Foetal development

1st Trimester
By the end of this trimester, your baby is about three inches long and weighs about half an ounce. The eyes move closer together into their positions, and the ears also are in position. The liver is making bile, and the kidneys are secreting urine into the bladder. Even though you can't feel your baby move yet, your baby will move inside you in response to pushing on your abdomen.

2nd Trimester
By the 26th week, your baby will weigh about 1 ¾ pounds and be about 13 inches long. With this growth comes the development of your baby's features, including fingers, toes, eyelashes, and eyebrows. Around the fifth month, you might feel your baby move! By the end of this trimester, all of your baby's essential organs like the heart, lungs, and kidneys are formed.

3rd Trimester
Your baby is still growing and moving, but now has less room in your uterus. Because of this, you might not feel the kicks and movements as much as you did in the second trimester. Even before your baby is born he or she will be able to open and close his or her eyes and might even suck a thumb.

Stages of pregnancy

First Trimester 1-12
During the first trimester of pregnancy, you are often just discovering that you are pregnant and starting to come to terms with both with your fears and your hopes for the future. This may have been a surprise and you or your partner may have some ambivalent feelings about the pregnancy.

You may also begin to have fantasies and dreams about your child. You may feel increasingly focused on yourself and on the changes that are happening in your body.

For many couples, sexual activity is reduced. Most women will experience some of these physical changes during the first trimester:

breast changes, breasts maybe swollen and tender
nausea and vomiting,
urinary frequency, it is likely that you will start to visit the toilet more often but it is important not to reduce you fluid intake
fatigue, you may experience extreme fatigue as it is very common in the first trimester of pregnancy. The emotional ups and downs of finding out that you are pregnant can also take their toll on you this should let up in your second trimester. But if it doesn’t, you should be checked out by a G.P. as you may be anaemic,
small weight gain or weight loss, due to morning sickness may occur
cravings and aversions may occur during pregnancy it is very common to be repelled by certain tastes. Ignoring an aversion may only make you feel sicker, so don’t feel you have to eat something just because you think it’s good for you. On the flip side you may also start to crave food that once repelled you, unless they could be harmful, go ahead and indulge them in moderation.


Second Trimester 13-25
During the second trimester, your pregnancy becomes more obvious to others. You will become more aware of the changes happening to your body, particularly when these changes make you feel more dependent on others.

During these months you will feel the first movements of the foetus and you will become more focused on its development. You may begin to have vivid dreams about your child. Women generally start taking antenatal courses, during the second trimester do some research to see the options in your area (your doctor or midwife and local hospitals probably have lists).

You may decide that now is a good time to tell people your good news, if you haven‘t already. Deciding when and with whom to share your news is a very personal decision, but there are a few things to consider. Keeping your pregnancy a secret for a while will give you and your partner some time to absorb the idea privately. While some women wait until the risk of miscarriage drops markedly (at 14 weeks), others spill the beans right away because they’d tell their friends anyway if they miscarried.

Physically, you can expect the following changes during the second trimester:

you will have colostrum (pre-milk) in your breasts
your nipples may begin to get darker and the areolas will get larger
you may experience changes in the foods your body can digest
pressure on the blood vessels in the lower part of your body increases and may result in haemorrhoids or varicose veins
skin changes may occur particularly on the face

Warning Call your doctor if you experience vaginal bleeding; severe headaches; a marked increase in swelling; decreased foetal movement; leakage of watery fluid from the vagina; constant, severe abdominal pain

Third Trimester 26 to 40
By the third trimester both you and your partner are anticipating the birth of your child. You may be becoming impatient with your body and feeling vulnerable and dependent on others.

During the last part of the third trimester, many women experience a burst of energy, some call it nesting and become engaged in setting up and preparing their home for a child. Both you and your partner may be feeling some anxiety about the coming birth and feel pressured that the time is getting short before the arrival of the baby. You may continue to have vivid dreams about your child especially during your first pregnancy.

Physically, the third trimester is more uncomfortable. You may experience some of the following:

backache
leg cramps
heartburn
a dark line called linea nigra may appear running down from the naval
shortness of breath
the need to urinate frequently
the loss of bladder control when you sneeze or cough
Braxton-Hicks contractions (painless contractions of the uterus)

Warning Call your doctor if you experience vaginal bleeding; severe headaches; a marked increase in swelling; decreased foetal movement; leakage of watery fluid from the vagina; constant, severe abdominal pain

As you head into the final stretch, remember to keep eating right and exercising as much as is safe (always check with your doctor or midwife about the level of exercise is right for you ) so that your baby gains the proper amount of weight and you’re in the best possible shape for labour and delivery. At this stage your doctor or midwife will want to see you every two to three weeks starting at around week 28, then every two weeks at weeks 36 and 37, and weekly at 38 weeks. At around 35 weeks it’s now a good idea to go shopping and get the things you will need for the birth and pack them in a case, it is best to be prepared.

