Your Pregnant Body

From the first sign of pregnancy to the last contraction, your pregnant body is changing and growing a baby. Do you just glow like all the books say? What about your belly? Is it big enough, small enough, round enough? How is your baby growing? Follow the pregnancy week by week pregnancy calendar to find out what is going on with your body and baby!

As soon as you find out that you are pregnant, it is vital that you call your health care practitioner to set up an appointment. Proper prenatal care will ensure that you optimize your chances of having a healthy baby. It is also very important to start taking a prenatal vitamin right away. Be sure to choose one made without artificial dyes and with the recommended amount of folic acid.

It’s very important to find the best care during your pregnancy. You need to find someone whom you trust; someone who will be there for you when you are in need. Choosing Your Practitioner will provide you with some valuable information about what to consider when you are trying to find someone for your prenatal care.

Nowadays, people have a choice between obstetricians, family practitioners and midwives as their health care providers when they are pregnant. We have a directory that will help you find a caregiver. Many women are rediscovering the wonderful experience of using a doula at their birth. To help you with your choice of caregiver, refer to the list in Questions to Ask your Prenatal Care Provider. Even if you are set on one type of care, it is important to read about all your options so you can be sure that you choose the best type of care for you.

If you are anxious about that first medical appointment, read Your First Medical Exam to get a better understanding of how it will be different from other medical exams. A standard feature of prenatal care from the eigth week of pregnancy on is checking the baby's heart beat. If you're particularly nervous about your pregancy, though, you may want to consider having a fetal heart monitor at home.

And if you are already looking forward to that wonderful day of birth, read Birthing Alternatives. Here you will learn about different ways of giving birth that can help you get the most out of the experience.

We hope this information will help you to decide what works best. A positive pregnancy experience and a wonderful childbirth often result from a respectful and trusting partnership with your practitioner.

Pregnancy Weight Gained Questioned

A recent study from Harvard indicated that packing on too many pregnancy pounds may lead to obesity in your baby in the first three years of life. The thing is, they found this to be true when women gained the recommended pregnancy weight gain sometimes. They advised that maybe we need to look at revising what we tell pregnant women about weight gain during pregnancy. Remember weight gain doesn't have to be the first sign of pregnancy!

The whole issue of obesity in kids is a huge issue, pardon the pun. I truly believe it is multifactorial. For instance, we also know that babies who are breastfed tend not to be obese, but that isn't enough to make everyone want to breastfeed. We also know that feeding kids junk food will make them obese, and yet parents still do it. My only fear is that we will see women restricting their pregnancy weight gain to the other end of the spectrum and experiencing preterm births and low birth weight, which is the number one killer of babies. So be sure to talk to your midwife or doctor about the right amount of weight gain for you and your baby.