Top ten signs you might be pregnant

Food aversions

If you're newly pregnant, it’s not uncommon to feel repelled by the smell of a bologna sandwich or a cup of coffee, and for certain aromas to trigger your gag reflex. Though no one knows for sure, this may be a side effect of rapidly increasing amounts of estrogen in your system. You may also find that certain foods you used to enjoy are suddenly completely repulsive to you.

Mood swings

It’s common to have mood swings during pregnancy, partly because of hormonal changes that affect your levels of neurotransmitters (chemical messengers in the brain). Everyone responds differently to these changes. Some moms-to-be experience heightened emotions, both good and bad; others feel more depressed or anxious.

Abdominal bloating

Hormonal changes in early pregnancy may leave you feeling bloated, similar to the feeling some women have just before their period. That’s why your clothes may feel more snug than usual at the waistline, even early on when your uterus is still quite small.

Frequent urination

Shortly after you become pregnant, hormonal changes prompt a chain of events that raise the rate of blood flow through your kidneys. This causes your bladder to fill more quickly, so you need to pee more often. This symptom may start as early as six weeks into your first trimester.

Fatigue

Feeling tired all of a sudden? (No, make exhausted. No one knows for sure what causes early pregnancy fatigue, but it’s possible that rapidly increasing levels of the hormone progesterone are contributing to your sleepiness. Of course, morning sickness and having to urinate frequently during the night can add to your sluggishness, too.

Tender, swollen breasts

One of the early signs of pregnancy is sensitive, sore breasts caused by rising levels of hormones. The soreness and swelling may feel like an exaggerated version of how your breasts feel before your period. Your discomfort should diminish significantly after the first trimester, as your body adjusts to the hormonal changes.

Nausea

For some women, morning sickness doesn’t hit until about a month after conception, though for others it may start a week or two earlier. And not just in the morning, either: Pregnancy-related nausea (with or without vomiting) can be a problem morning, noon, or night.

A missed period

If you're usually pretty regular and your period doesn’t arrive on time, you may decide to do a pregnancy test before you notice any of the above symptoms. But if you're not regular or you're not keeping track of your cycle, nausea, and breast tenderness and extra trips to the bathroom may signal pregnancy before you realize you didn’t get your period.

Your basal body temperature stays high

If you've been charting your basal body temperature and you see that your temperature has stayed elevated for 18 days in a row, you're probably pregnant.

The proof: A positive home pregnancy test

In spite of what you might read on the box, many home pregnancy tests are not sensitive enough to reliably detect pregnancy until about a week after a missed period. So if you decide to take a test earlier than that and get a negative result, try again in a few days. Remember that a baby starts to develop before you can tell you're pregnant, so take care of your health while you're waiting to find out.

Maternity Clothes

Maternity Clothes

When should I stop having sex during pregnancy ?

Sex may lead to some uterine contractions, due to the pelvic contractions of orgasm and substances in semen called prostaglandins. As long as the contractions stop within an hour or two, it is considered normal. Ongoing preterm contractions should be reported to your doctor or midwife.

The belief that sex can induce labor is probably mythological, although if you have sex near when labor was destined to begin maybe it will give it a kick start. Sex doesn’t cause preterm labor.

If sex hurts, stop. The purpose of sex during pregnancy is closeness and pleasure. If you are having sexual difficulties, your doctor or midwife can provide evaluation and advice.

Many moms- and dads-to-be do not feel like having sex during pregnancy. For the mother, this may be due to nausea, fatigue, discomforts, or body image issues. Some men are turned on by their partner’s new curves, while others are conflicted about a pregnant woman being the object of sexual desire. For both parents, fear of hurting the baby, a sense of the fetus as “observer,” and changes in their relationship may play in. If your desires don’t match up, this is a chance to practice the good communications skills you will need in shared parenting. Talk it out, using “I” statements that express your feelings without accusation. Often a compromise can be achieved that meets both your needs.

If you develop any complications of pregnancy your doctor or midwife should address whether sex is OK, but it can’t hurt to ask specifically about sex if you are wondering. And when I say specifically I mean it—what exactly is OK? Orgasm? Penetration? Ejaculation? If you want to know, you may need to ask.

While many couples decrease their frequency of intercourse or cease sexual contact towards the end of pregnancy, others want to continue this expression of their love and desire. Sex is a normal natural part of adult life, and so is pregnancy. The best advice (assuming your pregnancy is going well) is to do what feels right to you. Enjoy it all!

