When a couple is struggling with conception issues, both partners need to do a thorough examination of their lifestyles. Things like smoking, diet and alcohol consumption can affect the fertility of both men and women and improving these issues can make a big difference when it comes to starting a family. But what if you’re already an exceptionally fit woman and are still having problems conceiving? You may want to consider the possibility that you are too healthy.

The hormone balance in a woman’s body is a delicate thing. Her ovulation and monthly cycles are sometimes so precarious that a more than usually stressful month can throw them off. When trying to conceive, it serves a woman well to try to reduce her stress level by incorporating some physical activity into her daily routine. Unfortunately, this is a situation where there most definitely can be too much of a good thing. Over exercise can affect a woman’s ovulation cycle resulting in irregular, skipped and sometimes even non existent periods. Medically known as amenorrhea, this condition makes conception extremely difficult and in the long run can even contribute to severe osteoporosis.

In essence, the more you exercise, the more your cycle is affected. When you engage in high intensity activity, your body releases opioids, otherwise known as endorphins. This ‘feel good’ chemical creates the runner’s high that so many fitness enthusiasts are addicted to. However, this same chemical also suppresses the pituitary gland and thereby alters the production of hormones necessary for ovulation. Although high intensity exercise can give you an emotional boost and help you slide into your size five jeans, having too little body fat is another of the factors in infertility. Thirty percent of a woman’s estrogen production happens in her fat cells and if there simply isn’t enough, she’s going to have a struggle to become pregnant. Her body just won’t support a baby.

If you are an avid exerciser and are noticing your periods are affected, make an appointment with your doctor as soon as possible. He or she may recommend cutting your routine back to three or less hours a week and after calculating your body mass index, may even suggest gaining some weight.

Allow your body to rest and create the ideal environment for your growing baby. It may take some time to get your body back into a regular cycle. Try to relax. There is no reason why you can’t continue your hunt for endorphins after you have delivered a healthy baby and given yourself time to heal. Becoming a parent generally means giving up a lot of control and pregnancy is just the first step.

Many personal trainers and fitness experts recommend taking at least a full year to prepare your body for the considerable physical stresses of pregnancy and childbirth. A woman’s body goes through miraculous transformations almost daily as her baby forms and prepares to enter the world. These fitness gurus stress that a daily exercise program and sensible nutrition are essential in order to help make these transformations less traumatic. What if you haven’t had the luxury of a year’s worth of planning and training? Happily, your baby and your body will still benefit from a fitness routine whether you begin a week or a month into your pregnancy. It’s not important to be an expert, it’s just important to get started.

The first step in any, especially a prenatal beginning fitness routine is to move. It’s really that simple. Increasing your daily exercise by even ten minutes, can make a difference in the health of your baby and can reduce uncomfortable pregnancy symptoms. Walk to the store, forgo the elevator, take your partner on an after dinner stroll…you don’t have to train for a marathon, you just have to raise your heart rate. Once you have started the movement habit, you might consider other forms of exercise such as swimming, cycling or low-impact aerobics. Many community centers or gyms offer special prenatal programs that are tailored to your body’s needs. These classes have the added benefit of meeting other women and couples who are expecting and so can help to widen your social circle while reducing pregnancy discomforts. Whatever you choose, be sure your doctor knows you are beginning an exercise routine and has given you clearance to do so.

Stretching is incredibly important for pregnant women. During pregnancy, your body produces powerful hormones that loosen tendons and joints in preparation for labor. Stretching can help ease your body into and out of these considerable physical alterations. Prenatal yoga is helpful in this regard. It enables you to take the time to experience your body through all the stages of your pregnancy and to become more aware of the subtle signals your body sends. This combined with the breathing techniques essential to yoga practice will help you through your labor and in the tumultuous days to follow. There are copious amounts of yoga tapes and classes available to women. A quick internet search will show you what resources are available in your community – take advantage of them.

