Pregnancy
Pregnancy and Exercise
Posted by
admin 4 November, 2008
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Do not think that just because you are pregnant means you have to stop exercising, unless you have special needs. Before you exercise during pregnancy, always check with your doctor first. Once you get permission to proceed, you will find that leg extensions, standing curls, and other exercises can be done with ease. If you are not sure what you can and cannot do, ask your doctor for recommendations.
Categories : Health, Pregnancy, Tips and Advices, Women's Health
Pregnancy and Managing Weight
Posted by
admin 11 October, 2008
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The weight gain of pregnancy poses a challenge to many women. Weight is an important medical aspect of pregnancy, so it is carefully monitored as part of prenatal care by an obstetrician. The key to managing weight during the years when you are having children is to follow your doctor’s instructions during the pregnancy or pregnancies, then get back to your prepregnancy weight after each delivery.Women who gain excess weight during pregnancy and fail to it afterward are more likely to develop obesity later on.
With an obstetrician’s approval, including a program of moderateintensity physical activity during pregnancy is generally recommended. After giving birth, breast-feeding and exercise may be beneficial to control weight. A structured weight-loss program may also help. In a study that compared a structured weight-loss program that included a sensible approach to eating and exercise with a do-it-yourself approach in the year following pregnancy, the women who participated in the structured program lost over 15 pounds and 6% of their body fat. The women who tried to lose the weight on their own lost nothing.The researchers concluded that women who were overweight going into the pregnancy were unlikely to lose the weight that they gained during the pregnancy without the help of a structured program.
Preparing for labor
Posted by
admin 21 September, 2008
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You’re probably thinking a lot this month about when labor will start and how your childbirth experience will go. A growing sense of tension during this time is understandable, as are worries and fears about whether your baby will be healthy.
You may also be spending some time contemplating the coming pain of childbirth. How bad will it be, really? How long will it last? How will I cope? These questions may be particularly persistent if this is your first baby.
It’s natural to feel a bit anxious about labor and childbirth. After all, there isn’t any way of knowing in advance just how your labor will go. But realize that women go through labor and give birth every day. It’s a natural process.
You can do things now that can help you prepare for labor.
- Educate yourself. Knowing what’s going to happen to your body when you give birth will likely make you less tense and fearful as it actually happens. With less fear and tension, your pain may be less, too. Childbirth classes are an excellent place to meet other moms-to-be and learn about the changes your body goes through in labor and childbirth.
- Talk with women who have had positive birth experiences. Learn what techniques worked for them during the labor and childbirth process.
- Tell yourself that you’ll just do the best you can, given your circumstances and strengths. There’s no right or wrong way to have a baby.
- Familiarize yourself with the various pain-relief options that will be available to you during labor. Try not to develop fixed ideas about what you’ll use and what you won’t. Until you’re actually in the moment, you won’t know what your needs will be.
Categories : Pregnancy
Perineal massage (Preparing your body for labor)
Posted by
admin 21 September, 2008
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Why do it?
Massaging the area between your vaginal opening and anus (perineum) in the last weeks before labor may help to stretch these tissues in preparation for childbirth. This may help minimize stinging when your baby’s head emerges from your vaginal opening. It may even help you avoid the need for an incision in your perineum that enlarges your vaginal opening (episiotomy) as the baby’s head is emerging. Midwives have long recommended perineal massage. There isn’t yet definitive evidence that it prevents trauma to the perineum, but some studies have shown promising results.
How to do it
Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and hot water and make sure your nails are trimmed. Then put K-Y jelly or some other mild lubricant on your thumbs and insert them inside your vagina. Press downward toward the rectum, stretching the tissues. Repeat daily for about eight to 10 minutes. Your partner can help with this process, if you wish. You may experience a little burning or other discomfort as you massage your perineum. This is normal. However, stop if you feel sharp pain.
A couple of additional points: You don’t have to practice perineal massage if the idea of it makes you feel uncomfortable. And if you do it, it’s no guarantee that you won’t have an episiotomy. Certain birth situations, such as those involving a large baby or a baby in an abnormal position, require an episiotomy for the safety of the baby. You’ll just have to wait and see what your experience of labor and childbirth brings.
Categories : Pregnancy
Pelvic tilt (Preparing your body for labor)
Posted by
admin 21 September, 2008
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Why do it?
This exercise strengthens the muscles in your abdomen, helps relieve backache during pregnancy and labor, and may help make for an easier delivery. Pelvic tilts can also improve the flexibility of your back and help prevent back pain.
