Pregnancy Signs & Symptoms, Week by Week Pregnancy Guide

Although it is wonderful to be pregnant, a lot of women suffer from pregnancy cramps.

When this happens in the majority of the cases the parents get really concerned but in the majority of the cases there is nothing to be worried about. These cramps could have many different causes.

Uterine stretching and cramps during pregnancy

During pregnancy, in order to accommodate the baby, the uterus needs to stretch. This is an organ that is made up by many muscles and the body sends hormones to the muscles to make them expand. Along with the muscles, the ligaments supporting the uterus will also expand, leading to cramping.

Implantation cramping

These cramps during pregnancy are caused by the fact that the embryo gets embedded into the sensitive lining of the uterus. This occurs about 9 days after ovulation.

At this stage you could experience some cramping, but this doesn’t happen during the later stages. Usually this is the first sign of a pregnancy.

Miscarriage

This is a term that no woman would ever want to hear regarding pregnancy cramps. In case the baby dies because of spontaneous circumstances, there will be some cramping during the early pregnancy. This symptom could also be accompanied by spotting or bleeding. If this happens, call your doctor at once.

Normal cramps

In some cases the cramps during pregnancy have nothing to do with the baby or the pregnancy at all. It is possible that you have problems with constipation or gas. Don’t forget that even pregnant women need to defecate, and their job becomes more difficult because of the pregnancy hormones.

Ectopic pregnancy

This cause of the pregnancy cramps is also known as eccysis. This means that the fertilized egg didn’t implant into the uterus but somewhere else, in the majority of the cases in one of the fallopian tubes. In this case, the fetus cannot develop or survive. Usually there are some other symptoms as well accompanying the complication.

What to do about cramps during pregnancy

All you have to do is to stop thinking and take some deep breaths. Don’t forget that the cramps come and go and there is no reason to get worried about the mild cramps. Nonetheless there are some serious conditions that could cause cramping. If you also notice some bleeding, make sure to call your doctor immediately.

There are some other signs as well besides pregnancy cramps that there could be something wrong, such as vaginal fluids, chills, fever and lightheadedness. The diseases that you could be affected by include stomach viruses, food poisoning, infections and other kinds of diseases.

In order to make the cramps during pregnancy better the simplest thing that you can do is to think about something else than the pain you have. Find something else to concentrate on.

As you can see the pregnancy cramps could have many different causes and your job is to make sure that there is nothing serious going on in your belly.