Most pregnancies are medically uneventful and end happily in the birth of a healthy baby. Your first -- and most important -- step is to sign up for a comprehensive prenatal program with an obstetrician (a doctor who specializes in pregnancy and childbirth) or a midwife. You and your developing baby will get routine monitoring to make sure everything is going well, and if it isn't, you will be referred for appropriate care. You and your partner will get confidence-building information about each stage of your pregnancy, including labor, childbirth, and the care and feeding of a newborn. Yet you still have 40 weeks to wonder whether certain physical discomforts are serious enough for medical intervention or are minor problems you can deal with on your own. You'll have various kinds of discomforts during pregnancy -- some fleeting, some more permanent. Some may happen in the early weeks, while others emerge closer to the time of delivery. Still others may start early and then go away, only to return later. Every person's pregnancy is unique, so you may not have all of the changes described below. Talk to your doctor if:
Most pregnant women will feel some changes in their breasts. Your breasts will get bigger as your milk glands enlarge and the fat tissue enlarges, causing breast firmness and tenderness, typically during pregnancy's first and last few months. Bluish veins may also appear as your blood supply increases. Your breasts might leak a yellowish fluid called colostrum, usually during the third trimester. Colostrum is the “pre-milk” that will nourish your baby in the first days of life until your milk comes in. As you get closer to delivery, it changes to a thin, colorless liquid. Your nipples can also darken. They may stick out more, and the areolas may get bigger. Small glands around the nipples become raised. They make oil to keep your nipples soft. These changes make it easier for your baby to find and latch onto your nipples for breastfeeding. The freckles and moles on your body may be darker, too. Talk to your doctor if you have a mole or freckle that is growing, changing color and shape, itching or bleeding, or larger than a pencil eraser. These may be signs of skin cancer. Recommendations:
Feeling tired? That might be because your growing baby requires extra energy. Sometimes, it's a sign of anemia (low iron in the blood), which is common during pregnancy. Recommendations:
It's very common -- and normal -- to have an upset stomach when you're pregnant. Chalk it up to pregnancy's hormonal changes. It usually happens early in pregnancy, while your body is adjusting to the higher hormone levels. Good news: Nausea usually disappears by the fourth month of pregnancy (although in some cases it can persist throughout the pregnancy). It can happen at any time of the day but may be worse in the morning, when your stomach is empty (that's why it's called "morning sickness") or if you aren't eating enough. Recommendations:
Diarrhea usually doesn't mean anything is wrong. But it can be distressing. It may be related to your prenatal vitamin or your attempts to eat better, or it could just be a bug you caught. In any case, when diarrhea strikes during pregnancy, it's even more important to take good care of yourself. Call your doctor if the diarrhea is serious or lasts more than 24 hours, if you get dehydrated or dizzy, if the stool has blood or pus, if it's black and tarry, if you also have a fever or severe belly pain, or if you think medication might help ease your symptoms. Recommendations:
Your pants may feel tight even if you're not that far along. Blame hormone changes. Early in pregnancy, rising progesterone can cause your digestive system to slow and your smooth muscle tissue to relax. This can cause bloating. It's similar to what happens to many women right before their period starts. Recommendations: It's normal to have to pee a lot when you're pregnant. Early in your pregnancy, your body makes a hormone that may increase urination. Your growing uterus and baby also press against your bladder. The pressure can wake you up several times a night to go to the bathroom. You may also have the urge to go even when your bladder is almost empty. This problem usually goes away a few days after your baby is born. Call your doctor if you have a fever or blood in your urine, or if you have the urge to go again just after you've emptied your bladder. If it hurts, burns, or stings when you pee, you could have a urinary tract infection. This needs treatment right away. Recommendations:
Headaches can happen anytime during pregnancy. They can be caused by tension, congestion, constipation, or in some cases, preeclampsia (detected after 20 weeks). Recommendations:
You may not have expected pregnancy to affect your mouth. But your blood circulation and hormone levels can make your gums tender and swollen, and you may notice they bleed more easily. You may also develop nose bleeds. Recommendations:
