Home / Healthy Pregnancy / Changes in Your Pregnancy

Changes in Your Pregnancy

Teaser: 
Now that you are pregnant, you are experiencing one of the most intense and exciting adventures in a woman’s life: creating another being inside your own body! Pregnancy and childbirth cause a series of significant physical and emotional changes that you should prepare yourself for and accept as a natural process.

 

Changes in Your Pregnancy

Now that you are pregnant, you are experiencing one of the most intense and exciting adventures in a woman’s life: creating another being inside your own body! Pregnancy and childbirth cause a series of significant physical and emotional changes that you should prepare yourself for and accept as a natural process.

 

 

  • Changes during pregnancy
    Besides the changes caused by pregnancy hormones, there are other issues that may cause doubt and distress: the fact that you are about to be a mom could cause you to question your parenting abilities.
  • Heartburn and indigestion
    Heartburn feels like someone lit a match in your esophagus. Along with this very unpleasant feeling, you may also have other unpleasant symptoms such as indigestion or a feeling of heaviness after meals; no matter how little you’ve eaten.
  • Leg cramps
    Leg cramps tend to happen in the calf unexpectedly. The calf muscle contracts and hardens, causing an acute and intense pain that will wake you up if it happens in the middle of the night.
  • Changes in your hair
    Have you noticed your hair is thicker these months? You’re not making it up; this is one of the effects of pregnancy hormones. Likewise, you may have noticed you have more hair in certain parts of your body, where you didn’t have any before. This is also a consequence of pregnancy hormones.
  • Skin changes
    Your skin is one of the areas that most reflects hormonal changes during pregnancy. Besides the action of hormones on your skin during these months, it undergoes a considerable degree of stretching, especially on your belly.
  • Changes in gums and teeth
    Pregnancy hormones affect all the tissues in the body, to include your gums. The increased blood volume during pregnancy, added to the action of hormones, are the cause of some conditions that may affect your gums in these months.
  • Breast Changes
    One of the first symptoms of pregnancy is painful and tender breasts. It’s similar to what happens before you have your period, but in this case, the pain or discomfort may be more intense.
  • Congestion and nose bleeds
    The increase in blood volume during pregnancy affects many parts of the body and one of them is the nose. The internal tissues are also affected by pregnancy hormones. As a consequence, nasal congestion and nose bleeds are some of the most common discomforts.
  • Contractions
    Contractions are movements the uterus makes, contracting the fibers that form it. There are different kinds of contractions during pregnancy that you need to recognize in order to know what to do in each case.
  • Difficulty sleeping
    All the changes your body is experiencing can affect your sleep. In the first few months, you may perhaps feel sleepless due to hormones, or because you have to get up frequently to urinate in the middle of the night.
  • Abdominal pain or colic
    During pregnancy, the abdomen is subjected to a lot of changes and pressures. Some women may feel discomfort in this area during pregnancy that could be due to stomach problems that are common in pregnancy, or due to colic that is painful and causes vomiting or other symptoms.
  • Back pain
    If morning sickness or nausea is the most common discomfort during the first trimester, back pain is undoubtedly the number one discomfort doctors hear about in prenatal visits. The weight of your belly on your back and your new gait when you walk are to blame for this common condition.
  • Headaches
    Migraines are currently a common condition nowadays. According to the data, due to the hormonal changes of pregnancy, these strong headaches usually improve. However, there are a percentage of women for whom this is not true.
  • Shortness of Breath
    It's possible that at some point during your pregnancy you feel, or have already experienced, shortness of breath or breathlessness. This is common during these months.
  • Fatigue
    Fatigue or tiredness is one of the most common symptoms of pregnancy, which almost all women experience at some time. Creating life inside of you is a job that requires a lot of energy and fatigue is a symptom of the strain your body is undergoing.
  • Gas
    If you are in the first few weeks of your pregnancy, you may be wondering why you are having so much intestinal discomfort. The bloating sensation and flatulence are symptoms of pregnancy which are just as likely at the beginning of your pregnancy as at the end.
  • Hemorrhoids
    Hemorrhoids may appear during pregnancy or after giving birth. They may be painless, itchy or downright painful. Hemorrhoids develop as a result of the side-effects of pregnancy such as constipation, increased pressure on the pelvic area, or the strain of pushing during labor.
  • Bloating
    During pregnancy your body goes through huge changes. Some of them cause fluid retention and this is why you now find you have swollen legs when you never had them before.
  • Frequent urination
    During pregnancy and as the pregnancy progresses you might feel like urinating just a few minutes after having gone to the bathroom already. There are several factors that contribute to your needing to go to the bathroom so often and you might also feel this urge even at night.
  • Nausea
    Nausea is one of the most frequent symptoms in the first few months of pregnancy. Almost 80% of future moms report having felt some kind of nausea or dizziness at the beginning of their pregnancy.
Espanol RSS
Forgot Your Password?
Questions or Comments? Call 1-800-624-9659 or click Customer ServiceSite Map Privacy Policy Site Credits Copyright © 2008