Things to know about the health of you and your baby.

The most important thing you can do when you have decided to have a baby is to take good care of yourself.  The parental period is a time to build a strong foundation for you, your baby and your family.

One of the best things you can do for you and your baby is to eat healthy. Making smart nutritional choices will help promote your baby’s growth and development.

Pregnancy Nutrition

During pregnancy a balanced diet is the most important part of good health.  Pregnancy Nutrition is the only source of nutrients for your baby.  You will need to learn how to make good food choices for you and your baby as well as the nutrients your baby will need.  You have to avoid things that can be harmful like alcohol, drugs,smoking cigarettes.  These things are very harmful to you and your baby.

Emotional Changes

We all think of pregnancy as an exciting time and you think mostly of how your body will change.  Some of us don’t realize the emotional changes that occur.  Feeling sad or worried about every little thing is normal and is usually due to changes in hormone levels.  The following represent some of the most common changes even though every woman’s pregnancy is unique to them.

• Hormones – Mood swings are very common because of these hormone changes.
• Self Image – You will start feeling bad about yourself that you are fat and unattractive.  Instead you should feel proud of the signs of your fertility.
• Anxiety about the health of the baby – You will feel and worry about the health of your baby. Talking with other mothers will help.
• Concerns about Labor – It’s very normal for mother’s to worry about childbirth, the pain, if you will embarrass yourself are common.

Although you will have ups and downs in your emotional crises most will be perfectly manageable.  Just remember that all the emotions you feel are felt by most pregnant women.

Pregnancy Complications

As we have mentioned before how important it is to visit your doctor on a regular basis to make sure you are on top of any complications with your pregnancy.  There are tests done in the beginning stages and some screenings later in pregnancy to help prevent these problems.  It’s important to follow your doctor’s advice so you have a safe delivery and a health baby.

Here are a few complication that could occur:

• Gestational Diabetes
• Ectopic Pregnancy
• Hepatitis B
• Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG)
• HIV Infection
• Placenta Previa
• Urinary Tract Infection
• Toxoplasmosis
• Listeriosis
• Fetal Problems
• Premature or Pre-term Labor
• High – Blood Pressure
• Placental Abruption
• Post-partum Depression
• Mastitis

Welcome to Pregnant Times Preconception & Family Planning Bookshelf. You will fine below a selection of items that we recommend.

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The Fertility Journal:  A Day-to-Day Guide to Getting Pregnant by Kim Hahn, Editors of Conceive Magazine, and Jeffrey Sher (Diary – Mar 19, 2008)

The Fertility Journal is a guided journal designed to help women understand and track their monthly reproductive cycle. It features a primer on fertility basics, helpful tips on health, exercise, relationships, sex, and nutrition, and space for women to record the daily statistics that will help them predict ovulation and get pregnant more easily. A special section on assisted reproductive technologies includes a monthly tracker for women employing in vitro fertilization and similar procedures. With illustrations throughout and plenty of room to record the thoughts and feelings that go along with this exciting and emotional time, The Fertility Journal is an essential tool for creating a family.

Preconception Plain & Simple (Paperback) by Audrey Couto McClelland (Author), Sharon K. Couto (Author)

A Deliciously Smart and Sexy Guide in Preparing for Pregnancy brings to women, men, and couples passion, romance, and fun… a thorough medical review and assessment of both hopeful Mom and Dad… and marvelous fertility wisdom to a topic that is all-too-often consumed with infertility statistics, clinical discussions, and fears of infertility. Preconception Plain & Simple offers and celebrates a perfect combination of the medical, the miracle, and the magic of baby making without the fears… but certainly including the fun and “relaxing” part of it all!

Before Your Pregnancy: A 90 Day Guide for Couples on How to Prepare for a Healthy Conception by Amy Ogle and Lisa Manzullo (Paperback – Sep 3, 2002)

This book represents a substantial contribution to understanding the developing issues in the field of preconception.  Amy Ogle and Lisa Mazzullo have written an insightful and well-researched handbook for couples seeking to maximize their likelihood of having a healthy pregnancy.  The practical information contained in this book will guide couples on their journey to creating healthy babies.

