Stages of Pregnancy Pictures Slideshow

Stages of Pregnancy Pictures Slideshow: See the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Trimesters of Mom & Baby Overview Pregnancy is measured in trimesters from the first day of your last menstrual period (LMP) and normally lasts about 40 weeks from conception to the birth of a baby. This time is roughly divided into 3 periods: the first trimester, second trimester and third trimester. The Three Stages of Pregnancy (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Trimester) The first trimester is measured from conception to about the 12th week of pregnancy; the second trimester, from about 13 to 27 weeks of pregnancy; and the third trimester, from about 28 weeks of pregnancy until birth. Let's see what happens with you and your baby during each of the three stages. First Trimester Week 1 - Week 12 First Trimester: Early Changes in a Woman's Body During the first trimester your body undergoes many changes. Hormonal changes affect almost every organ system in your body. These changes can trigger symptoms even in the very first weeks of pregnancy. Your period stopping is a clear sign that you are pregnant. First Trimester: Physical and Emotional Changes a Woman May Experience Other changes you may experience during the first trimester include: Extreme tiredness Tender, swollen breasts. Your nipples might also stick out. Upset stomach with or without throwing up (morning sickness) Cravings or distaste for certain foods Mood swings Constipation (trouble having bowel movements) Need to pass urine more often Headache Heartburn Weight gain or loss First Trimester: Changes in a Woman's Daily Routine As your body changes, you might need to make changes to your daily routine, such as going to bed earlier or eating frequent, small meals. Fortunately, most of these discomforts will go away as your pregnancy progresses. And some women might not feel any discomfort at all! If you have been pregnant before, you might feel differently this time around. Just as each woman is different, so is each pregnancy. First Trimester: The Baby at 4 Weeks Your baby's brain and spinal cord have begun to form. The heart begins to form. Arm and leg buds appear. Your baby is now an embryo and 1/25 of an inch long. First Trimester: The Baby at 8 Weeks All major organs and external body structures have begun to form. Your baby's heart beats with a regular rhythm. The arms and legs grow longer, and fingers and toes have begun to form. The sex organs begin to form. The eyes have moved forward on the face and eyelids have formed. The umbilical cord is clearly visible. At the end of 8 weeks, your baby is a fetus and looks more like a human. Your baby is nearly 1 inch long and weighs less than 1/8 of an ounce. First Trimester: The Baby at 12 Weeks The nerves and muscles begin to work together. Your baby can make a fist. The external sex organs show if your baby is a boy or girl. A woman who has an ultrasound in the second trimester or later might be able to find out the baby's sex. Eyelids close to protect the developing eyes. They will not open again until the 28th week. Head growth has slowed, and your baby is much longer. Now, at about 3 inches long, your baby weighs almost an ounce. Second Trimester Week 13 - Week 28 Second Trimester: Changes a Woman May Experience Most women find the second trimester of pregnancy easier than the first. But it is just as important to stay informed about your pregnancy during these months. You might notice that symptoms like nausea and fatigue are going away. But other new, more noticeable changes to your body are now happening. Your abdomen will expand as the baby continues to grow. And before this trimester is over, you will feel your baby beginning to move! Second Trimester: The Baby at 16 Weeks As your body changes to make room for your growing baby, you may have: Body aches, such as back, abdomen, groin, or thigh pain Stretch marks on your abdomen, breasts, thighs, or buttocks Darkening of the skin around your nipples A line on the skin running from belly button to pubic hairline Patches of darker skin, usually over the cheeks, forehead, nose, or upper lip. Patches often match on both sides of the face. This is sometimes called the mask of pregnancy. Numb or tingling hands, called carpal tunnel syndrome Itching on the abdomen, palms, and soles of the feet. (Call your doctor if you have nausea, loss of appetite, vomiting, jaundice or fatigue combined with itching. These can be signs of a serious liver problem.) Swelling of