then she should be examined by her doctor to rule out one of the rare types of cancer.

Psuedocyesis

Psuedocyesis is actually a psychiatric condition. It is a factitious disorder. The concerned female thinks she is pregnant and she manifests all the signs and symptoms of pregnancy but lacks any evidence of the presence of a fetus. This condition is been present since the dawn of the creation of mankind. Hippocrates had written about psuedocyesis in his accounts. Another historical example is Bloody Mary, the Queen of England. On many occasions she believed that she was pregnant and later when she found out that she was not pregnant led to her irrational violent behavior. This condition is very rare in the modern era because of the early intervention in the form of medical diagnostics which immediately gives away the false belief. It is more prevalent in the societies, which heaps a heavy burden on the woman as soon as she is married and expects her to conceive immediately. The best way to treat this condition is by educating the community and proving to the patient that she is not pregnant; and definitely she will need long-term psychiatric care too.

What You Should Know About Ectopic Pregnancy!

Every woman should know about ectopic pregnancy which is one of the major reasons for maternal mortality and morbidity. If you are in your early trimester of pregnancy and are experiencing lower belly ache with or without bleeding along with the feeling of dizziness, or you had a fainting attack then you should immediately go to your doctor. You might be having an ectopic pregnancy that is pregnancy occurring outside your womb. 90 percent of the time the ectopic pregnancy occurs in the Fallopian tubes (two tubular structures on either side of your womb) and rarely the pregnancy gets implanted in the ovaries, over the intestinal mesentery or the narrow neck portion of the womb, known as cervix. With the increase in sexually transmitted diseases the chances of having ectopic pregnancies has considerably increased. Ectopic pregnancy should be diagnosed as early as possible. If it is left undiagnosed it may rupture (break), internal bleeding can occur and may become fatal if not attended immediately.

Antenatal Care

Pregnant woman should make use of the antenatal care provided by her community. Most countries have free antenatal care for their patients. Antenatal care is aimed to keep the pregnant woman fully informed of the progress of her pregnancy and is also aimed to provide her with evidence based information that would allow her to make decisions.

Uncomplicated pregnancy can be taken care by the midwife or GP. If the woman develops any signs of complication she should be transferred to the specialist care. The first check up should be in the early trimester during which she undergoes test for pregnancy confirmation; and she is started on folic acid which helps to prevent neural tube defects in the growing fetus. She is asked to attend antenatal clinics once in four weeks till she is 28 weeks pregnant after that she is asked to come in every two weeks till she is 36 weeks pregnant. After 36 weeks she has to see the doctor every week till she delivers.

During her first trimester and the second trimester various investigations are done such as blood grouping and typing, hemoglobin content in her blood, screening for certain infectious diseases such as HIV, Syphilis, Rubella, Toxoplasmosis etc. Fetal Ultrasound is done in the second trimester to see the well being of the fetus. At around 26 weeks, blood sugar is checked and later in the pregnancy the is woman asked to maintain the kick count of the fetus. Non stress cardiotocogram is performed once in every week after she reaches 37 weeks in her pregnancy.

Pscycological Aspects Of Pregnancy

Pregnancy is a period when a woman has to deal with major changes that take place in the psychosocial milieu of her life. It affects all aspects of her life. It starts with the changes in her body, family, relationship, job, life plans and her financial status. Since we are in the postmodern era, its social structure again influences the psychological aspect of the pregnancy.

The physiological change in her body produces wide changes in her behavior such as mood swings. Women try to accept the changes occurring in their body by being unreasonable, angry or feeling elated and depressed alternatively. As her pregnancy grows she has to cope up with it by changing her life style. She may not be able to work for long hours or she may not be fit to do strenuous jobs. She is influenced by the people around her; her immediate family, friends, relatives and the heath care provider.

Physiological Changes During Pregnancy

Pregnancy is a normal phenomenon that occurs in the life of a woman. The body’s physiology undergoes a lot of changes that it should be known by the patient and her doctor. Here are some of the changes that take place in the body during pregnancy. These changes are due to increase in the hormones produced during the pregnancy and latter on. This is because of the growing womb producing mechanical effect on the body. The body responds to the pregnancy’s increased demand of metabolism by increasing the blood volume. A normal adult has 5 liters of blood and the volume increases to 7 liters in the pregnant woman. Her heart rate increases slightly and her blood pressure decreases due to the hormones in the first two trimesters. The breathing rate increases slightly in pregnant woman because of the increase in oxygen demand. Appetite increases in pregnancy and there may be cravings for specific food. Although some woman develops aversion for certain food during pregnancy and some have severe vomiting during the early pregnancy. The daily energy requirement increases by about 300 calories. Pregnant woman may require around 2500 calories per day. A pregnant woman may have an overall increase of weight equivalent to 11 to 16 Kg during her entire duration of pregnancy. She may develop stretch marks on the skin of her belly; she may also develop dark patches over her face. Her joints become lax and loose due to the effects of pregnancy hormones which may produce aches and pains in the body. She may be more prone for sprains and muscle spasm due to the laxity of the joints.

Myths About Pregnancy

In spite of tremendous growth in the medical diagnostics and technology people still relay on the various myths that are prevalent in any community. As long as the myths are harmless it is ok to ponder over it and enjoy the fun of it. For example, old aunts will try to predict your baby’s sex by looking at your tummy shape saying more rounded your belly is, it is a girl or more triangular shape is, it is a boy. The truth is that shape and size of your belly is determined by the position of your baby, the tone of the womb and the belly muscle tone.

Or they may say, you have a girl baby because your face is more swollen. Some amount of fluid retention occurs during pregnancy which is normal. Some people try to predict the sex by saying faster the fetal heart beat the more chance it is a girl and so on. All these are old wife tales, listen to them and have a good hearty laugh. But you should be careful and not listen to some of the tales which contradict the doctor’s advice such as if it says don’t take your prenatal vitamins or to take oral concoctions or inhale some herbs which may have deleterious affect on your pregnancy.