How to do it
Get down on your hands and knees with your head in line with your back. Tilt your hips forward and pull in your abdomen, rounding your back slightly. Hold the position for several seconds, then relax your abdomen and back, keeping your back relatively flat. Don’t let your back sag. Repeat three to five times, working up to 10 repetitions.
You can also do pelvic tilts while standing up. Stand up straight with your back against a wall and push the small of your back against the wall. Or simply stand up straight and rock your pelvis back and forth.
Categories : Pregnancy
Squat and wall slide (Preparing your body for labor)
Posted by
admin 21 September, 2008
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Why do them?
If you’re able to squat every few minutes or so during labor, it may help open your pelvic outlet, allowing more room for your baby to descend. Squatting during labor is tiring, so you might want to prepare by strengthening the muscles needed. Practice squatting frequently during these last months of pregnancy. An exercise called a wall slide also may be helpful.
How to do them
Squat. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart. Slowly lower into a squat position, keeping your back straight and your heels flat on the floor. If your heels start to come up, widen your stance. Hold the squat for 10 to 30 seconds, resting your hands on your knees. Slowly stand back up, pushing up from your knees with your arms. Repeat five times.
Wall slide. Stand with your back against a wall, your feet about shoulderwidth apart. Slide down the wall until you’re in a sitting position, but don’t slide down so far that your knees jut out over your toes. Rest your hands on your thighs for better balance, and keep your knees and feet pointing forward. Hold the position for a few seconds and then slide back up. Repeat three to five times, gradually working up to 10 repetitions.
Categories : Pregnancy
Tailor sitting (Preparing your body for labor)
Posted by
admin 21 September, 2008
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Why do it?
Tailor sitting improves your posture and strengthens and stretches the muscles in your back, thighs and pelvis. It can help keep your pelvic joints flexible, improve blood flow to your lower body and may make for an easier delivery.
How to do it
Sit on the floor with your back straight and bring the bottoms of your feet together, your heels in toward your groin area. Let your knees drop comfortably out to the side so that you feel a stretch in your inner thighs. Don’t bounce your knees up and down.
This exercise isn’t as hard as it sounds. Pregnancy tends to make your joints more flexible. But if it’s too hard for you, try sitting against a wall to support your back, putting cushions under each thigh or just sitting with your legs crossed and changing the front leg from time to time. Keep your back straight.
Categories : Pregnancy
Kegel exercises (Preparing your body for labor)
Posted by
admin 21 September, 2008
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Why do them?
The muscles in your pelvic floor help support your uterus, bladder and bowel. Toning them by doing Kegel exercises will help ease your discomfort during the last months of your pregnancy and may help minimize two common problems that can begin during pregnancy and continue afterward: leakage of urine and hemorrhoids. In fact, a recent study found that strengthening your pelvic floor muscles during pregnancy appears to reduce your risk of developing urinary incontinence, both during and after pregnancy.
How to do them
Identify your pelvic floor muscles — the muscles around your vagina and anus. To make sure you’ve found the right muscles, try to stop the flow of urine while you’re going to the bathroom. If you stop it, you’ve found the right muscles. Don’t make this a habit, though. Doing Kegel exercises while urinating or when your bladder is full can actually weaken the muscles. It can also lead to incomplete emptying of the bladder, which can increase your risk of developing a urinary tract infection.
If you’re having trouble finding the right muscles, try a different technique. Place a finger inside your vagina and feel your vagina tighten when you squeeze. The muscles you squeezed are your pelvic floor muscles.
Once you’ve identified your pelvic floor muscles, empty your bladder and get into a sitting or standing position. Then firmly tense your pelvic floor muscles. Try it at frequent intervals for five seconds at a time, four or five times in a row. Work up to where you can keep the muscles contracted for 10 seconds at a time, relaxing for 10 seconds between contractions. Do three sets of 10 Kegel exercises throughout the day, and also do three sets of mini-Kegels. Count quickly to 10 or 20, contracting and relaxing your pelvic floor muscles each time you say a number.
While you’re doing Kegel exercises, don’t flex the muscles in your abdomen, thighs or buttocks. This can actually worsen the muscle tone of your pelvic floor muscles. And don’t hold your breath. Just relax and focus on contracting the muscles around your vagina and anus.
