Your Pregnancy

Pregnancy miscarriage is the traumatic end of a pregnancy. It marks the natural or spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or the fetus is not capable of surviving. Most expectant mothers seem to get panicky about this mishap during the course of pregnancy. As per medical experts, miscarriages can take place in the first trimester or the first twelve weeks of pregnancy. The period starting from 12 weeks to 28 weeks of pregnancy are the most risk prone. Therefore, pregnant women must be familiar of the symptoms and the causes of miscarriage and be on the alert all the time.

Causes And Symptoms Of Pregnancy

Basically the baby’s failure to be developed in the uterus marks pregnancy miscarriage. Sometimes miscarriages can take place without the pregnant woman even coming to know that she was pregnant. Usually, the bleeding secreted from the vagina is one of the most common and prominent indicators of miscarriage. If you are pregnant and display this symptom, call your physician immediately. You must hurry and call your doctor to prevent losing your baby. Medical experts suggest if a pregnant woman shows vaginal bleeding, she must lie down to protect her pregnancy from coming to an end.

Medical professionals plan measures on the basis of the period of pregnancy in which the vaginal bleeding takes place. If the bleeding appears anytime after 28 weeks, then it will not necessarily be a signal of pregnancy miscarriage. Bleeding after 28 weeks may signal complications in the placenta. The placenta is considered to be the ‘lifeline’ of your baby growing inside, so if there are any risks related to placenta that is apparent through vaginal bleeding, you must contact your doctor at the earliest and get yourself admitted to the hospital. The doctors may carry out ultrasound to determine the position of placenta. You may be retained in the hospital for giving birth. Often the patients undergo blood transfusion to make up for loss of blood and the babies are delivered by either induction or the caesarean method.

How To Prevent Pregnancy Miscarriage?

Consult with your doctor to find ways to save your babies from succumbing to pregnancy miscarriage. Most of the doctors instruct patients to take adequate bed rest for a few days to stop bleeding. Call for another pregnancy test or ultrasound to confirm you are still at a safe distance from risk of miscarriage. You should always place yourself under keen observation so as to detect that the pregnancy is advancing normally and there is no abnormality in the baby’s development.

As long as the vaginal bleeding is experienced as mild and painless, there is little risk of pregnancy miscarriage involved. When you find the bleeding to be heavy and terribly hurting, then it marks pregnancy miscarriage. Painful vaginal bleeding indicates that the baby has stopped developing. Consult your doctor to clean out your womb in such a case. Such miscarriages can immensely affect the woman’s mental health and can push her towards depression. It is up to her spouse and family members to give her adequate attention and care to overcome the loss of baby.

An early pregnancy test is basically done to determine whether a woman is pregnant or not. And that can be determined in many different ways. Starting with a simple Home Testing Kit, for which a wide variety and selection of different pregnancy test kits are available in the market today. A trip to the neighborhood drug store would indeed determine that. The efficacy of a Home Testing kit is subject to certain conditions, and one has to follow the instructions in the manual very carefully for accurate results.

Pregnancy is determined by the substantial increase of the HCG or Human chorionic gonadotropin hormone in the blood and urine. Ovulation normally takes place between the 10th to the 18th day in a normal menstrual cycle of 28-32 days. If fertilization has taken place, and a woman has missed her period even after 32 days, then she should determine whether she is pregnant or not and she may resort to the fastest and easiest, simple over-the-counter Home Pregnancy Test Kits to confirm the same.

The Steps Involved In Using Home Pregnancy Kits:

The test can be done anytime, but the best time to do the test would be early in the morning because the first morning urine contains the highest concentration of the HCG hormone and thus Pregnancy detection is a lot more accurate.

Use a clean, unused, disposable plastic cup to collect the urine and then place the dipstick in the urine with the Result Windows facing away from you.

The result is generally determined within 2-3 minutes of having placed the dipstick in the urine.

The Dipstick usually contains two windows, a Circular Test Window and a Triangular Control Window.

