Hot answers tagged pregnancy
29
My wife is a doctor and we spent some time planning pregnancy and making sure we had the best chances. We were surrounded by people who had been trying for a long time with no success and we asked them - in intimate detail - about their health, lifestyles, times and dates of lovemaking, family history, etc. We compiled all the evidence and built a plan. It ...
15
You need air to pass over your vocal cords for vocalizations like an infants cry to start. However, it has been observed that fetuses in the womb will make crying-like movements with their mouths, so they're certainly practicing in utero for blasting our eardrums when they arrive.
12
There is generally no reason at all to stop breastfeeding just because you are pregnant [1] [2] [3] [4]. As with all pregnancies, it is important that the mother keeps a healthy, well balanced diet. Her body will be perfectly able to produce milk as well as provide for the growing fetus inside her. The milk may change in taste due to the hormonal changes in ...
12
As you say, a C section is major abdominal surgery, with all the risks that entails. I don't want to worry you, as it is a common procedure, but recovery is typically a lot harder than a traditional delivery.
Forget about hard work, you may not even be able to lift your baby, or drive, or carry shopping bags etc.
So be aware that these things could ...
12
As the husband of a woman who went in expecting to give birth naturally but ended up having a C-section, I think I can answer this. The mentality, some internally-driven, some external, is that a vaginal birth is the "right" way to give birth; women have given birth this way throughout the 50,000-odd years of recorded history and for hundreds of thousands of ...
11
The March of Dimes website had this to say:
How long should a woman wait between pregnancies?
For most women, it’s best to wait at least 18 months before getting pregnant again. This gives a woman’s body enough time to get ready physically for another pregnancy. It also gives her time to adjust to life as a mom. Shorter time intervals between ...
11
Our eldest was born almost 3 months premature, before we had a chance to attend our prenatal classes. We had absolutely no idea what was going on. By the time we figured out what was happening, the baby was already born. We spent the next 3 months in the hospital with her until she was well enough to take home.
Even though we had already parented 5 ...
11
Ultrasonic waves cause some heat and vibration, so prolonged exposure can theoretically have a negative impact.
The last article you cite shows 30 minutes of exposure in fetal mice can mildly disrupt their neuronal development. Rat neuronal development occurs much more rapidly than human development. The rat's gestational period is about 23 days, ...
11
You're only 25 years old, your oldest hasn't even started school yet, your youngest is 9 months old, and you want another? Wow, your wife is in a hurry.
My immediate impression is that your wife is living in a dream world, striving toward some fantasy that she perhaps hasn't shared with you yet. You definitely need to talk more - and go deeper in those ...
10
Yes. Even if you meet no one (we didn't). Even if you know everything they say (you won't).
We found the hospital tour itself is worth it (that was part of our class).
Also while I didn't find it so useful my husband did, as he got to see what was going to happen. He explained it to me later saying, I was going through it and so did what I had to do, ...
9
Ten pin bowling should be no problem at all, but I would encourage the use of extra body protection for paintball, mostly as getting a paintball to the stomach can be bad enough without it also impacting on stretched skin or an unborn baby.
Aside from that I would heartily endorse @Peter's answer. My wife continued with sports (including rock climbing) ...
9
Alternative hubby perspective: Nothing went wrong, and I still don't think it was a waste of time. Absolutely recommended.
My wife found it immensely comforting to attend these classes, with me (her husband). I observed her anxiety levels before and after, and I could see the difference in her composure and her "feeling ready for this".
She felt that the ...
9
The usual rule is that pasteurised, hard cheeses (such as Cheddar, Red Leicester etc) are safe, but you should avoid soft cheeses (such as Brie) and avoid all unpasteurised cheeses.
Pasteurisation kills off pretty much everything in a milk product, but soft cheeses can become a breeding ground for bacteria and dangerous moulds very rapidly, whereas hard ...
9
Um, I'm sure it is possible, but I don't really understand the point?
If your daughter is unusually cranky, I think it's better to investigate the more likely sources. Has her schedule been disrupted? Is she getting enough sleep? Is she teething/hurting? Are you spending quality time with her?
And, if your wife is pregnant, this may be changing your ...
9
This is the kind of question I wish we had more women on the site to answer. The comment you quoted is in response to my wife's reaction. I will convey her experience as accurately as I can.