Calculating your due date

Calculating your due date is easy, it takes 9 months to have a baby, everybody knows that well that is not quite right. Pregnancy is based on a 40-week (280-day) calendar. To calculate your estimated date of delivery, add seven days to the first day of your last normal period, then add nine months. If you know the date of conception work from that but most of us can’t be that sure so its best to use that method. Your baby is considered full term if they arrive anywhere from three weeks before to two weeks after this date (more than 90 percent of babies do). The most accurate way to date a pregnancy is via ultrasound measurement of the foetus’s crown to bottom length this is usually carried out between eight and 12 weeks. The sex of your child is determined by your partner’s sperm. The egg and sperm each contribute one chromosome, the egg always carries an X; the sperm, either an X or a Y. If the fertilizing sperm contains an X chromosome, you will have a girl. If it contains a Y, you’re having a boy. If you choose to know the sex of the baby the ultrasound can often reveal this, however it is more accurate later in your pregnancy.

Pregnancy Myths

Lets face it we have all heard something about how to get pregnant or how to determine the sex of a baby, or things that you do during pregnancy that can harm the baby and in our hearts we know its rubbish, here are ten such myths some have a grain of truth in them but most are just old wifes tales.

• Getting the a boy, by the mother and or father eating lots of red met before the baby is concieved.
  The gender of your baby is determined by the father; more specifically, if sperm carrying an X-chromosome fertilizes the egg, the baby will be a girl and if the sperm carrying a Y-chromosome fertilizes the egg, a boy will result. The baby’s size and position determine how one “carries” their baby e.g. a mother-to-be may be “carrying high” simply because the baby is large, not because of its gender.

• Bad morning sickness means you’re having a girl.
  Most experts believe this is truly a myth. However no one knows exactly why morning sickness (also known as hyperemesis gravidarum) occurs, though it has long been thought to relate to elevated hormone levels (including progesterone, estrogen and/or human chorionic gonadotropin, or HCG). Which hormone, if any of these, is most important, remains a matter of speculation, and several other theories have been proposed such as zinc deficiency, genetic factors and psychological factors. At least one study found that women carrying a female foetus had higher HCG levels than with a male foetus. If true, that could explain the connection.

• If you raise your arms above your head the baby will get the cord wrapped around its neck.
  Up to 25 percent of foetuses have the umbilical cord wrapped around the neck; it is the baby’s activity in the womb and, perhaps, bad luck, not the mother’s activities during pregnancy that determine whether the cord is wrapped around the baby’s neck.
  
• You should avoid exercise during pregnancy.
  Within the bounds of common sense, there is no recommendation to avoid exercise during pregnancy. Moderate exercise is not prohibited during pregnancy, and is often recommended. Always check with your health care professional before undertaking exercise as it is not recommended in a small number of cases.
  
• Cats can kill while pregnant.
  This myth is close to the truth but still untrue. The recommendation regarding cats during pregnancy is due to toxoplasmosis, a parasite that can cause serious infections in humans and deformities in the developing foetus. Infection can follow handling of cat litter because it can be found in the stool of cats, so pregnant women are advised not to handle cat litter, great a nasty job that some one else has to do!.
  
• X-rays, microwaves and computer terminals can seriously harm unborn children.
  While unnecessary radiation exposure should generally be avoided while pregnant, if there is a good reason for an X-ray, the amount of radiation exposure to the foetus is minimal there is no evidence that modern microwave ovens or computer terminals expose women or their foetuses to harmful radiation.
  
• No bathing when pregnant.
  There is no well-established risk known to be associated with bathing during pregnancy. The water should not be too hot and you must be careful what products you use. But there may be times to avoid bathing altogether, for example, if your water has broken or there is bleeding. Other than that there is no reason not to relax in a bath if you can still get into one!
  
• Curry can trigger labour.
  Scientific evidence suggests that labour is triggered by biological signals, some of which are well understood and others that remain uncertain. For a routine pregnancy, as long as you eat a well-balanced diet, there is no evidence that what you eat has any effect on your delivery date.

• Having sex during pregnancy can hurt the baby.
  While there are some valid medical reasons to avoid sexual activity during pregnancy, in most cases sex is not harmful to the baby and can be very enjoyable for the woman, who may now be noticing enhanced ability to orgasm due to an increase in blood flow to the pelvic floor. If you are unsure or you feel that you have a condition that may prohibit sex during pregnancy talk it over with a health care professional.

• You lose a tooth for every baby.
  Today, with the availability of supplements and fortified foods, no woman should lose a tooth for every baby! Calcium supplement is recommended before conceiving a baby and deficiency and malnutrition can cause loss of teeth. So its not likely that we will see many toothless woman