Archive for August, 2008

The pregnancy week 18 ensures that the most apparent of pregnancy symptoms become real.

You love to eat a lot and your appetite goes beyond your control and sooner you will observe an enlarged belly.

Don’t worry about this, all these pregnancy side effects will disappear after 40th week of pregnancy. At present, eat and enjoy the life.

By this time, it is better to sleep on your side; otherwise it puts unnecessary pressure on your pelvic veins. Here are the changes that take place in you and your baby during pregnancy week 18:

What are the physical changes that occur in your body during pregnancy week 18?

Still you can enjoy a lot with your little one’s kicks inside your belly. If you have strong abdominal muscles, you are obese or your fetus is hiding, then you may fall on the late end of scale. If this is the first pregnancy for you, then you cannot observe the fetal movements as early as in successive pregnancies.

You will feel that now your uterus is just below your bellybutton. Definitely, you should be showing a bit by now. Most of the pregnant women will gain the weights anywhere between 10-15 pounds. By this week, your uterus is about the size of a small melon.

Yes, it is safe to travel during pregnancy only if there are no complications associated with your pregnancy.

Now, people are traveling more than ever before, both for business and pleasure.

Before traveling, you should know where and how you can travel if you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant.

In most of the cases, you can travel safely even to exotic destinations.

The most important things you must be aware are insurance details, medications and vaccinations.

The ideal time to travel during pregnancy is second trimester. During the first trimester pregnancy, you will experience the symptoms like morning sickness and nausea.

So, you feel little uncomfortable while traveling. During the third trimester, you will become easily fatigued and generally this is not the safe period to travel.

Tips to make your travel safe during pregnancy:

Most of you worry that travel during pregnancy make you uncomfortable and exhausted. But, these tips will greatly help you to make the journey comfortable and enjoyable as possible.

Reduce your stress level: You cannot avoid the stress by staying at home throughout the pregnancy period. Following some simple strategies will greatly help you to reduce your stress and anxiety.

In a study on fetal alcohol syndrome, researchers were able to prevent the damage that alcohol causes to cells in a key area of the fetal brain by blocking acid sensitive potassium channels and preventing the acidic environment that alcohol produces.

The cerebellum, the portion of the brain that is responsible for balance and muscle coordination, is particularly vulnerable to injury from alcohol during development.

The researchers also found that although alcohol lowers the amount of oxygen in the blood of the mother, it is not the lack of oxygen that damages the fetal cerebellum, but the drop in pH.

Fetal alcohol syndrome is a condition in which maternal drinking during pregnancy injures the brain of the developing fetus.

Alcohol is the most common cause of injury to the fetal brain. Children born with fetal alcohol syndrome may have cognitive impairments and difficulty regulating their behavior.

They often have difficulty in school and exhibit behavioral problems, such as impulsiveness, later in life.

The syndrome is estimated to occur in approximately one in every 1,000 births in Western countries. Milder forms of the condition, known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, occur more frequently.

Do you have severe abdominal pain? During pregnancy, most of you suffer from abdominal pain.

Most often, it is due to round ligament pain. Round ligament pain is due to various bodily changes that takes place during your pregnancy.

Generally, the pain is referred to as a brief, sharp, stabbing pain or a long lasting dull pain that most of the pregnant women experience in the lower abdomen.

Usually, this condition starts in the second trimester of your pregnancy.

If you suddenly change the position, you will experience the round ligament pain as a short stabbing sensation.

For example, suddenly getting up from the bed, from the chair, when rolling over in your bed, whenever you cough, or when you get out of the bath tub, you will experience this pain.

Usually, your uterus is surrounded by round ligaments in the pelvis. When the uterus starts growing in your pregnancy, these ligaments get stretched and thickened to hold and support the uterus.

Occasionally, these changes can cause the pain on or both sides of your abdomen, but most commonly the pain occurs on the right side of your pelvis.

During this period, you can feel your baby’s movements inside you. If you are a first time mother, then there is a chance that you do not recognize the movements inside your body. For first time mothers, there is a tendency to ignore the initial movements.

Some of the overweight mothers can also unable to recognize their child’s movements during the early stages. Some of the thinner mothers can feel these movements even earlier than pregnancy week 17.

Not only the movements, but also you will observe various changes during the 17th week of pregnancy.

What are the physical changes that occur in your body during pregnancy week 17?

During pregnancy week 17, your uterus starts to change its shape as your pregnancy progresses and looks like a large egg rather than a small ball. Gradually, the egg occupies most of your pelvis and abdomen. During this process, the organs along with your intestines get pressed to the sides.

By pregnancy week 17, your uterus should be about 1.5-2 inches below the bellybutton.