Making a Baby: Everything You Need to Know to Get Pregnant by Debra Fulghum Bruce PhD and Samuel S. Thatcher M.D. Ph.D. (Paperback – Jul 5, 2000)

From Library Journal
Today, there are several hundred thousand in vitro fertilization (IVF) babies around the world, and new discoveries and techniques in the field of reproductive medicine increase the success rate every year. Yet for anyone faced with infertility, the future may appear frightening and uncertain. The authors, an expert health writer and a reproductive endocrinologist, provide a readable, informative, and sympathetic guide to this new world of baby-boosting medicines, IVF, sperm injection, and egg donation. They explain how the male and female reproductive systems work and detail the many common, and sometimes hidden, threats to fertility. They offer practical, low-tech solutions, such as lifestyle changes, as well as the more advanced therapies. Understanding how one’s body works and one’s specific infertility problem, the authors argue, will help readers become empowered participants in their own care. High-tech, low-tech, natural, and complementary therapies are all discussed, as are the pros and cons of current tests and treatments. A glossary of terms, a list of acronyms and abbreviation, and other helpful lists round out this resource. A useful book full of advice and explanations offered with insight and understanding; for all consumer health collections.DJodith Janes, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, OH
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Getting Pregnant: What You Need To Know Right Now by Niels Lauersen and Colette Bouchez (Paperback – May 25, 2000)

Whether you are young and fertile, over 40 and having trouble conceiving, or anywhere in between, here is the best resource to help you get pregnant.

The only must-have fertility book, Getting Pregnant, completely revised and updated, not only addresses the needs of those who cannot conceive but serves as the ultimate guide for anyone planning to have a baby, now or in the future. Addressing the newest, state-of-the-art medical treatments for infertility, Getting Pregnant gives you all the latest news on:

We will attempt to guide you through your fertility time, the early signs of pregnancy and the three trimesters through postpartum. Now that you are pregnant you will have many questions that you will need answers to and we hope you’ll find them here.

Each stage will have something unique to offer and each trimester will have a different effect on you and your baby.

Early Pregnancy Stage

Just the fact that you can create a living being is an exciting thing to most women, but to learn that you are pregnant fills you with excitement beyond anything you could have imaging.  In the early stages of pregnancy you should outline the planning of your pregnancy. Planning your pregnancy is the first step toward having a health you and baby.

In the early stages of pregnancy things can go wrong like spotting or vaginal bleeding and even miscarriage.  That’s why it’s important to be extra careful in the early stages to prevent some of these problems.

First Trimester Stage – What To Expect

The most crucial period of pregnancy is during the first trimester of pregnancy.  Women start feeling sick and exhausted and their body undergoes many changes. Here are some of the most common changes you could experience in the first trimester:

• Many women find they get tired or exhausted.
• Many women get morning sickness causing    Nausea and Vomiting.
• You many see a change in the Frequency of    urination.
• All women will see a weight gain.

By the end of the first trimester the size of your baby is about three inches long and weighs about half an ounce.

Second Trimester Stage – The Most Comfortable Period

For most women the second trimester is a better time because the morning sickness and exhaustion is going away.  In this stage people will start realizing that you are pregnant because you are finally expanding more.  The breasts will secrete colostrum, or milk,and they will also grow larger.

Your rate of growth is nothing compared to the baby’s.  The baby will have more defined features at this stage of pregnancy.  All the baby’s major organs have formed even though they will continue to develop further.  The baby is around 12 inches long now and weight about 2 to 2-1/2 pounds.

