Maintaining the weekly pregnancy calendar

Maintaining the weekly pregnancy calendar is a wise thing to do. It tracks the growth of the baby. It also helps to treat both the mother and the child, in the case of any complication. This calendar helps you understand the fetal development in each week, so that both physical and emotional factors can be taken care of in the best possible manner.

Keeping track of pregnancy week by week will help you to be prepared for all situations. For any expecting mother, life takes an interesting, yet an unusual turn, and therefore all sensible mothers like to know about the changes that will happen in their bodies and the babies growing within them.

Idea about when the delivery of the baby

A weekly pregnancy calendar also gives an idea about when the delivery of the baby will take place. There are three stages of pregnancy – each of it is known as a trimester. The first trimester begins with the onset of pregnancy. The entire gestation period lasts for 40 weeks. The first trimester lasts till the 14th week, the second till the 26th week, and the last trimester lasts till the baby is delivered.

The baby develops gradually, from the ovulated egg meeting the sperm, to form the zygote. Developments start at a rapid pace after this. The zygote develops into an embryo and leads to the formation of a ‘primitive streak’. After further expansion, this streak develops three definite layers. The layer at the top produces the cells that form the teeth, mouth, skin, anus, eye lens, and parts of the nervous system of the baby. The layer in the bottom forms the tonsils, tongue, lungs, and gland structure. The reproduction and excretory system, lining of the heart, blood cells, are formed by the layer in the middle.

* The first 13 weeks- the fetus develops from a mere conglomeration of cells to a softball sized structure. The organs also start developing. The major organ systems start growing during these weeks.

* 14th week to 26th week- the baby weighs just about 28 grams and is about 10 centimeters long.

* 27th week to 40th week- the baby weighs about 700 grams and is about 9 centimeters in length. Ultrasounds are done on a regular basis to estimate the health, weight, and condition of the baby.

The weekly pregnancy calendar is a must for every expecting mother. It not only gives the growth story of the child, but also the ways and means by which the mother can keep fit and healthy. It is good to maintain a healthy diet as the health of the baby depends a lot on the mother’s intake.

It is true that there is no gain without pain; similarly, greater the gain greater is the risk attached. Probably that is why pregnancy evokes such high hopes as well as fears and anxieties of the highest order. As it is, the changes associated with pregnancy are serious ones and it is not easy to deal with them at the physical as well as mental level. On top of it, safety of the fetus becomes a matter of over riding concern, as it is not easy to know what may help or harm it.

First time pregnant ladies are anyway a nervous lot, and even old timers cannot afford to be very complacent, as pregnancy symptoms are mysterious by themselves. Every day is a new day bringing along fresh challenges. Any new change gives rise to anxiety. One such sign is change in the color of urine. Normally, urine is light yellow, but very often, pregnant women are alarmed at noticing yellow urine.

Pregnancy guide, whether from our well-wishers, our doctor, books or even the friendly Internet, tells us that it is to be aware of warning signs, but we should never panic and must take quick measures. In this case, although urine color is a marker for many conditions, in this case, it is very normal due to dietary changes. However, if the color of urine is very dark yellow, it is a sign of dehydration and water intake needs to be increased.

Barring very few cases, normal pregnancies have a very normal share of problems, and hence must be treated normally only. This means, the woman should try and maintain a positive mental state of mind, should eat and rest sensibly, and follow the doctor’s advice in pregnancy exercise. Tension and physical strain are totally taboo and physical posture should be right all the time.