Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Fetal Development in Pregnancy Week 22: Fetus in Fifth Month


This submission comes from a weekly email I subscribed to from Baby Gaga. Click Here to Get all of the information about week 22 or read below.

The grow must go on! No wonder you’re getting so big, you’re now housing a wonder-baby who weighs nearly a pound and measures nearly a foot in length. Their perfect little pancreas is now further developed and they’ve also started producing their own hormones! Your baby's future in the circus as a world-famous tight-rope-walker is secure: their inner ear is now developed to the point that they have their own sense of balance. Lucky for your little explorer, balance also promotes physical dexterity, which has them actively feeling out their surroundings where skin, body parts, and the resident umbilical cord are the big sensory experiences. Your foot-long baby, is looking a bit like an oversized raisin right now as more and more wrinkles are showing up each week. Not to worry, all that excessive wrinkling is just their skin’s way of planning ahead for the time when they’ll start piling on that irresistible baby chub.

And how's mom doing? Take a moment to think about this: your uterus has now stretched to such unholy proportions that it extends beyond your navel! The not-so-exciting part of this remarkable fact is that growth like this tends to leave stretch marks and can itch like nobody’s business. If it makes you feel any better, Don’t get suckered into buying really expensive creams that supposedly make stretch marks ‘magically disappear.' Stretch marks are scars on your skin and won’t disappear with a topical cream stretch marks on the belly are extremely common. Don’t get suckered into buying really expensive creams that supposedly make stretch marks ‘magically disappear.' Stretch marks are scars on your skin and won’t disappear with a topical cream . But feel free to apply all the aloe-vera (and other anti-itch lotions) to alleviate the itching. In terms of preventing their appearance, cocoa butter-based creams and creams full of Vitamin E have a reputation for helping-- but there's still no guarantee that those pesky stretch marks won't show up despite your best creaming-up efforts.

Also, your doctor may offer you a glucose screening test sometime in the upcoming weeks. The test checks for a high blood sugar condition that some women are susceptible to during pregnancy. At most, 5 percent of women actually test positive for this problem, but if you do, you will probably have a few more follow up tests to be sure. If you end up with a positive test, make a plan with your physician or nutritionist for treatment. Untreated, the high sugar content in your blood enables the overproduction of baby fat for your little one, and often results in overly high birth weight which can induce premature birth and/or the necessity to deliver via cesarean.

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas. We sure did! Wow this will be our last Christmas with just the two of us. This is truly amazing.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Breech Position?

We had another one of our checkups today. It is always a bit scary until you hear that little heart beating away. Music to our ears. We also found out that everything is looking good from the ultrasound except that the baby is in a breech position. He told us that we do not have to be afraid of anything and that most babies turn before being born. I asked him and he indicated that if it was still breeched closer to the due time that he would perform a cesarean section (c-section).

I had heard about this before and knew it was a surgery but what does it really mean and why do babies breech. That is what I am learning about now online as I write this post.

Breech
Parenting iVillage has an article entitled, "Breech Baby: Should You be Concerned." It indicates that, "The vast majority of breech babies are fine. There are, unfortunately, increased risks of problems (abnormalities) in babies that stay breech into the last few months of pregnancy. Therefore, you have some reason to be concerned about your baby's health. Remember, an increased risk does not mean a high risk, just a higher risk than normal. Fortunately, the normal risk is low, so even an increased risk is still low.... About 30 percent or so are breech earlier in pregnancy (16 to 20 weeks), but only about 3 percent are breech at birth. Most do turn around at sometime during the pregnancy, but when they turn around is subject to chance, as far as we can tell. When we see a breech baby later in pregnancy (after 34 weeks), we talk about version. This is the process of turning the baby by pushing on your belly to get it to turn around." Click on the article name above for more information.

Cesarean Section (C-Section)
Baby Center has a great article entitled, "Giving Birth by Cesarean Section."
It indicates that, "A cesarean section, or c-section, is the delivery of a baby through a surgical incision in the mother's abdomen and uterus. In certain circumstances, a c-section is scheduled in advance. In others, it's done in response to an unforeseen complication."
It also answers the following questions:
What is a cesarean section?
Why would I have a planned c-section?
Why would I have an unplanned cesarean delivery?
What happens right before a c-section?
How is a c-section done?

What are your experiences with a breech position or Cesarean Sections?

Sunday, December 16, 2007

How much sleep does your child need?


I got my weekly email from Baby Center. It talks about how much sleep a child need in the first 3 years at various stages. You can find a link to the article by clicking on the chart below.



AgeNighttime SleepDaytime Sleep *Total Sleep
1 month8 1/27 (3) 15 1/2
3 months105 (3)15
6 months113 1/4 (2)14 1/4
9 months 113 (2)14
12 months11 1/42 1/2 (2)13 3/4
18 months 11 1/42 1/4 (1)13 1/2
2 years 112 (1)13
3 years 10 1/21 1/2 (1)12
* number of naps in parentheses


We are about half away to being blessed with a newborn, do you think that these times are realistic? Any other suggestions in regards to sleep patterns?

Saturday, December 15, 2007

20 Week Ultrasound

So it is a ....? Well we know but I think we are keeping it a surprise except for our immediate family. I think that we even have a name picked out and there is still so much time left. I can tell you that we are elated. What are your thoughts of finding out the sex of the baby? If you did find out who did you tell.

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Saturday, December 1, 2007

Chinese Lunar Calendar

I got the following information from Baby-Parenting.co.uk. It predicts the gender of a baby before it is born. It was correct for our first pregnancy that ended in a loss and using the chart it indicates that we will be having a girl. I guess we will see how well it works. I had not heard about the Chinese Lunar Calendar until my wife told me about this. A friend at work told her about this. Have you heard about this? If so, did this work for you?

"The Chinese pregnancy calendar was allegedly discovered about 700 years ago by a Chinese Scientist. Try it out and see if it works. Try it for other children and tell us if it was correct.

Find where the column with the month of conception meets the row which corresponds to your age at conception, this will tell you whether you had will have a boy or girl.

Click below on one of the sites to see a Chinese Lunar Calendar and other methods to predict the gender of an unborn baby.

Pregnancy Weekly

Baby Gender Prediction


Chinese lunar Month of Conception
Age Of Mother At Conception Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
18 F M F M M M M M M M M M
19 M F M F F M M F M M F F
20 F M F M M M M M M F M M
21 M F F F F F F F F F F F
22 F M M F M F F M F F F F
23 M M M F M M F F F M M F
24 M F F M M F M F M M F M
25 F M F M F M F M F M M M
26 M M M M M F M F F M F F
27 F F M M F M F F M F M M
28 M M M F F M F M F F M F
29 F M F F M F M M F M F F
30 M M F M F M M M M M M M
31 M M M M F F M F M F F F
32 M F F M F M M F M M F M
33 F M M F F M F M F M M F
34 M M F F M F M M F M F F
35 M F M F M F M F M M F M
36 M F M M M F M M F F F F
37 F F M F F F M F F M M M
38 M M F F M F F M F F M F
39 F F M F F F M F M M F M
40 M M M F M F M F M F F M
41 F F M F M M F F M F M F
42 M F F M M M M M F M F M
43 F M F F M M M F F F M M
44 M F F F M F M M F M F M
45 F M F M F F M F M F M F

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