Third Trimester Stage – The Final Hurdle

The most exciting stage is the third trimester stage.  This stage starts from the 29th week of the pregnancy.  The mother will experience a lot of changes during this stage. She will start gaining excess weight (about 25-35 pounds) and experience a problem in breathing as well as swelling in the hands and feet .  She could also experience heartburn, indigestion, shortness of breath and tiredness, constipation, frequent urination.

The mother’s emotions may be tested because you may feel nervous and start wondering all kinds of things like if you will be capable of raising a child and start worrying about if the child will be normal. Now it’s the end of the third trimester and you start forgetting about all the pain and discomfort of your pregnancy and start feeling joys of bringing this newborn in the world.

Postpartum Stage

Most women do not know what to expect in the first few weeks after pregnancy. Everything is going though your mind about how you will feel, how long is the recovery, etc. It’s also normal to feel excited, tired, and amazed all at the same time.

One thing very important for mom and her baby is the bonding process.  Things like looking at each other, caressing her leg or arm or just simple touching. Talking to your newborn also helps start a good relationship between the two of you.

Tips to help cope with the postpartum period:

• Eat well to regain your strength and health.
• Drink extra fluids each day.
• Feel good about yourself you did well.
• Accept help from family to take care of the house work, etc.
• Ask a lot of questions when something is not right.
• Limit the visitors to as few as you can handle.
• Get a lot of rest and sleep when your baby sleeps.

This is new to you so it take time getting used to having a newborn baby in the house.  You will make mistakes learning the right and wrong way to doing things so relax and enjoy.

There are some preconception planning  you want to do prior to getting pregnant.  You want to give your baby the best start in life by getting yourself healthy before you get pregnant.

Before pregnancy and having a baby you want to consider some preconception planning, the things you need to do to prepare for all the pregnancy stages.

Some things like chart your menstrual cycle, reading your cervical mucus and pinpointing ovulation. Other things like learning about pregnancy test, how to use it, how accurate the tests are and when to test and even dealing with fertility problems if any.

Here are a few preconception tips for a healthy conception:

• Preconception care visit with your doctor.. you can’t have a healthy pregnancy if you are not healthy yourself.
• Start taking a prenatal vitamin with folic acid… think about what medications you should stop taking in the preconception stage.
• Get to your ideal body weight and keep it with a healthy diet… Eating healthy before you get pregnant will make a big difference in the health of your baby.
• Quite Smoking, quite alcohol and drugs…. do I need to even go here.  Do you know what these bad habits will do to your baby?
• Genetic History… getting a genetic screening may determine any genetic diseases.
• Minimize or eliminate exposure to toxins and infection… some toxins and infections may take awhile to get out of your system.
• Check your Immunizations… are you up to date on your shots.  You don’t want to get them while you are pregnancy because they could cause birth defects.
• Chart Your Cycles… it helps to keep up with what you need to do.
• Talk with your husband and get financially prepared.

As you can see preconception planning can go a long way.  You do not want to have to worry about these things after you are pregnant.

There are a lot of pregnancy signs and symptoms you want to know about as well. Pregnancy symptoms are different from woman to woman but understanding the signs and symptoms is important because the symptom you having could be related to something that is not pregnancy related.

Some of the symptoms to look far:

• Missed menstrual period.
• Morning sickness
• Fatigue
• Tender breasts
• Constipation
• Fainting
• Dizziness
• Weight Gain
• Swollen Feet/Ankles
• Frequent Urination
• Nausea
• Tired
• Vomiting
• Weakness
• Lightheadedness

Other things you will want to know about are the pregnancy types because there are many types of pregnancies and not all of them are normal and could cause some serious pregnancy complications.

You may want to consider cord blood banking .  The blood in your babies umbilical cord  is rich in stem cells which are used in the treatment of several life threatening diseases. Your baby may need them later.

Now that your head is spinning, you need to think about what you want to do after pregnancy ,like are you considering breastfeeding?

While nothing can guarantee a perfectly healthy pregnancy, following some simple advice can give both you and your baby the best chance possible just by some preconception planning.