10 Interesting Facts About Pregnancy
1. The duration of pregnancy is actually 40 weeks, what is a whole lot closer to 10 months than 9 months.
Particularly, the optimal time for your baby to arrive is known to be variable from 37 weeks to 42 weeks. The definite time when you will give a birth is usually impossible to predict, but above–mentioned 5 weeks between 37th and 42nd weeks are considered to be ‘a gold time–standard’ for the birth.
If your baby is born before completing 37 weeks of gestation, this is medically defined as ‘preterm birth’ and is likely to need extra clinical care at a neonatal intensive care unit. A pregnancy that lasts longer than 42 weeks of gestation is called a ‘post–term’ or ‘prolonged pregnancy’ and is closely associated with a higher risk of complications.
2. You have a new unique multifunctional organ “Tree of Life” for the Growing Fetus – placenta.
During pregnancy, you are growing a new unique organ that develops in the uterus and provides oxygen and nutrients to your growing baby – the placenta. The placenta is a temporary multifunctional organ that performs the functions of several adult organs (the principal metabolic, respiratory, excretory, and endocrine organ) for the growing fetus, or, in other words, for the first 9 months of fetal life. The placenta is designed uniquely for exchange of oxygen, nutrients, antibodies, hormones, and waste products between the mother and fetus and may carry valuable information about the pregnancy. It maintains fetal homoeostasis by providing an immune interface between the maternal tissues and fetal allograft, transports nutrients and waste products between mother and fetus, and acts as the source of many peptide and steroid hormones that influence fetal, placental, and maternal metabolism and development. The organ typically grows onto the upper part of the uterus and is linked to your baby via the umbilical cord. After your baby’s born and the placenta’s job is done, it is simply expelled through the birth canal.
3. Your couture clothes will stop fitting you as early as being 6 weeks pregnant in even if your belly does not quite show yet.
Every morning serious outfit selection would sparkle so many wonderful emotions inside and you will do shopping more often, because being pregnant means continuous body–changes – ‘a mystery of pregnancy’. Understanding these alterations, you have unique opportunity to choose between hiding the belly or showing it, depending on what you want. Looking for the new outfits, if you are not sure how to choose an appropriate size, how to make accents of colors and nuances to hide the belly or showing it, ask the style consultants to help you getting the best elegant style or excessive combination of several styles and fit. Do not forget to select evening dresses for special occasions.
Generally, the basic recommendations for moms to be who want to be stylish include embracing the ‘size loyalty’ time: selecting a plus–size or plus two sizes not to be frustrated in the nearest couple of weeks because of inaccurate look or growing belly.
You should choose a higher waistline. As your belly grows, you will want to avoid tight–fitting styles. Empire waist dresses are perfect for this because they sit comfortably above your growing belly. If the time–line for your second and third pregnancy trimester is spring and summer, you should choose a soft fabric. You should choose fabric like chiffon, intricately elegant tulle or bobbinet that flows away from your body, so you can twirl with delight, move and sit more comfortable.
4. Your pregnancy won’t be visible to anyone first three months [if you are pregnant for the first time.
Only you will notice the changes, nobody would think that you are expecting a baby. First 12 weeks are pregnancy’s ‘top–secret’, after this time–limitation, it is essential to mention that first time moms will begin showing between 12 and 16 weeks. Those moms who have been pregnant before may start showing sooner [in the first trimester, before 12th week], as their uterus and abdominal muscles are already stretched from previous pregnancies.
5. Your belly will constantly change its shape as the baby re–positions itself inside.
Despite first fetal movements begin at about 7 to 8 weeks’ gestation, it is impossible to feel these movements, medically termed as ‘quickening’, because the fetus is too small in its size. The possibility of feeling the fetal movements increases dramatically between 16 and 20 weeks’ gestation and moms start feeling the baby twist, kick and stretch.
Feeling how baby twists and turns inside for the very first time will be one of the most emotional–inspiring, most beautiful, most unforgettable moment. The little kicks will be adorable and unique, you should not be afraid of them. This first experience you should be able to have by the 4th or 5th month. Growing during pregnancy, baby may occasionally twist and turn in the womb repositioning itself more comfortably. You may feel kicking or wiggling every time when the baby is twisting and turning around inside. Totally amazing that a baby knocks by small palms and feet a lot of that right out from under you. Soon this kicking or wiggling will become stronger and you might notice a pattern of when your baby moves the most. You may notice that your baby has the most preferable position and a favorite day–time or night–time to be most active.