The latest advice on starting solids

While universal agreement is lacking, it’s not recommended that babies try solid foods before the age of four to six months.

''Solids can be introduced with an infant’s intake of milk from four to six months if a baby is breast feeding well and is thriving, and only then on the advice of a professional,“ Di Prima says. ”After that we can texture up.''

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Signs your baby might be ready

• Wanting to put things in his/her mouth
• Able to suck small amounts of pureed food from a spoon
• Interested in food eaten by others
• More frequent feeding (breast or bottle)
• Can sit upright when supported with good control of the head and neck

Getting started

• The first solids need to be sloppy, smooth in texture (i.e. no lumps) and mild in taste.
• Baby rice cereal is an excellent first solid food because of its smooth texture and high iron content. Mix it with a little human milk, formula or cool, boiled water.
• Other pureed foods to introduce are: vegetables such as pumpkin, potato, carrot, and zucchini; fruit such as cooked apple, pear, melon, and banana.
• Start with one to two teaspoons of solids. Increase the quantity to two to three tablespoons, and then build up to three meals a day at your baby’s own pace.
• Try one new food at a time and introduce a new food every 2–4 days, adding onto your child’s existing diet. This can help keep track of any adverse side effects that may arise if your child is allergic to a type of food, as you'll be able to tell which one triggered a reaction.
• While some guidelines recommend not giving your child cooked egg until 10 months, a study by Melbourne’s Murdoch Children  Research Institute found that it’s safe to introduce it from around four to six months of age. The researchers believed this early introduction might actually protect infants from egg allergy.

Hints, tips, and safety advice

• Always wash your hands before preparing food and use clean utensils.
• A sippy cup can be introduced from 6 months.
• When appropriate, try adapting family meals to be suitable for your child rather than preparing separate meals. You can puree meats and vegetables used for the family meal.
• Small quantities of food can be frozen in ice cube trays or stored in airtight plastic bags and thawed as needed.
• Commercial baby foods are a suitable alternative if you don’t have enough time to prepare meals. But try not to over-rely on these, as it’s important a child tries a variety of different foods to develop taste preferences.
• It isn’t necessary to add salt, sugar, honey or other flavouring to any food.
• Don’t add solids to a bottle - babies need to learn that there’s a difference between eating and drinking. 

Is it safe to color my hair during pregnancy ?

The limited evidence that’s available suggests that it’s probably safe to dye your hair during pregnancy. The Organization of Teratology Information Services (OTIS), which provides information on potential reproductive risks, says that animal studies are reassuring and that there are no reports of hair dye causing changes in human pregnancies, despite the fact that many women have colored their hair during pregnancy. OTIS also points out that very little of the chemicals in hair dye is actually absorbed into your system.

That said, if you're still concerned, consider waiting to color your hair until the second trimester, when your developing baby is less vulnerable. Also, instead of using an all-over hair color, consider a process like streaking, highlighting, painting, or frosting, in which the chemicals have little or no contact with your scalp. (Any hair-coloring agents absorbed into your system would come through your skin, not through your hair shaft.)

You may have heard that vegetable dyes are a good alternative if you want to avoid using synthetic chemical agents during pregnancy. But buyer beware: Check the ingredients on so-called natural and herbal preparations before buying. In addition to the various “natural” substances listed as ingredients, you'll often see one or more of the very same synthetic chemical compounds (such as p-phenylenediamine, dihydroxybenzene, and aminophenol) that the major cosmetic companies put in their permanent and semipermanent dyes.

Pure henna (Lawsonia inermis) – a semipermanent vegetable dye that’s been used for thousands of years – is considered safe. The downside of henna: It’s quite messy to use, has to be left on for a relatively long time, and imparts a red-orange hue that you may not like. Note that henna products that come in other colors or are fast-acting are not pure henna and may contain synthetic chemicals or potentially risky metallic compounds.

It’s important for women to feel good about themselves during pregnancy. Whether coloring your hair will make you feel good or cause you to worry needlessly for nine months is something to think about. If you do choose to color your own hair, wear gloves and work in a well-ventilated space to minimize your exposure to the chemicals used in the coloring process. Don’t leave the dye on any longer than necessary, and thoroughly rinse your scalp at the end of the process.