Many people feel that fitness is eighty percent diet and ten percent exercise. Whether this is true or not, the relationship between the two is certainly important. It’s not enough to exercise daily if you are still drowning your pregnancy anxieties in cheeseburgers and great tubs of ice cream. For your baby’s sake and your own health, you need to clean up your diet. The first thing to do is to stop eating processed foods. Commercially prepared junk foods are designed to taste good and thereby create addictions. When you have a craving for a sauce laden fast food burger, ask yourself if you would feed this to your newborn. Your baby deserves better and so do you. Instead of giving in to these urges, exercise will power and choose instead to nourish your amazing body with healthy food. Talk to your doctor about prenatal nutrition or consult a dietician for more information.

If you haven’t had the desire to pursue fitness before, you may find your pregnancy gives you the impetus you’ve been lacking. It’s never to late to start making healthy choices and starting a fitness program now will ensure you have the energy you need to help you as you and your baby grow together.

Congratulations! You’re pregnant! It’s very exciting to know you will soon have a baby in your arms, but what will the next 9 months bring?

Well, it all started before you even knew you were pregnant. Your baby has been growing since your egg was fertilized, approximately 2 weeks ago. As soon as that sperm broke into the egg, cells began to divide and divide and divide . . . .

Once these dividing cells (called a blastocyst) burrow into your womb, the placenta begins to grow and will also start producing the hormone hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin). This is what, among other things, turns your pregnancy test positive. The placenta also has the very important jobs of bringing your baby oxygen and needed nutrients, while eliminating the waste that he creates. In addition, the placenta will make sure that your immune system doesn’t reject your baby as a foreign invader and will prevent your blood cells from mixing with your baby’s. These are just a few ways the amazing placenta will support your baby as he grows in your womb.

By the time you are 4 weeks along, your baby enters the “embryonic period.” Your baby will begin developing all of his organs, and by the time you are 10 weeks along (the end of the embryonic period), some of these systems will begin functioning. This is the period of time when your baby’s development is most vulnerable.

As you move along through your pregnancy, you’ll need to take very good care of yourself. You may not feel like eating much, or you may even be throwing up what you do eat, but it is important for your baby that you do your best to get at least some nutrition. One of the things you can try to do to manage morning sickness is to eat many small meals–preferably high in protein–throughout the day, especially right after you wake up. This prevents your blood sugar from dropping, which is a trigger for nausea and/or vomiting in many women. It is likely that you’ll also feel tired during this time. It is important that you get good rest and exercise during your pregnancy.

By the midpoint of your first trimester, your baby has changed greatly. Things like the beginnings for his eyes, ears, and hands are in place, and his tiny little legs are able to kick now! By the time you’re into your eleventh week or so, your baby is past his most critical period, developmentally, and will enter what is called the “fetal period.” His organs and tissues will now begin to mature rapidly, and he will begin to put on weight.

As for you, your baby’s growth isn’t likely to begin showing until sometime in your second trimester. By the end of your twelfth week, you’re already a third of the way through your pregnancy journey! It all goes by so quickly–try to enjoy each and every minute.

Baby’s Development– Many women have a difficult time determining how far along they are as their pregnancy progresses. Are they in the fourth week? Almost fifteen weeks? The number of pregnancy calculators available online are testament to how common this question is. Women everywhere seem to be confused when it comes to gestational age, and with good reason.The reproductive cycle is unpredictable to say the least, and it varies from individual to individual.  Because of this, it’s almost impossible for you or your doctor to determine exactly when you ovulated and the exact moment that conception took place. If, by some miracle this were possible, then you could be absolutely certain as to what week you were in and when to expect your baby. Rather, the medical community is far more pragmatic and the date you began your last menstrual period (LMP) is generally accepted as the week your pregnancy began.

The week you begin to menstruate, known as the menstrual phase of your cycle, your body begins to prepare itself for pregnancy. Because no conception took place in the cycle prior, the dominant follicle that released your egg that month (corpus luteum) stops producing progesterone.  This hormone is necessary to create a ‘comfortable uterus’ for your fertilized egg to grow in and if pregnancy doesn’t occur, the corpus luteum stops producing it and dies. When this happens, you experience a sharp drop in both progesterone and estrogen and as a result, your uterus sheds its lining (endometrium). This shedding constitutes your monthly flow which lasts anywhere between two to seven days.

