What to Expect...?
Jordon Hardiman 2hr.
Trimesters of Pregnancy and Father's Advice:
1st Trimester:
In the first trimester it is normal to feel moody one day then joyful the next. In early pregnancy your baby grows dramatically, from a tiny dot to the size of a grape.Now is the time to start taking prenatal vitimains. This will give you enough folic acid while trying to conceive and druing your first trimester. Folic acid greatly reduces your baby's risk of developing neutral tube birth defeats such as spina bifida. In 10 weeks, tissues and organs in the baby's body are rapidly growing and maturing.
The baby is swallowing fluid and kicking a lot. Vital organs such as kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver are making red blood cells. And now, they are in place and starting to function, but they will still develop throughout your pregnancy. Since the baby's brain is developing your baby's forehead bulges because the brain sits very high on it's head. Your baby is 1 1/4 inches long. In a couple of weeks, your baby will double size again to nearly 3 inches. In 13 weeks veins and organs are clearly visible through still-thin skin and the body is catching up with the head. This is the last week of the trimester and your risk of miscarriage is now much lower than earlier pregnancy.
2nd Trimester:
Second trimester women see early pregnancy symptoms like morning sickness and fatigue subside. It's not uncommon to feel lightheaded or dizzy occasionally. When you're pregnant, your cardiovascular system undergoes dramatic changes. Your heart rate goes up, your heart pumps more blood per minute, and the amount of blood in your body increases by 40 to 45 percent. You breast may start making colostrum, the nutrient-rich fluid that feeds your baby for the first few day after the birth before you milk starts to flow.
You probably won't feel your baby kick until sometime between 16 and 22 weeks, even though they started moving at 7 or 8 weeks, and you may have already witnessed it's acrobatics if you've had an ultrasound. Women say it feels like popcorn popping, a goldfish swimming around, or butterflies fluttering. As your pregnancy progresses, Braxton Hicks contractions tend to come somewhat more often, but until you get to your last few weeks, they'll probably remain infrequent, irregular, and essentially painless. Sometimes, though, Braxton Hicks contractions are hard to distinguish from early signs of preterm labor.
3rd Trimester: By now you will know the sex of your baby and you will began to search for baby names. At the end of this trimester you will bring your baby into the world. The first time you hold your newborn in the delivery room is a great time to start breastfeeding.
At the beginning, your body will produce small amounts of a special milk called colostrum that will help protect your baby from infection. Your baby's tummy is very tiny, so she only needs these small amounts to fill up. As her tummy grows, your milk will change and you'll produce more of it.
Father's Advice:
Some men are comfortable with a lot of involvement, and some aren't. And not all men relish the thought of being present during labor and delivery. But for most, seeing their child born is one of life's great moments.
One of the best ways to prepare for childbirth is to accompany your partner to a childbirth education classes. Almost all hospitals and birth centers hold classes, and parents are usually given the option of attending two or three short evening sessions or one long daytime session. You and your partner can also choose to go to an offsite class, where the emphasis may focus more on natural childbirth.