6. Emotional balance will be disrupted because of constant alterations both in your soul and in your mind.
Emotional spectrum will be excessively intensive and there won’t be inclusion/exclusion criteria how to understand the constant alterations or to prevent the occurrence of spontaneous bursting into tears or tantrums, in other words coping with emotions would be more difficult. Basically, you will feel two extremes during this time: passionate love and obsessive fear: you will be feeling like you possess a wonderful “secret” inside, which will in turn strike you as gorgeous, fascinating, and royally annoying, knowing you will soon hold your own bundle of “joy” cuddled against you and horrified of what will be later. Furthermore, the first 12 weeks (when the chances of early embryo loss/early fetal loss [early miscarriage] are very high) you will feel more like a bundle of nerves or excessively frustrated than excited. This can be explained by the fact that during pregnancy your nervous system is extremely delicate, that is why it is essential to find something what can soothe your acute feelings or make them less intensive.
7. A unique complexity of the immune system: your immune system is suppressed during pregnancy.
Your immune system is compromised throughout pregnancy (so it doesn’t attack the embryo/fetus), because technically, your uterus should reject a fetus as foreign – but it doesn’t. A successful pregnancy is contingent on maternal tolerance of the immunologically foreign fetus. Considering that the fetus can survive despite the maternal immune system, pregnancy thus seems to be an immunological paradox.
To allow the developing embryo to implant, some of its cells actively invade the womb’s lining, clinically defined as ‘extravillous trophoblast invasion’. This leads to an inflammatory cascade, similar to the events that occur during wound healing. If inflammation is prevented from occurring, embryo implantation cannot proceed, highlighting the importance of inflammatory molecules and cells in this process. This pro–inflammatory intrauterine environment dominates the first 12 weeks of embryo gestation. During the following 15 weeks, the developing fetus is in a state of rapid growth and development, but still anti–inflammatory cells and molecules prevail.
Concluding the issue, concerning that immune system is suppressed during pregnancy, the prime attention should be given to the high risks of catching infectious diseases, therefore, for example, it is vital to avoid public places [theatres, cinemas, museums, exhibitions, cafeterias, restaurants] in winter, because of the risk to catch an influenza and modulating the strong immune system by including the healthy food in every day breakfast, lunch and dinner.
8. In the third trimester your baby is basically stealing 20 percent of your blood flow.
During pregnancy, your cardio–vascular system changes dramatically. Pregnancy forces your blood system to meet the demands of your growing uterus. The volume of blood in your body increases by a whopping 50 percent in order to help support the uterus. The blood volume increase begins during the first trimester, the largest increase happens during the middle trimester and the increase tends to slow down in the final trimester.
9. Alteration of sleeping patterns: there will be just one luxurious sleep position in the third trimester.
The further along you get in your pregnancy the less you can sleep comfortably. Eventually, being in your third trimester, especially in the late third trimester’s period, you realize you can only sleep in one position if you want to get any sleep during the night and that is on your back. The other positions to sleep are now like the sweetest memories. And when you are casting a glance at your beloved being able to sleep in any position he wants, you get a little wishful you could have that same luxury.
10. You will be constantly asked the same questions about your pregnancy even from strangers.
In the final weeks of your pregnancy, it will be obvious that you are expecting. Because of that, you will continuously receive gorgeous glances, intriguing smiles and similar questions: “How far along are you?” and “Is it a boy or a girl?” or “How’s everything going?” and “How’s baby?” will be a few you will answer almost daily.
Ultimately, when the baby is born, it will alter your life dramatically and show you a type of love you haven’t experienced before. Holding that small, warm bundle for the first time, breathing in the sweet scent of his/her wispy blonde baby hair and staring into his/her brilliant eyes and understanding that this warm bundle completely redefines the meaning of love, you will think that all previous things, which were associated with negative emotions, experiences and discomfort were temporary.