This week, your menstrual phase clears your body to make way for ovulation and fertilization in coming days.  Although you aren’t actually carrying your baby at this point, all the intricate details of your cycle are relevant to your pregnancy and just as important as the weeks to come.

Your Body and Emotions–This is the week it all starts! If you haven’t seen your doctor yet and told him your plans to conceive, do so as soon as possible. Medications that you are on to control long-term medical problems can have a negative impact on your fetus’s development. Your doctor will need to adjust your dosage or switch medications entirely in order to make things as safe as possible for your little one. If you haven’t already, you also need to make an effort to ‘clean up’ your life style. So many important developments happen in the first few weeks of pregnancy that you need to minimize external aggressors as much as possible. This means quitting drinking, smoking and other recreational drugs. Your body will be your baby’s first home, take the time to clean it up before he moves in!Having your period is never easy!  Instead of seeing it as a burden this month, try to recognize that this may be the last one you have for quite some time. Relax, take your prenatal vitamins and for heaven’s sake, don’t smoke!!

Dad’s Tips–It’s time to gear up for some serious baby making! It may seem strange to think that after years of trying to avoid getting your partner pregnant, it’s finally become a requirement! Your job is not as simple as you might think, however.  There’s a lot of pressure on women to change their lifestyles and prepare their bodies to make healthy babies and very little on men.  However, studies show that you need to make changes as well.

Doing your part in the creation of a healthy child means more than the mechanics of sex- cutting down on coffee consumption, quitting smoking and stopping drinking are all things you can do to prevent problems with your fetus.  Not only have studies shown that these habits can interfere with the proper development of your baby, but they’ve discovered that coffee, booze and cigarettes impacts your fertility as well.  Detoxify along with your partner. It’s the first step you’ll take together to becoming responsible parents.

The vast majority of preparing for a baby is great fun. The minute you hit one of those Baby-on-the-Way websites, you’re bombarded by pictures of adorable blue-eyed, peach-fuzzed infants and brown-eyed, black-mopped newborns. As soon as your hormones are on the fast track to “What-do-I-need-to-buy?” your computer screen is covered with pictures of furry teddy bears, colorful little trains and cars, and sparkle-bedecked princesses and fairies. If they are even mentioned, financial, practical, and emotional preparations for a new baby tend to fall into the background.

Even though these aspects of having a baby are absolutely necessary to consider, they’re just not as much fun to research. Especially if the person who has the most time available for all the reading is not the person most directly responsible for the family finances, that aspect of parenthood may get pushed to the side, to worry about later. Often as not, financial considerations end up right beside consideration of the emotional preparations that just aren’t so in line with the warm-fuzzies that we much prefer. Things like layette, nursery decorating themes, and feeding gadgets are a whole lot safer, in that emotional sense, and they’re definitely more fun, with better pictures, too! All of that, though, doesn’t change the fact that these things really need to be considered ahead of time. As rough as the emotional roller coaster may be now, during the pregnancy (thank you, Hormones!), it just doesn’t get any easier when the baby is in your hands, instead of in your belly. Besides, a lot of things will be easier, if you think them through ahead of time, before you’re also required to think through when to change the diapers and how to get the cream on before you need another diaper, and another onesie, and another changing pad, and . . . . Anyway, you get the point.

Take the time, now, to think through things like the family budget that will, of necessity, have to change to accommodate this new little one. Consider what preparations you need to make for the emotions that are about to slam into you (or you into them). Don’t forget to plan for the practical changes, either, no matter how obvious the concept may be. This baby will need a place to sleep, and you’ll need to have a clean place to change his or her diapers (something waterproof will make life a whole lot easier, even if you have a girl).

There are big changes ahead, and many of them have already begun. Prepare yourself as well as you can, and then relax, stay flexible, and enjoy this grand adventure!