the ankles, fingers, and face. (If you notice any sudden or extreme swelling or if you gain a lot of weight really quickly, call your doctor right away. This could be a sign of preeclampsia.) Second Trimester: The Baby at 16 Weeks Muscle tissue and bone continue to form, creating a more complete skeleton. Skin begins to form. You can nearly see through it. Meconium (mih-KOH-nee-uhm) develops in your baby's intestinal tract. This will be your baby's first bowel movement. Your baby makes sucking motions with the mouth (sucking reflex). Your baby reaches a length of about 4 to 5 inches and weighs almost 3 ounces. Second Trimester: The Baby at 20 Weeks Your baby is more active. You might feel slight fluttering. Your baby is covered by fine, downy hair called lanugo (luh-NOO-goh) and a waxy coating called vernix. This protects the forming skin underneath. Eyebrows, eyelashes, fingernails, and toenails have formed. Your baby can even scratch itself. Your baby can hear and swallow. Now halfway through your pregnancy, your baby is about 6 inches long and weighs about 9 ounces. Second Trimester: The Baby at 24 Weeks Bone marrow begins to make blood cells. Taste buds form on your baby's tongue. Footprints and fingerprints have formed. Real hair begins to grow on your baby's head. The lungs are formed, but do not work. The hand and startle reflex develop. Your baby sleeps and wakes regularly. If your baby is a boy, his testicles begin to move from the abdomen into the scrotum. If your baby is a girl, her uterus and ovaries are in place, and a lifetime supply of eggs have formed in the ovaries. Your baby stores fat and has gained quite a bit of weight. Now at about 12 inches long, your baby weighs about 1½ pounds. Third Trimester Week 29 - Week 40 Third Trimester: Changes a Woman May Experience You're in the home stretch! Some of the same discomforts you had in your second trimester will continue. Plus, many women find breathing difficult and notice they have to go to the bathroom even more often. This is because the baby is getting bigger and it is putting more pressure on your organs. Don't worry, your baby is fine and these problems will lessen once you give birth. Third Trimester: Emotional and Physical Changes a Woman May Experience Some new body changes you might notice in the third trimester include: Shortness of breath Heartburn Swelling of the ankles, fingers, and face. (If you notice any sudden or extreme swelling or if you gain a lot of weight really quickly, call your doctor right away. This could be a sign of preeclampsia.) Hemorrhoids Tender breasts, which may leak a watery pre-milk called colostrum Your belly button may stick out Trouble sleeping The baby "dropping", or moving lower in your abdomen Contractions, which can be a sign of real or false labor Third Trimester: Changes as the Due Date Approaches As you near your due date, your cervix becomes thinner and softer (called effacing). This is a normal, natural process that helps the birth canal (vagina) to open during the birthing process. Your doctor will check your progress with a vaginal exam as you near your due date. Get excited — the final countdown has begun! Third Trimester: The Baby at 32 Weeks Your baby's bones are fully formed, but still soft. Your baby's kicks and jabs are forceful. The eyes can open and close and sense changes in light. Lungs are not fully formed, but practice "breathing" movements occur. Your baby's body begins to store vital minerals, such as iron and calcium. Lanugo begins to fall off. Your baby is gaining weight quickly, about ½ pound a week. Now, your baby is about 15 to 17 inches long and weighs about 4 to 4½ pounds. Third Trimester: The Baby at 36 Weeks The protective waxy coating called vernix gets thicker. Body fat increases. Your baby is getting bigger and bigger and has less space to move around. Movements are less forceful, but you will feel stretches and wiggles. Your baby is about 16 to 19 inches long and weighs about 6 to 6½ pounds. Third Trimester: The Baby at 37 to 40 Weeks By the end of 37 weeks, your baby is considered full term. Your baby's organs are ready to function on their own. As you near your due date, your baby may turn into a head-down position for birth. Most babies "present" head down. At birth, your baby may weigh somewhere between 6 pounds, 2 ounces and 9 pounds, 2 ounces and be 19 to 21 inches long. Most full-term babies fall within these ranges. But healthy babies come in many different sizes. Previous 1/22 Next Previous 1/22 Next Read More >> Pregnancy Tips

