A Pregnancy Orientation
Things that are good to know the first time around
The nine months of pregnancy and the unbelievable miraculous experience of giving birth is a process that the parents’ mind needs to relive over and over and over again before it is resolved and stored away in their memories. For some time after becoming new parents, you will think back over the period of pregnancy and birth for many reasons and tie the experience together with the little person you now hold in your arms and see and know.
Given below are stages in pregnancy of what expecting mothers may experience over the nine months and the various needs during and after pregnancy.
Fetal development
From the moment of conception, amazing changes are taking place inside the mother’s body – week by week; the baby is slowly developing into a recognizable human being. The nine months of pregnancy can be roughly divided into three trimesters of around 12 weeks each. The first trimester is when the baby’s major organs develop, the second is when the rapid growth takes place and, during the third - the baby prepares for birth.
Physical changes during pregnancy
Pregnancy, labor and giving birth make great demands on the mother’s body, so it’s important to keep fit during pregnancy. Exercise as suggested by the doctor helps to ease many common aches and pains of pregnancy and also helps to prepare the mother-to-be’s body for the hard work of giving birth. It also helps the mother recover more quickly after delivering the baby.
Emotional needs of a mother-to-be
Every life change brings doubts and worries as well as hopes and joys, and pregnancy is no exception. For most women, pregnancy – especially the first one – is an emotional roller coaster. She may feel thrilled and elated one moment, worried as to how she will cope and/or whether her baby will be healthy the next. She may look forward to motherhood or wonder if it will mean loss of freedom. However she feels, there will be lots of adjustments to make as she comes to terms with the fact that she will soon be a mother. These kinds of fluctuating emotions can be confusing, but they are normal and will probably lessen as pregnancy progresses.
Dietary needs while expecting
When a woman is pregnant, it’s important for her to eat healthily. As the to-be-born baby depends on the mother’s body to provide everything it needs to grow and develop, so a well-nourished mother is more likely to produce a healthy baby than a malnourished one. Eating well is important for the mother’s own health, too. The baby is very efficient at taking what is needed from the mother’s body, so she needs to make sure that she has sufficient essential nutrients for both the mother and the baby. If she doesn’t, her own health could be affected.
Need for relaxation
Relaxation is important in anyone’s life, but during pregnancy, when the mother is combining work with thinking about the future, or is already a mother, settling down can be hard. However, making time to relax will help make the pregnancy less stressful. Relaxation can also help in labor, as calming techniques can ease labor pains, particularly in the early stages.
Antenatal care
Whether a pregnant woman opts to give birth in hospital or decides to have a home birth, most of the antenatal care will be provided by midwives, with support from adoctor and other specialists. Whoever provides the antenatal care will perform all of the important routine check-ups that take place throughout the pregnancy. Arrangements for antenatal care vary around the country – how much choice the mother-to-be has depends on where she lives.
Antenatal tests are used for a number of purposes – to find out, for example, whether the placenta is in the right position, whether the baby is growing normally or even if the baby has a chromosomal disorder.
The most important part of antenatal care are the check-ups that begin at around 12 weeks. In most cases, these will confirm whether or not the pregnancy is progressing normally. If any problems do develop, the check-ups often pick them up at an early stage so that immediate treatment can be arranged.
Experiencing labor
The experience of giving birth differs greatly for everyone and the sort of labor the pregnant woman will have is determined largely by the size and position of the baby and the shape of the pelvis. Research shows that the more information a woman has about the process of giving birth and the more she feels she has a say in what happens during labor and delivery, the better she is able to cope.
While one cannot predict exactly when labor will begin, how long it will last and whether it will progress exactly the way it should, one ought to look out for certain signs to recognize labor when it has started. If the baby moves less (less than 10 movements in 24 hours), contractions are coming 5 minutes apart or closer, if waters break or there is bleeding then it is probably time to make a move for the clinic / hospital or the mid-wife who will deliver the baby.
After the birth
For many women, holding their newborn baby in their arms seems to erase the pain of labor instantly. But other women find that they are so exhausted they just want someone else to take care of the baby until they recover. Relief, joy, exhaustion and numbness are all natural reactions and during the first few days after birth, a mother’s emotions remain in flux but she should try to take one day at a time.
Breastfeeding
Good technique is the key to successful breastfeeding and, as with most things, practice makes perfect. Breastfeeding doesn’t come as second nature to everyone. One might take to it straight away or it may take three or four weeks for some mothers to get the hang of it. It may look easy, but it takes up a lot of time and energy, and in the early weeks the baby may feed up to 12 times a day. One of the great things about breastfeeding is that you do not need any equipment – all it takes is a mother and a baby.
Giving birth is truly exhausting but exhilarating and like so many life experiences, largely outside of our control. But being an informed mother/parent can assist the expecting couple and caregivers in facilitating and increasing the likelihood of a healthy birth experience.
