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 | What to expect during pregnancy - A guide for the mommy-to-be |
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By Tiffany Lipelt
Your hormones are in full force, your tummy is growing and you are feeling as though you have no control over your own body. Congratulations, you're pregnant! As a mommy-to-be you are probably wondering what's in store for you, especially if this is your first child. Now is the time to give in and allow your body to become baby beautiful. Don't fight the upcoming changes and take advantage of the only time that society thinks it's wonderful to have a bulging belly!
The best way for an expectant mother to eliminate her fears about the upcoming months is through knowledge. How are you going to feel physically and emotionally? How much weight will you gain? How active can you be? Will your pregnancy be as difficult as your best-friends was? Here is a guide that answers those questions and includes a month-to-month breakdown of what a mother can expect during pregnancy!
Month to month - Month 1 (week 1-4): Beginning to feel fatigue, frequent urination, nausea, food aversions and cravings and may feel emotionally unstable.
- Month 2 (week 5-8): Continuing to feel fatigue and nausea, may feel faint and have occasional headaches. Clothes may start to feel slightly tight.
- Month 3 (week 9-12): Fatigue and nausea are still present, however, an increase in appetite may occur. Also emotionally you might feel a new sense of calmness.
- Month 4 (week 13-16): Now that you are into the 2nd trimester nausea should decrease as well as the frequent urination. You may feel scatterbrained and forgetful as well as frustrated that you are too big for regular clothes and too small for maternity clothes.
- Month 5 (week 17-20): May start to feel lower abdominal achiness from the stretching of ligaments. Usually around this time you begin to feel fetal movement! Emotionally you may have fewer mood swings.
- Month 6 (week 21-25): You will definitely feel fetal activity, breasts are enlarging and you may have a hearty appetite. Emotionally you may begin to have some anxiety about the future.
- Month 7 (week 26-29): You may start to feel short of breath and experience Braxton Hicks contractions (painless, hardening of the uterus). You may begin to have increased dreaming and fantasizing about the baby.
- Month 8 (week 30-34): It begins to become difficult to sleep and you may have mild swelling of the ankles and feet. Also apprehension about the baby's health and your labor may begin to set in.
- Month 9 (week 35-40): You may have increased backaches and leg cramps during sleep. There will be changes in fetal activity, as baby becomes cramped it will feel more like squirming then kicking. You will feel excitement and relief that the time is almost here!
What to gain
Women should gain approximately 25-35 pounds during pregnancy (more if you are carrying more than one child). This gain allows for 6 to 9 pounds for the baby and 14 to 24 pounds for placenta, breasts, fluids, and other by-products. Women who are underweight or overweight before pregnancy might find they gain more or less, respectively, than the recommended average. The rate at which you gain is varies with each individual. Some women may find they increase weight quickly in the 1st trimester and then taper off, gaining very little in the last couple of months. The opposite can be true as well. Mothers with morning sickness may actually find they loose pounds in the beginning but steadily add weight once into the 2nd trimester until the day they deliver. Look to your practitioner to make sure you are gaining the appropriate weight.
Staying active
Are you worried pregnancy means you need to sit with your feet up for the next nine months? Fear not! Exercising while you are pregnant is not only safe, but beneficial too. Studies show time and time again, women who are active while they are expecting have an easier pregnancy and a quicker recovery time than women who don't exercise. If you're already involved in a cardiovascular program, you can maintain it with only a few modifications. - Modify your intensity. Keep your pulse under 140 beats per minute (check with your practitioner if you were very active prior to pregnancy, he/she may adjust this number).
- Avoid exercising to exhaustion. The chemical by-products of overexertion are not good for your unborn baby.
- Stop before overheating. If you are too warm while exercising, blood is forced away from your uterus to your skin to cool you off. Wear appropriate clothing and don't exercise in hot weather.
- Don't start new activities. If you didn't exercise prior to pregnancy, you will need to get your practitioners consent and then start off slowly, doing mild cardiovascular exercise.
No two are alike
Speaking from experience, I can tell you no two pregnancies are alike, even your own. Now that you are pregnant, everyone is going to give you advice. Women will volunteer information about what helped them eliminate morning sickness, how they exercised up until the very last day and even the horror stories of bed rest starting at 5 months. Listen with a smile on your face and reassure your self that what happens during pregnancy is different for everyone.
With my first child, I worked 10-hour days and exercised quite vigorously until the morning before I delivered. I didn't have any morning sickness, wasn't too fatigued and luckily I avoided the aches and pains associated with pregnancy. With the second child, I didn't have morning sickness I had all day sickness! I was tired all the time and my back and joints hurt continuously. I still exercised, the only difference was instead of working long days at an office, I was a "stay-at-home" mom—go figure, less stress and I felt worse! The advice—don't compare pregnancies; they are as individual as the child!
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