Tips for a healthy pregnancy

Being healthy before, pregnancy involves so many different aspects of your life. So, we've compiled a quick list to help you stay on the healthy side. 

• See your physician before becoming pregnant . 
• Start changing your food habits to include a healthy variety of foods.
• Exercise
• Eat a new vegetable you've never tried. 
• Stop smoking
• Take a prenatal vitamin.
• Educate yourself! 
• Ask your partner to join you on your new healthy habit changes. 
• Avoid chemicals that could possibly harm your baby.  
• Swimming is great in late pregnancy. It can help relieve a lot of aches and pains and makes you feel weightless. 
• Stretch before bed to help prevent leg cramps.

Bleeding during pregnancy: causes and symptoms

Vaginal bleeding can arise frequently in the first trimester of pregnancy and may not be a sign of problems. But bleeding that occurs in the second and third trimester of pregnancy can often be a sign of a possible complication.

Bleeding can be caused by a number of reasons. You should never wear a sexual intercourse if you are currently experiencing bleeding. If you are bleeding, you should always wear a pad or panty liner so that you can monitor how much you are bleeding and what type of bleeding you are experiencing.

Bleeding can be a sign of miscarriage but does not mean that miscarriage is looming.  

Bleeding affects 20%-30% of all pregnancies. Approximately half of pregnant women who bleed do not have miscarriages. Approximately 15-20% of all pregnancies result in a miscarriage, and the majority occur during the first 12 weeks. Signs of miscarriage include: Vaginal bleeding, Tissue passing through the vagina, stronger than menstrual cramps.

Ultra Sound Scan During Pregnancy

An ultra sound is defined as high frequency of sound waves. Here your pregnancy test , this high frequency of sound waves is passed through your womb (uterus) in a short period which can able to identify the inner portion of your uterus. 

High frequency of sound waves bounces off the inner parts especially your baby and the sound waves are turned into a digital image which shows your baby’s present position and movements. When the sound waves bounce in hard objects such as baby’s bones the sound waves become bigger and will reflect in the image, as white. Soft tissues are become grey. Babies are lies in amniotic fluid which appear in the image as black because the sound waves easily go through the fluids.

The ultra sound tests to gives the first information about your baby’s developments during pregnancy. Your scanning center will give a printout of the scan image. Keep in mind that purpose of the scan is not to find out your baby’s sex. It uses for a brief examination of your baby is developing normally.

Sometimes some pregnancies doctor may advice Special scans. These scans will be carried out by a fetal medicine specialist (a doctor who trained in ultrasound) otherwise ultra sound scans usually done by sonographers who are trained in ultrasound. 

Pregnancy Test

All pregnancy tests measure the amount of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), the pregnancy hormone, in your body.  The test for pregnancy which can give the quickest result after fertilization is a rosette inhibition assay for early pregnancy factor (EPF). EPF can be detected in blood within 48 hours of fertilization. However, testing for EPF is expensive and time-consuming. 

Most chemical tests for pregnancy look for the presence of the beta subunit of HCG or human chorionic gonadotropin in the blood or urine. hCG can be detected in urine or blood after implantation, which occurs six to twelve days after fertilization. Quantitative blood (serum beta) tests can detect hCG levels as low as 1 mIU/mL, while urine test strips have published detection thresholds of 20 mIU/mL to 100 mIU/mL, depending on the brand. Qualitative blood tests generally have a threshold of 25 mIU/mL, and so are less sensitive than some available home pregnancy tests. Most home pregnancy tests are based on lateral-flow technology.

 
Home pregnancy tests are urine tests. They detect the amount of hCG in your urine, but only when it reaches a certain level. Some home pregnancy tests are more sensitive than others. More sensitive tests may be able to detect low levels of hCG a few days before your period is due.