Our first (and only, at this point) child was born in a birthing center. As soon as we knew there was a baby coming, we started looking for alternatives to a hospital, for a number of reasons, none of which were that we are anti-modern-medicine.

Being firm in our belief that many “everyday” tests associated with pregnancy, labor, and delivery are unnecessary for a normal, healthy pregnancy, we were looking for a safe alternative that would allow us a bit more breathing room while still keeping close enough tabs on mom and baby to recognize, early on, if we needed to take advantage of some of those tests . . . as needed, mind you. With the center that we chose, many of those test, like the sonogram/ultrasound, were available, if we wanted them, but only the basics were strongly encouraged or required. The Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNMs) with whom we were working have alternative, unobtrusive ways of checking in the baby and making sure the mom is in good shape.

One of the things the midwives can’t determine, though, is the gender of the baby. There are averages, with the heart rate, for example, that are different between boys and girls, but our baby ended up proving that prediction method to be wrong, anyway. We could have had an ultrasound (that may or may not have shown us who the person inside was, whether Johnny or Jenny), but since we didn’t need an ultrasound, we opted out. We didn’t know about tools like the Chinese pregnancy calendar–a chart that, from the mother’s age and the month the baby was conceived, is supposed to tell you the baby’s gender–so we were stuck with all the old wives’ tales. Since the baby was riding low, he was a boy. Since there had been some intense nausea, fatigue, and headaches during the first trimester, she was a girl. Since there was a “baby ball” in the front, rather than overall weight gain, he was a boy. Since there wasn’t a lot of trouble with acne, she was a girl. Since, after the first round of being uncomfortable, it was turning out to be a great pregnancy, he was a boy. Since . . . . From all that we were reading and being told, we almost started to wonder if we had twins. As it turned out, the majority was wrong, in our case.

Before all of that, though, once we realized that pregnancy symptoms had begun, we picked up a test kit at the grocery store. Suddenly, we realized that we needed to find a birthing center. In the meantime, we were rather curious about when we should expect this kid’s arrival. We used a due date calculator that we found on-line, to get us in the right ballpark, and then the CNM that met with us at our first visit verified and adjusted. It was really nice to have some kind of an idea, during the time we were looking for the right center.

Unless you’re a whole lot more laid back than the average pregnant woman, as soon as you know there’s a baby growing inside of you, you start to wonder what’s going on. “You’re pregnant” just doesn’t cut it, when you’re the one with the little life inside of you. Now is the time when you really want to know details. It’s an amazing time of learning, not only about what your body has been designed to do, but also about how you can help that little one have the best opportunity possible, to have a healthy start to life. Maybe you’re not the one carrying the baby, but you know someone who is, and you’re just as curious (or maybe more so) about what’s going on inside that belly that’s making such a change (or maybe not so much, at this point) on the outside of this lady.

One great resource for finding out what’s going on and how to help it be as easy a process as possible is MyPregnancyGuide.com. This website covers a broad spectrum of motherhood, with articles and resources to help, all the way from preconception to motherhood, with a few things, here and there, to help those who never have been and never will be mothers. One of the best resources to help you out if you’re at the point of wanting to know what, exactly, is going on, is the page that discusses the stages of pregnancy. This page is just a starting point, though. From here, you can jump to overviews of the three trimesters of pregnancy, go into more detail with each month of the pregnancy, or dive in head-first with the week-by-week explanations. Not only do they tell you what’s going on inside the expectant mother, at each point in the pregnancy, but they also give recommendations for foods and supplements she can eat and take to be sure the baby, as well as the mother, is getting everything he or she needs, at each stage, for optimum development and overall health. Sure, good eating habits are a good idea all the way through, but research and studies are showing that higher levels of some things are even more important at certain points in the baby’s growth.

If all that isn’t enough, and you want to get some additional recommendations and advice specifically on health, fitness, and nutrition during pregnancy, MyPregnancyGuide.com has you covered there, too. Here again, the page that focuses on these aspects of pregnancy is just another jumping-off spot that includes links to other articles and resources that will help you with further research.

