The nine months of pregnancy can be an educative journey of discovery for an expectant mother: there are so many facts about pregnancy that she will learn, so many old wives tales she will hear, and so much advice she will get that it may be difficult to sift fact from fiction.
In this post we speak of some interesting and unusual facts about pregnancy that you may or may not be aware of:
1. The new life conceived through the union of the female egg and the male sperm is known by different names. Soon after conception, the first 70 or 100 cells that constitute the pregnancy are known as the blastocyst. This blastocyst is later known as the embryo from the time that it implants into the uterus through the first two months of a pregnancy and is then known as a fetus.
2. Men can really experience sympathetic pregnancy, and this is one of the facts about pregnancy that have been known since ancient times.
It is also known as a phantom pregnancy and men could experience symptoms such as weight gain, disturbed moods and sleep, and even altered hormone levels. In some cases, men may experience labor pains and even post partum depression.
3. It isn’t just the baby weight that an expectant mother gains, there are several other things that cause her to gain weight: there is the increased blood in the system, the amniotic fluid and the placenta, the uterus itself that expands, and then the fat stores that are laid down in preparation of birthing and breast feeding.
4. It is one of the facts about pregnancy that the baby will take what it needs from the mother’s body even if it means that the mother herself may suffer a lack. For instance, if there is a calcium deficiency there could be problems for the mother’s bones and teeth rather than such a lack occurring in the baby.
5. You heart actually increases in size during pregnancy and is constantly working much harder than normal to make sure that the uterus is getting the amount of blood required for proper fetal development.
6. One of the facts about pregnancy is that contractions don’t end once the baby has arrived. Even after the placenta is delivered the contractions could continue for a time as the uterus gets back to its normal shape and size and ejects all the waste material that may be left over after the pregnancy.
7. A large baby is not necessarily a healthy baby. Though we are conditioned to coo over chubby babies, the fact is that babies should be the optimum birth weight adjusted for genetic factors. A very heavy baby means a higher risk of birth complications and also higher risk of the child developing certain diseases later in life.
8. One of the lesser known facts about pregnancy could be that you no longer fit your shoes properly. It is a fact that some women’s feet could increase up to a foot size at this time.