Changes during pregnancy week 17:

• By this week, gradually, you are about to gain some more weight.

Women who use a lot of household cleaning products when they are pregnant, or shortly after giving birth, are increasing their child’s risk of developing asthma.

The findings indicated that early life exposure to the chemicals contained in household cleaning products was linked to a 41% increase in a child’s chances of developing asthma by the age of 7 years.

During the study, a large number of other factors known to affect the onset of asthma, such as family history, were accounted for.

The results thus present a possible mechanism for the ‘hygiene hypothesis’, which suggests that children brought up with low exposure to bacteria and dust in the home in their early years are less likely to build an immunity to asthma later in life.

Dr. Alexandra Farrow explains: “Previous research has shown that a child’s risk of developing asthma is lower if he or she is exposed to bacteria or bacterial products (endotoxins) in early life (‘hygiene hypothesis’), probably because it assists in the development of a child’s immune system.

However, our research suggests that one possible mechanism for this hypothesis may involve the chemicals found in domestic cleaning products.

Skin care for every pregnant woman is most important. Normally, skin care and pregnancy goes hand in hand.

Everything that you eat, apply and come into contact with any other thing affects not only you but also your baby. So, you should be very careful about whatever you do.

Topical ingredients that you use are absorbed into your blood stream and damage your developing baby.

There are various products that are considered as completely safe, but there are some ingredients which are considered as harmful for your developing baby.

Cleanser for skin care during pregnancy:

Use a gentle cleanser. Usually, your doctor suggests you to use a glycerin based or non-residue facial cleanser.

If the skin is very dry, then wash your face with soap less rinse-off cleanser, which is mild and moisturizing. In order to avoid over drying, wash your face not more than twice in a day.

Moisturizer and sun protector for skin care during pregnancy:

Moisturizer is the most essential thing that you should add to your skin care routine during pregnancy. Use the moisturizer with SPF at least 15.

During the pregnancy, the rise in hormone levels cause the growth of pigment cells that leads to facial blotchiness.

Pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) is a form of high blood pressure in your pregnancy.

This condition occurs in about 5-8% of all pregnancies. PIH is also called as preeclampsia or toxemia.

Pregnancy induced hypertension is the condition that most commonly occurs in younger women with their first pregnancies.

This condition is also seen in women who have chronic hypertension, diabetes, PIH in their first pregnancy and in twin pregnancies.

Mainly, pregnancy induced hypertension has three main characteristics. They include:

• High blood pressure i.e. blood pressure greater than 140/90 mm Hg
• Edema, also called as swelling of the ankles and feet
• Protein in the urine

Eclampsia is the most severe type of pregnancy induced hypertension. Eclampsia results in seizures in a pregnant woman.

Who are at risk of pregnancy induced hypertension?

Women with the following conditions are at high threat of developing pregnancy induced hypertension.

• First time mother
• If you have sisters or mothers with PIH
• Carrying multiple pregnancies
• Women who are pregnant at the age of 40
• Teenage mothers
• If you have kidney disease or high blood pressure before becoming pregnant

Week 16 is the best time to join the pregnancy clubs, meetings and chat with other women who are under similar conditions. This will greatly help you.

In these meetings, you might very commonly come across few concepts, which you have heard but you are not very clear about.

You will come across various changes during week 16 pregnancy.

What are the physical changes that occur in your body during pregnancy week 16?

Some women experience nasal congestion and nose bleeds. This is due to altered levels of hormones. This leads to the swelling of mucus membrane in the nose.

Softening of the tissues and increased blood levels can also cause this condition. Unfortunately, this condition can continue throughout the pregnancy. Increased blood volume makes your heart to work harder in order to support the pregnancy.

Deficiency of vitamin C can also lead to nose bleeds, so increase the intake of vitamin C rich foods. Avoid the usage of nose drops except saline, unless your doctor suggests.

A new study by researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health, shows that pregnant women who binge drink early in their pregnancy increase the likelihood that their babies will be born with oral clefts.

The researchers found that women who consumed an average of five or more drinks per sitting were more than twice as likely than non-drinkers to have an infant with either of the two major infant oral clefts: cleft lip with or without cleft palate, or cleft palate alone.

Women who drank at this level on three or more occasions during the first trimester were three times as likely to have infants born with oral clefts.

“These findings reinforce the fact that women should not drink alcohol during pregnancy,” said Lisa A. DeRoo, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at NIEHS and author on the study.

“Prenatal exposure to alcohol, especially excessive amounts at one time, can adversely affect the fetus and may increase the risk of infant clefts.

” The causes of clefts are largely unknown, but both genetic predisposition and environmental factors are believed to play a role in their development. The paper appears online today as an advance access publication in the American Journal of Epidemiology.