Your hormones, as well as vitamins and iron supplements, may cause constipation (trouble pooping or incomplete or infrequent passage of hard stools). Pressure on your rectum from your uterus may also cause constipation. Call your doctor if you also have abdominal pain or rectal bleeding. If iron supplements are causing constipation, they may recommend a different one. Recommendations:
You might be surprised that carrying a baby could cause pain in your wrist. But up to 35% of women get pain or weakness in their wrist during pregnancy, usually in the third trimester. Fluid retention puts more pressure on the carpal tunnel, which runs from your wrist to the bottom of your palm. Most likely, the pain will get better within a few months of your baby's birth. Call your doctor if you have numbness, tingling, or pain in your hand or wrist or if you have pain or strange sensations traveling up your arm to your shoulder. Recommendations:
Dizziness can occur anytime during middle to late pregnancy. Here's why it happens:
Recommendations:
Finding a comfortable resting position can become difficult later in pregnancy. And your ballooning belly and bathroom breaks aren't the only things keeping you up. From backaches to heartburn to anxiety, a wide range of concerns can affect slumber. Hormones can also disrupt your sleep patterns, leaving you exhausted by day and wide awake by night. Even though you may not be sleeping well, now is when you need sleep the most. Your body needs to rest so it can feed and house your growing baby. Recommendations:
Heartburn is a burning feeling that starts in the stomach and seems to rise up to the throat. During pregnancy, changing hormone levels slow down your digestive system, weaken the stomach sphincter, and your uterus can crowd your stomach, pushing stomach acids upward. Recommendations:
Hemorrhoids are swollen veins that appear as painful lumps on the anus. During pregnancy, they may form as a result of increased circulation and pressure on the rectum and vagina from your growing baby. Recommendations:
Pregnancy hormones may cause the walls of your veins to weaken and swell. Pressure on the veins behind your uterus also slows the circulation of blood to your heart, making the smaller veins in your pelvis and legs swell. You're most likely to get these bluish, swollen veins in your legs. But in late pregnancy, they may appear in your vulva, the area outside your vagina. Varicose veins will probably get better after your baby is born, when pressure on your veins goes away. Call your doctor if the veins feel hard, warm, or painful, or if the skin over them looks red. Recommendations: Although varicose veins usually run in families, these things might help:
Pressure from your growing uterus can cause leg cramps or sharp pains down your legs. Recommendations:
You may have a stuffy nose or feel like you have a cold. Pregnancy hormones sometimes dry out the nose's lining, making it inflamed and swollen. Recommendations:
Shortness of breath can happen due to increased upward pressure from the uterus and changes in physiologic lung function. Recommendations:
Stretch marks are a type of scar tissue that forms when the skin's normal elasticity is not enough for the stretching that occurs during pregnancy. They usually appear on the abdomen and can also appear on the breasts, buttocks or thighs. Though they won't disappear completely, stretch marks will fade after delivery. Stretch marks affect the surface under the skin and are not preventable. Recommendations:
Pressure from your growing uterus on the blood vessels carrying blood from the lower body causes fluid buildup. The result is swelling (edema) in the legs and feet. Additional weight during pregnancy can also make your feet bigger. Plus, pregnancy hormones loosen your ligaments and muscles so your pelvic joints open up to get ready for childbirth. This affects your whole body, even your feet. Call your doctor if any swelling is more than mild or if it suddenly gets worse. Recommendations:
Normal vaginal secretions increase during pregnancy due to greater blood supply and hormones. Normal vaginal discharge is white or clear, isn't irritating, is odorless, and may look yellow when dry on your underwear or panty liners. Recommendations:
Backaches are usually caused by the strain put on the back muscles, changing hormone levels, and changes in your posture. Recommendations:
Sharp, shooting pains on either side of your stomach may result from the stretching tissue supporting your growing uterus. These pains may also travel down your thigh and into your leg. Recommendations:
The uterine muscles will contract (tighten) starting as early as the second trimester of pregnancy. Irregular, infrequent contractions are called Braxton-Hickscontractions (also known as "false labor pains"). These are normal during pregnancy. Recommendations:
|