Stages During Pregnancy
July 10, 2009
Pregnancy is a feeling of completeness and satisfaction for a would-be mother. But it also arrives with its required amount of discipline and responsibilities.
Responsibilities towards one’s own health and maintaining a healthy environment is necessary and it is important to restrict the ill-disciplines of life, and get into a disciplined phase. Taking food regularly at proper intervals and preventing from overeating or being empty stomach is a strict necessity.
Pregnancy involves a series of three trimesters from the time of conceiving. The first trimester needs a mother to be taking the maximum precautions. Intake of folic acid supplements from the pre-maternal stage is very necessary, which should be continued all throughout the pregnancy period. Regular exercises are necessary to keep the body in a sound condition. However, weight training should be completely avoided during the trimesters.
Mothers should take short meals and at regular intervals, as this practice improves digestion. During the period of pregnancy there are possibilities of improper bowel movements, dizziness, and vomiting tendencies. Hence, an empty stomach should be avoided at any cost.
These symptoms of dizziness and vomiting however go away by the second trimester in maximum mothers, if a healthy physical state is maintained.
During the first trimester the egg development towards a fetus takes place. Starting from day one when a sperm joins the ovum forming one cell, which is lesser in size than a small piece of salt. This new life inherits forty six chromosomes, twenty three from each parent. And this cell contains the full genetic design for each aspect of human progression, which determines the child’s sex, eye, and hair color, skin tone, height everything.
This follows the journey of the fertilized egg through the fallopian tube to the uterus, where the preparation for implantation is complete. The egg develops in the uterus till the twentieth day of the first month of the first trimester when the signs of fetal development appears, with base of brain development, nervous system, and spinal cord formation is established.
These days are followed by the second month when the backbone formation with arms, legs, ears, and eyes have started to show. By the sixth week the liver has started producing blood-cells assisted by the brain who has taken control of the muscles and organ movements. By the seventh week the spontaneous embryo movements start, with jaw development and eyelids creation, and by the eighth month this new life is named the foetus/fetus the Latin meaning for Offspring.
By the second trimester baby movement can be felt, by the fourth or fifth month. And the baby can not only move, swallow, but can also hear the voice of the mother. By the sixth month the baby becomes more active.
This trimester requires another two supplements to be added with folic acid. These are calcium and iron. The iron supplement is recommended to a daily dose of thirty milligram elemental iron. Iron helps to manufacture red-blood-cells, which acts as oxygen carriers. The baby requires new volume of red-blood-cells for the new blood in its body. Since, our body creates fifty percent more blood during these days, this supplemental dose is necessary.
By the third trimester the baby starts to kick vigorously. In this trimester frequent cramps in legs or feet can occur due to calcium deficiency. Hence the prenatal vitamin doses should be containing calcium. Swellings in the hands and feet can be seen at this period.
By the ninth month the baby’s head settles in the pelvic area, sending the mother to the bathroom more frequently. At this time labor can be imminent to a maximum of two weeks.
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