Tests now easy, Genetic test kits available from Friday

GOOD NEWS for all the health freaks, next time you go out to shop better buy yourself The Insight personal genetic testing kit. This kit will help you check diseases like Alzheimer, breast cancer and dozen others. The kit will be available in the market by Friday, making Walgreens the first American store to sell at-home test kit.

The kit will make the test as easy as one of those pregnancy tests that can be done at home these days. The marketers are of the opinion that it will help people to ensure that they are living a healthy life and can get to know more about a disease much before consulting the doctor. On the other hand the counselors are worried that consumer may not understand test result and can misuse it.

Pathway Genomics has not got The Food and Drug Administration approval; because the company believes that its test meets federal regulations. According to them, the tests are not an in-vitro medical device and are not intended for use in diagnosis treatment or cure of diseases. The company feels that everyone has a right to know more about the hidden secrets of their DNA.

The test kit is available for $20 to$30 and the buyer also gets a vial and mailing envelope with it. One can mail the samples of saliva and then check the results online. The reports costs $79 to $179 depending upon the type of test one undergoes.

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Kick out your back pain before it starts kicking you

WE CAN call it a lifestyle disease. Changing lifestyle and workload are major factors behind the epidemic nature of back pain. The problem is increasing due to lack of preventive management and due to carelessness. Get rid of low back pain before it gets chronic.
Ashish Rana, an employee in a BPO left his job due to prolonged low back pain. The pain had become unbearable for him and quitting his job was the only option left. The situation would have been different had Ashish adopted preventive measures at the right time. The incidence of low back pain is increasing in developing countries owing to ignorance and failure to report for early treatment.
Low back pain is spreading like an epidemic and even rural India has not been left untouched. A study conducted by Department of Orthopaedics, Paraplegia and Rehabilitation, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences tried to find the psychosocial and demographic factors contributing to the high incidence of low back pain.
The study concluded that people in jobs involving heavy manual work were most affected by low back pain. The study showed that low back pain has a lot to do with one’s profession. A sitting job or a job involving heavy manual work may cause low back pain.
Most of us suffer from low back pain at some stage in our life. Our tendency to ignore it plays an important role in the pain becoming chronic. Unfortunately it is only when this happens that we sit up and take notice. Doctors say, “When low back pain persists for more than three months it is said to have become chronic. It generally affects the area between the lower rib cage and the buttock muscles. Low back pain should be treated as a medical disorder and should not be ignored.”
In most of the cases, the reasons behind low back pain are mechanical, which means that it is not associated with any medical condition like cancer or arthritis.

Factors contributing to low back pain:

• Sedentary life style (sitting work, minimal physical activity etc).
• Lifting heavy weights or overstretching causes sprain, strain or spasm in muscles or ligaments of the lower back

Quick fact
In India, occurrence of low back pain is alarming; nearly 60 per cent of the people in India have had significant back pain at some time or the other in their lives.
Weight gain during pregnancy, physical stress, inappropriate sitting and standing postures and poor sleeping position also contribute to low back pain.
Know the science behind low back pain.
Dr Harish Bhende, consultant orthopedician, Breach Candy Hospital says, “Spine can be divided into four regions. The lumbar region supports the weight of the upper body and is the region where back pain is felt the most. If the spine becomes overly strained or compressed, a disc may rupture or bulge outward. This rupture may exert pressure on one of the more than 50 nerves connected to the spinal cord that control body movements and conduct signals from the body to the brain. Compression of nerve roots results in back pain.”

Tips to help overcome your back pain

• Analgesics including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like Ibuprofen (commonly known as Brufen) are taken orally to reduce stiffness, swelling and inflammation.
• Use of cold and hot compresses may help reduce pain and inflammation. Contact a doctor if there is no noticeable reduction in pain and inflammation after 72 hours of self-care.
  

Quick tips to keep your back healthy:

• Stretch before you start any exercise or other physical activity.
• Always make sure your workstation is at a comfortable height for you.
• Sit in a chair with good back support and proper position and height for the task. Keep your shoulders back and switch sitting positions.
• Wear comfortable, low-heeled shoes.
• Always sleep on a firm surface.
• Maintain proper nutrition and diet.

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Pregnancy Tips : How to Have Sex During Pregnancy

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Pregnancy test results can be better found with protein activin B

The pregnancy test accuracy can be found in the journals of Edinburgh University's test reports where researchers have claimed that women with one aborted pregnancy lack protein activin B when compared to normal pregnancies…..