The actual procedure was not traumatic at all for her. She was smiling throughout. I kept asking if she was okay, and she would respond that it wasn't her ...
8
Unless you're flight crew, frequent flyer or there's a solar storm, radiation is not a significant problem. The radiation comes from space in general and not significantly from the sun, so a night flight has pretty much the same radiation level.
Physicians can assure pregnant women who are concerned about radiation risks during flight that, for casual ...
8
Many women think that being pregnant is an excuse to eat everything is sight, however the average pregnant woman only needs 200-300 calories more per day, and that's at the late stage of pregnancy. However, your need for certain vitamins and minerals goes up dramatically, and sometimes cravings are your body's way of telling you you are short of something. ...
8
It's normal for spouses to have disagreements, even on the big things. It doesn't necessarily mean your marriage is in trouble. It means you have a problem to work through together. Hopefully you talked about children before deciding to get married. However, even if you did, no one really understands what being a parent is like until they experience it.
...
7
Practice teams such as you described are not that uncommon. My wife and I (also in PA) went to a hospital specializing in childbirth that uses the same system. We met with a variety of doctors and nurse practitioners throughout our pregnancy.
Most of the early visits were with Nurse Practitioners and/or midwifes. Later on in the pregnancy, every trip ...
7
It is interesting that your medical practitioners are advising you otherwise. Mine said that it was no problem. I breastfed all the way through the 7th month of my pregnancy - until my daughter weaned herself off.
Mayo Clinic is a trusted source (non-profit medical practice & research group). The recommendation from there basically amounts to listen to ...
7
If by "6th sense" you mean "intuitive" then certainly. Kids are amazing at picking up on little signals, some you give out naturally and some you give in response to what they do.
Your actions and reactions will have certainly changed to some degree with this news. As a guess, I'd say she's noticed (probably unconsciously) that things have changed somehow ...
7
Any music you enjoy listening to, that you plan to play after the baby is born would be appropriate. Human voices are best for learning speech processing.
Newborns can recognize the voices of people whom they heard speaking before birth.
Normal sounds, including mother's heart beat, walking, and parents' voices are appropriate for development. Some would ...
7
In this answer, I am assuming this pregnancy will be seen as good news by your parents.
My sister announced her pregnancy at Christmas Time by simply adding a stocking to the mantel that said "baby (last name)" and then the due date. When we all got up in the morning, there it was hanging there with a few of the baby items they'd already purchased in ...
7
C-Section surgeries have a purpose. They're designed to save babies in distress. As I'm sure you'll agree, babies are not aliens from Ridley Scott's movie. Nature did not design them to jump out of your belly. C-Sections were developed by medical science (as early 2500 years ago) as an emergency procedure where vaginal birth is not progressing well, or ...
7
I think I might actually be the one who left the comment you referred to in your post, so I'll explain a little bit what I meant:
Sometimes it's easy to romanticize labor and delivery--especially if you've never experienced it. I don't know how it is in your country, but here in the US this idea of "birth plans" has gotten perhaps a little out of ...
6
There's usually some kind of midwives' association to guide new (and veteran) parents in all kinds of matters around childbirth. I don't imagine they've never had people in your situation before, unless you've moved to a fairly small place.
Ask your local hospital for references to such a group, and then ask both the hospital and the midwives' association ...
6
Here is research that I found on this topic at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12115294.
It appears that the relationship between fetal movement and neonatal behavior is inconsistent. Fetal activity did appear to predict temperament related to self regulatory behaviors in early childhood. Small positive associations were detected between motor behavior ...
6
There is no intrinsic reason why egg yolks are unsafe. The only problem is that uncooked food can be contaminated with some pathogen that would require antibiotics that would be harmful to the fetus. Salmonella is the main worry with eggs.
There are a few reasons why the risk is even less than you might think. From an egg-producers' PR organization:
...
6
Prenatal classes are totally worth it (if they're any good)
I'm a very practical and "gears and mechanics" kind of guy. I understand stuff best when I see things in action, but with parenting and especially concerning the birth, there's no practice run, so as a first-time dad I felt very unsure. Going to a prenatal course helped immensely. The classes ...
6
20 years ago my wife and I took Lamaze classes during the pregnancy. At that time they were primarily about what to expect during the labor and delivery, and for the first few weeks after the baby came home.
The L&D part was quite useful. Just having an idea of what was happening and what should be happening next was very calming for me, and allowed me ...
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