Pregnancy Q&A - part 3.

   Today I would like to answer final list of questions that many pregnant women may have. I hope you find this informative.

Q - What do contractions feel like?
A - Oh, the age old question. All first time moms want to know what it feels like. If you have had a child before you know exactly what these little buggers feel like, but describing them to someone else is very difficult. First of all, let's talk about the different kinds of contractions, namely Braxton Hicks contractions and real labor contractions. Braxton Hicks contractions are "practice" contractions that help your body prepare for labor. If you are first time mom you might start feeling them somewhere between the end of second trimester and late third trimester. If you had children before then they will come much earlier. This time around I started getting them around 13 weeks! They only came sporadically, but I was a little concerned how early they started. So what do they feel like? The best way that I can describe them is that they feel kind of like having pulled a stomach muscle. The stomach gets tight and you can mostly feel them at the top of your uterus. They are not painful and generally you don't need to stop doing anything while they are happening. They will get a bit more frequent and more intense as your pregnancy progresses.

Pregnancy Q&A - part 2

Yesterday, I have talked about some basic questions that newly pregnant women might have. Let's continue this with more questions and answers that may be helpful.

Q - I have read that now that I am pregnant things like coffee, sushi, soft cheeses and deli meats are off limits for me. Is that true?
A - All moms want the best for their unborn child. This is why it's so easy to go overboard and worry yourself to death over things that are very unlikely to happen. There are numerous medical professionals and websites that provide a list of "do not eat while pregnant" items. With Funky Monkey I followed the list with diligence that can only be assigned to a first time mom. No soft cheeses, no deli meats, forget even a sniff of coffee, and no matter how big my headache was I refused to take a Tylenol. I was not the only "better safe than sorry" mom. As a matter of fact you are very unlikely to see first time moms in the line-up at Starbucks, or your deli counter. The issue is that there is really very small risk in having any of these things. Coffee is fine in moderation!  Women in Japan eat raw fish even during pregnancy, and I highly doubt that French moms-to-be avoid cheeses like Brie during pregnancy. I would be more concerned with pesticide residuals on my conventional veggies than small risk of being sick from deli meats ( then again, why would you want to eat most deli meats? Most of them taste horrible and are cooked in plastic bags). So in my other pregnancies I relaxed a bit and enjoyed the occasional cup of coffee, or a slice of Camembert cheese without feeling guilty. There are risks in everything we do, so just be aware that eating salad can make you sick too.

Pregnancy Q&A - part 1

   Before I was pregnant with Funky Monkey I had no clue about anything "pregnancy", except for what I had seen on TV. From big Hollywood blockbusters that misinform to some "documentaries" that misrepresent what the real pregnancy, labor and delivery are like, I have conjured up an image of what pregnancy would be like. Boy, was I wrong!
  Here are short questions and answers to the most common pregnancy concerns taken from real life.

Q - I think I might be pregnant, now what.
A - Unlike in the movies, you don't need to rush in to your doctors to confirm early pregnancy. Home pregnancy test are more sensitive than the doctor's office ones (First Response home pregnancy test will test positive at pregnancy hormone levels of just 6.5 mlU/ml - thousandths of an international Unit per milliliter, whereas most doctors levels will not test positive until 75 to 100 mlU/ml). That means that the home pregnancy test will show up positive many days prior to the one from doctor's office. When I was pregnant with Funky Monkey I rushed to confirm my positive home pregnancy test at the doctor's office. I was already 2 days past when my cycle was supposed to start, so I wasn't super early. To my dismay, the doctor informed me that my test was inconclusive and I had to return in few days. Eventually, the urine test at the doctor's office confirmed what I had known for days. With Girly Monkey I knew that the pregnancy tests done at home were more accurate so when I went to the doctor and they told me that the test was negative I asked for a beta hCG test (blood test) to confirm pregnancy. Blood tests have an advantage over urine test because hCG (the pregnancy hormone) gets secreted into blood few days before being secreted into urine. Now there are 2 kinds of beta tests, quantitative and qualitative. Qualitative test has a threshold that you have to reach before it will come back as a "Yes" or "no" answer. Quantitative test will check the actual level of pregnancy hormone in your system. Anything over 5 is considered to be pregnant.