Pregnancy
 | CONGRATULATIONS! You got your positive pregnancy test and now you’re looking forward to the next nine months wondering and dreaming about the future. Will your little one be a boy or a girl and what will you name them? Them? What if its twins… or triplets? Will they be healthy? Where will you deliver? How will you deliver? So many questions, so many choices; how will you decide? Perhaps only one other event in your life had as much planning as your pregnancy will have… your wedding. Just like your wedding, you’re preparing to add another being to your life; unlike your wedding… this being is going to be depending on you for the foreseeable future. |
Pregnancy lasts approximately 40 weeks (can last up to 44 weeks, the good news though, there has never been a documented case of a woman remaining pregnant forever). The bonus is, by the time you miss your period, you’re already four weeks pregnant! You see, day one of your pregnancy actually began the day you got your last period. By the time you conceive, you’re already considered to be 2-3 weeks pregnant, depending on when you ovulated. So by the time you get the good news, you’re already 1/3 of the way through your first trimester. If only the rest of the pregnancy went so quickly.
First Trimester
The first trimester is the most important when it comes to the development of your little one. This time is when major organs are formed as well as their limbs and the little fingers your heart will soon be wrapped around. There are many changes happening within your body right now. Hormones are surging which can cause all sorts of symptoms such as moodiness, headaches and the most overwhelming fatigue you've ever known. Its common to feel like you could sleep away the entire pregnancy, the good news is it generally fades by the end of the first trimester.
Second trimester
The second trimester is probably the best of all three. Your uterus has lifted off of your bladder and for most women the nausea and fatigue have abated. You begin to feel your little one's acrobatics, by the end of this trimester, others should also be able to feel babys movement; not to mention you're actually starting to *look* pregnant. By the time you enter your second trimester you have passed the most risky time for miscarriage. Your energy levels begin to return to normal, in fact many women feel a new level of energy through the next three months. Your little one is growing and developing and organs begin to develop more fully.
Third trimester
You're in the final stretch! At this point, if born early, your little one has a pretty good chance of surviving. Of course the further into the trimester, the higher the chances for a healthy delivery. By now the fatigue may start settling in again (its hard work carrying a baby, not to mention the calories your little one consumes from you to grow). You may also notice your emotions become more intense. As much as you want to meet your baby, you may also find yourself dreading the unknown of how a new memeber of the family will change things. This is normal, but talking about your feelings with your spouse or other mom's may help to aleviate these tensions. Your little one is almost fully developed and spends most of this trimester putting on weight.
More Information
Choice
Where do babies come from? Don't bother asking adults. They lie like pigs. However, diligent independent research and hours of playground consultation have yielded fruitful, if tentative, results. There are several theories. Near as we can figure out, it has something to do with acting ridiculous in the dark. We believe it is similar to dogs when they act peculiar and ride each other. This is called "making love". Careful study of popular song lyrics, advertising catch-lines, TV sitcoms, movies, and T-Shirt inscriptions offers us significant clues as to its nature. Apparently it makes grown-ups insipid and insane. Some graffiti was once observed that said 'sex is good'. All available evidence, however, points to the contrary.
~Matt Groening (Creator of 'The Simpsons')
Melissa
Melissa is a 35 year old Army wife to her deployed husband, and the mother of three girls. Two are toddlers and the third is a teen, lending to her bouts of insanty. Melissa and her husband Tom are still deciding whether or not they will have "one more" while Melissa tries to figure out how to convince Tom that homebirth is a good thing.