Categories : Pregnancy
Pregnancy and The warmed-up effect
Posted by
admin 21 September, 2008
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If you’ve been pregnant once before, you may notice that you’re bigger than you were at the same time during your last pregnancy. You may also notice that side effects seem to be happening earlier this time.
You could call this the “warmed-up” effect. Like a balloon that’s easier to blow up the second or third time around, your uterus may expand more quickly and easily once it has been through one pregnancy. Your abdominal muscles and ligaments have already been stretched once, so they give more easily as your uterus expands on the second go-round.
The downside is that because your uterus is getting bigger, faster, you may experience symptoms such as pelvic pressure and back pain sooner in this pregnancy than you did in your first pregnancy.
Categories : Pregnancy
Pregnancy and How your body is changing
Posted by
admin 20 September, 2008
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Hormones released throughout your pregnancy do two things. They influence the growth of your baby, and they send signals that change the way your own organs function. In fact, the hormonal changes of pregnancy affect nearly every part of your body.
Here’s an overview of what’s happening, and where:
Your hormones
Hormone production is continuing to increase this month. This increase is likely resulting in some unpleasant signs and symptoms. You might be experiencing nausea and vomiting, breast soreness, headaches, dizziness, increased urination, insomnia and vivid dreams. Nausea and vomiting may be the most significant hormone-related change you’ve experienced since last month.
Scientists aren’t quite sure why hormonal changes cause nausea and vomiting. Changes in your gastrointestinal system in response to high hormone levels almost certainly play a role. Increased progesterone slows down the pace at which your food passes through your digestive tract. Therefore, your stomach empties somewhat more slowly, which may make you more likely to have nausea and vomiting. Estrogen may have a direct effect on the brain that triggers nausea.
Nausea and vomiting affect up to 70 percent of pregnant women. These uncomfortable problems typically begin between the fourth and eighth weeks of pregnancy. They usually subside by 14 weeks. Even though it’s commonly called morning sickness, it can occur at any time of day.
For some women, nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy are accompanied by excessive salivation — an uncommon condition called ptyalism. It may be that women with ptyalism aren’t producing any more saliva than usual, but that they’re having trouble swallowing it because of their nausea.
Your heart and circulatory system
Your body is continuing to produce more blood to carry oxygen and nutrients to your baby. Increased blood production will continue throughout your pregnancy. It will be especially high this month and next, while pregnancy is making enormous demands on your circulation.
Despite this effort, your blood vessels are dilating even more quickly and your circulation is just a bit short of blood volume. To accommodate these changes, your heart is continuing to pump harder and faster. These changes in your circulatory system may be causing fatigue, dizziness and headaches.
Your breasts
Stimulated by increased production of estrogen and progesterone, your breasts are continuing to enlarge as the milk-producing glands inside them grow in size. You may also notice that your areolas, the rings of brown or reddish-brown skin around your nipples, are starting to enlarge and darken. This is the result of increased blood circulation. Your breasts may feel tender, tingly or sore. Or they may feel fuller and heavier.
Your uterus
If this is your first pregnancy, your uterus used to be about the size of a pear. Now it’s starting to expand. By the time you deliver your baby, it will have expanded to about 1,000 times its original size.
To house your growing baby, your uterus expands from an area within your pelvis to just below your rib cage. Through this month and the next, your uterus will fit inside your pelvis. However, its increasing size may cause you to feel the need to urinate more often. You may also leak urine when you sneeze, cough or laugh. This is a simple matter of geography. During the first few months of pregnancy, your bladder lies directly in front and slightly under your uterus. As your uterus grows, your bladder gets crowded out.
Throughout these weeks, the placenta is continuing to grow and secure its attachment to the uterus. Sometimes this results in minor bleeding, which usually is normal. But if this does happen, let your health care provider know about it.
Your cervix
This month, your cervix becomes bluish tinged and continues to soften. Over the course of your pregnancy, your cervix will become softer and softer. This prepares it for thinning (effacement) and opening (dilation), necessary parts of childbirth.
By the seventh week of pregnancy, the mucous plug is well established in your cervix. This structure blocks the cervical canal during pregnancy, to prevent germs from getting into your uterus. The plug loosens and passes late in pregnancy, typically when your cervix starts to thin out and open in preparation for labor.
Your vagina
You may experience some vaginal bleeding during the first 12 weeks of your pregnancy. Statistics indicate that as many as 40 percent of pregnant women may have some bleeding. However, statistics also indicate that fewer than half these women will have miscarriages.
Categories : Pregnancy