For a positive result, two purple color bands (either both color bands are dark or one is dark and the other is light but it is still positive) should appear in both the windows. If it is a negative result, there will be only one purple color band in the Triangular Control Window. If it is an invalid result, there will be no purple color band in the Triangular Control Window, which could be because the test was performed incorrectly, or the Dipstick was beyond the two-year expiration date or it was contaminated.

Different Methods/Ways To Determine Pregnancy

After the initial determination of pregnancy with the home pregnancy kit, a visit to the Doctor is mandatory. Even if one is not able to determine Pregnancy, the Primary Care Physician or a Gynecologist can perform some simple blood and urine tests to determine the same.

Once the pregnancy has progressed past the first 6-8 weeks then an Ultrasound can be performed to determine the EDD, (Expected Date of Delivery) viability and growth of the fetus in the womb.

Whatever be the means or method, be it the early pregnancy test kits, or a blood/urine test, a complete and detailed check-up and regular follow-ups is necessary for delivering a healthy child. It is the wholesome responsibility of the mother to do the same, as it is not a very simple and easy process. These tests will definitely help in quelling any fears or apprehensions one has and will eventually help in delivering a normal and healthy child.

How do I know? A common question any average woman would ask. To avoid hap-hazardous steps taken in confusion, here is some information on signs and symptoms of pregnancy to let you know ‘this is it’.

What happens right away?

Its there on your first pregnancy test you tried, but few things may happen even before you experience the visible early signs of pregnancy. Skipping periods may not always happen because of conception. Similarly, pregnancy symptoms such as abdominal cramps during early days of pregnancy may be mistaken to be common menstrual cramps. Thus to avoid any such misleading due to lack of information lets look at the various early signs of pregnancy and stages of pregnancy symptoms.

Early Pregnancy Symptoms

Early signs of pregnancy can be anything from fatigue, slight bleeding cramps, nausea and food cravings to rise in basal body temperature. Signs and symptoms of pregnancy like mood swings, headaches, constipation and appetite aversions are not unique to pregnancy and might just indicate that you are sick. Similarly, one may become pregnant without experiencing any of the above early pregnancy symptoms. However, if you miss a period or it differs widely from one month to another you might to confirm it through a home pregnancy test.

Tender And Swollen Breasts

Have you ever imagined why breast tenderness, a major pregnancy symptom is a major indicator of pregnancy? The reason why breasts become tender and sore during early pregnancy is that they undergo hormonal changes to prepare for lactation i.e. breast-feeding. This kind of change in the breast size occurs generally in the first eight weeks.

Frequent Urination

During the first trimester of pregnancy i.e. roughly the first 13 weeks, you may experience an early sign of pregnancy wherein you will find yourself rushing to the restroom more often which happens because the uterus starts growing and causes frequent urination.

The Second Trimester

The second trimester of pregnancy is often considered to be the “Golden Period” as the physically demanding early signs and symptoms of pregnancy are all over by now. You get relief from pregnancy symptoms and related inconveniences such as constant nausea. Moreover, better sleep patterns are major signs of advancement in the process of healthy pregnancy.

The most joyful moment is experienced during this time as you might get to hear the first heartbeat of your baby. An ultrasound conducted in around 19 weeks may make you feel the diverse movements of your baby inside your body.

The Final Trimester

The final trimester is the final stage of pregnancy. This is the time when the fetus becomes too big to move in the uterus. Due to difficulty in finding right positions while sleeping or sitting, you may have recurrence of pregnancy symptoms such as back pain. The ankles might swell due to excess weight on the legs. At the end of the third trimester, a fetus usually settles into a head-down position in the uterus. Now you should get ready to welcome your baby in this world.

Now the fact is clear that apart from few acute pregnancy symptoms, others might just happen because of other kinds of illness. However, the safest bet is not to rely just on early signs of pregnancy but to go for home pregnancy test and confirm. If the result is negative though you experience various signs and symptoms of pregnancy, visit your doctor to know the reason behind these symptoms if you are not pregnant.

Be well prepared and aware so that your child is the only pleasant surprise you get.