ten000hzlegend's Journal: Pregnancy

Pregnancy - S (Heart) X

Being a teenager is often a maze, story follows rumour, myth follows endless school yard gossip, when it comes to sex, it's strange isn't it how a small insignificant word has gradually found itself to be a recurring theme as you enter young adulthood, as above, sometimes the facts aren't so clear from a friends tale

Conception
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The act of having sex is engraved into our minds, especially in high school, that somewhat insightful chapter will be skipped for now, but conception is fundamentally the most complex stage for both men and women

(Diagram - Sperm And Egg)

As soon as the egg is fertilised, a womens body goes under immediate changes, essentially in that moment, there are two lives, both requiring resources to grow and remain healthy until the moment of birth, signs such as morning sickness do kick in very early, a few days afterwards, but remember, so can a bad flu or virus, if you ever do have unprotected sex and you are or feel rather sick, do obtain the advice of a close friend, relative or your doctor straight away, yes it may be a daunting thought but there is no room for "what-ifs" especially regarding pregnancy.

The early weeks of the pregnancy mark subtle changes to the body, skin feels tender, becoming tired very easily and feelings of sickness continue, remember, the stomach doesn't begin to show expansion until twelve weeks, so the body seems to alert the mother in other ways

(Diagram - Little Embryo)

The picture above is rather strange, in reality, that little blob is roughly ONLY three times larger than the full stop at the end of this sentence. It's obviously tiny, but already, the brain is forming an incredible 250000 cells per minute, the backbone and nervous system are developing and a baby is growing from the egg

A womens breasts, tender as before, begin to swell rapidly, almost overnight in some cases, in anticipation of producing milk for her child, this in turn fattens out the hips and joints.

(Diagram - Ultrasound)

As sure as we've all seen our own scans taken from our mothers, the baby takes on a discernible human form (no pun intended)

At six weeks, the heart has formed, the heartbeat is clear and can be heard during a scan, quite a moment for expecting mothers. Hand in hand with physical changes unfortunately are emotional changes, mood-swings and feelings run high, these are common, sort of like the body reacting to it's new conditions and experiences, rarely though do they begin to interfere in day to day life

The bump finally shows, a somewhat proud moment for a mother, progesterone and oestrogen are two hormones in the body, they basically control emotional change and how you feel inside, well there are FOUR times the amount as before, so the body reacts accordingly... meaning you react accordingly

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Those dreaded spots and blotches that plagued us all may come back due to the abnormal hormone level in the body, to the dismay of some

And yes, it's maternity time around two to four months at most, so waking up for a few days to find your clothes don't quite fit requires an urgent dash to Mothercare!

At three months, the tiredness begins to dissipate, allowing a mother to get through the day with little worry, the body may take time to accommodate to all the changes but at this point, the baby is forming internal organs, it's eyes and ears are nearly formed and it may begin to flex it's developing muscles

The face begins to be "tested" in a sense, all manner of facial expressions take place as lips and brows form

From this point onwards to around seven and a half months, the pregnancy becomes almost routine, the baby grows as expected and the body is stable enough to develop around it, sleeping patterns may be disturbed but it is only for a short time, mostly due to anxiety about the impending birth

The baby will move with every opportunity, bringing the mother along for the ride

(Diagram - NICE picture of pregnant belly)