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Pregnancy Tips : How to Get Pregnant Fast

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Teen Sex: Rhythm method of birth control popular but not effective

About 17 percent of sexually experienced teen girls say they had used the rhythm method ? timing their sex to avoid fertile days to prevent getting pregnant. That's up from 11 percent in 2002……

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Epilepsy drugs- Source of autism for new born babies

The researches were jointly carried out by Liverpool and Manchester Neurodevelopment Group that consisted of various multidisciplinary groups of psychologists, geneticists, neurologists, midwives and support staff……

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Obese women have higher risk of delivering premature babies

AS PER latest reports it has been proven that women who are obese or are overweight are likely to deliver premature babies at the time of pregnancy. A higher rate of risk is involved when the mother's weight is greater. The report that was published in the British Medical Journal on Wednesday, said that 30 percent of obese women deliver baby 37 weeks prior to its gestation and 26 percent women could deliver before the gestation period reaches 32 weeks.

According to the author of the report who is also an associate professor in the Maternal-Foetal Medicine Department at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, she said, “ Ideally, overweight or obese women should have pregnancy counselling so that they are informed of their perinatal risks and can try to optimise their weight before pregnancy”.

Obesity is regarded as a primary factor for a long list of pregnancy related complications such as miscarriage, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and cesarean delivery. With a motive of understanding the relation better maternal deliveries and low birth weight deliveries, researchers in Canada collected data from 84 studies that saw the participation of more than 1 million women which mad them to conclude that 30 percent of obese women deliver baby 37 weeks prior to its gestation and 26 percent women could deliver before the gestation period reaches 32 weeks.

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U.S FDA plans to take off Avastin from shelves

PATIENTS SUFFERING from breast cancer might take it hard, but it has emerged in a new lab trial that the highly awaited Roche drug Avastin does very little in order to help patients suffering from breast cancer. Reports say that the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has plans of taking the drug off the shelfs in the market.

For scores of breast cancer affected patients, Avastin was a highly awaited drug that could enable them to take on their fight against breast cancer although trials which were conducted earlier showed that the drug merely helps in reducing the size of the tumour that grows with breast cancer. Other main reason to conduct this test was to analyze whether does this drug can take an affective stand against the people suffering from it in the longer run or does it just help in reducing the size of the tumour.

The anticipation and thoughts of finally coming across a sustainable solution back fired when the FDA decided to take remove the drug so as to avoid further complications.

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HIV-AIDS infection can be curbed with a gel

IT SEEMS that the long wait for a solution to HIV virus has ended finally. According to a latest study, a woman's risk of contracting HIV infection can be significantly reduced with the help of a vaginal gel. The search for such a solution that had been underway for almost 15 years, was discovered by a team of scientists in South Africa, who were working at two levels in Africa that included rural and urban Africa. Their discovery was seen as a sustainable solution for HIV infection and HIV virus as there were other teams involved simultaneously.

Michel Sidibe who is executive director of UNAIDS exulted by saying, “ This is very encouraging. It can be controlled by women, and put in 12 hours earlier, and that is empowering. They do not have to ask the man for permission to use it. And the cost of the gel is not high.’’

As per new medicine, women who applied vaginal microbicidal gel containing an antiretroviral medication which is used to treat the AIDS virus, tenofovir, had 39% less chances of contracting the HIV virus than the women who used placebo. Although furthermore large scale results have to be conducted for understanding the dynamics of this medicine it will take a few more years when this gel hits the market.

A research conducted in the group level showed that the people who used the gel on a regular were likely to reduce the chances of contracting HIV infection by 54 percent on 889 women over a period of two and a half years by Caprissa, an AIDS research center in Durban, South Africa.

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Tea and myths related to it

HERBAL TEAS are not true teas. It is a combination of fruits and herbs and contains no tea leaves. Herbal tea though plays a part in health don’t offer the same benefits of tea leaves.

Bottled tea is not good as in order to maintain clarity of the tea, processing has removed much of the natural disease preventive antioxidants. For beneficial results, tea steeped in water that has reached boiling point and then iced is a better option.
Teas are differentiated by color, grade and method of processing. Fermented leaves yield black and oolong teas which are heartier. Green tea requires less processing, hence it is green/ gold color and delicate in aroma.
There are over three hundred varieties of tea available and is also the most drank liquid after water. So, have fun and pick your choice.

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