One of the great things about MyPregnancyGuide.com is that, all along the way, there are ads for companies that deal in the stuff about which you’re reading. You don’t have to click on any of them, but many of them offer good information and great deals, including free baby stuff, all of it specially geared for expectant parents. There’s something about being pregnant that makes all kinds of companies want to give you stuff, and a lot of it really is free, with no strings attached! What better than to have companies coming to you, offering their wares, at your leisure?

So, enjoy learning about what’s going on now and what is yet to come.

For someone who has never felt that little flutter of movement or a full-blown kick in the ribs (from within the ribs, that is), it must be hard to imagine how a baby lost before he or she was even born can be missed so very much.

The loss of a baby, at any stage of the pregnancy or after birth, is just as much a loss as that of someone with whom you’ve grown up. From the moment you know there’s another life inside of you, to the time you see a strange black and white, two-dimensional, moving baby-like shape that they tell you is your baby, to the first time you feel something that you know is not any part of your body moving, there’s a kinship growing with that baby, despite the fact that you’ve never seen his or her face or heard his or her voice.

In an unexpected sense, it can be even harder to grieve for someone whose life holds so few memories, many of which may be less than pleasant–morning sickness and cramps aren’t exactly the greatest memories to consider. This, though, is a time to focus on the happy memories, not only those directly tied to your child–the first ultrasound, the first movement–but also those only related to your baby–the father’s delight when you told him the news, the fun you had looking through clothes and bedding.

Whether you lost your baby due to a miscarriage or to complications during or after delivery, do be sure to get any medical attention that you need. If you need addition professional help, don’t hesitate to get it. It’s hard enough to deal with the grief when your hormones are in normal balance. When your body is working so hard to adjust to the newest changes, the emotions will be even harder to handle. People that have dealt with this kind of grief before you, who have survived what seems to be the end, may be able to be an encouragement to you, when it seems as though nothing can.

Even though right now, you may be confident that you’ll never want to be pregnant again, there may come a day that you change your mind. People who love you dearly may encourage you to come to that point sooner, rather than later, believing that another baby will help to heal the hurt of losing this baby. They may or may not be right–that depends on you. Having another baby after loss of this one probably seems scary, if not downright dreadful! Don’t rush, just to satisfy others. When the time is right, you’ll be ready, or the time may not come, and you may decide to never try again.

As you grieve, remember that there are, most likely, others grieving with you. Certainly, they cannot grieve the same way you do . . . . Even if they felt those “nudges” when you put their hands on your belly, no one felt them from the inside, the way you did. They are grieving, though, and you can probably help them in their grief as no one else can. In the midst of your loss, you have an opportunity. Now, that opportunity may be to help others who are grieving with you. Later, you just may have an opportunity to help another mother who has lost a child. Helping others, in this case, just may help you to heal.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4, ESV)

With our first child, the labor and delivery that we experienced wasn’t anything like any of the birth stories we had read. It was hard to believe, but there was no denying the fact. Throughout the nine months that we were waiting for our turn to have a story to tell, we read about everything from the most blissful euphoria to the most agonizing misery. With that many different precedents, it was astounding that ours was different.

After some consideration, I would have to assume that to anybody but the two of us, our labor and delivery was probably quite similar to many others’. Thing is, there’s no way for us to look at the whole experience from an objective viewpoint . . . can’t be done, and we wouldn’t want to, if we could. It’s an amazing thing, to have that kind of memory group. For me, it isn’t one flowing memory, from start to finish–it’s a whole mountain of little bits of memory, with gaping holes, I must admit. The chronology in my mind is entirely void of timestamps, from the time we got to the place where the baby was to be born to the moment we met that little person, face to face. For everything before and after, I can remember pretty clearly the timing; it’s just that stretch that seems kind of fuzzy, as far as the clock is concerned. Other people, though, can give a time-specific play-by-play, from start to finish.

My point is, birth stories are probably going to seem different to every laboring and delivering couple, during their evolution and after the fact. As much as you read up on what to do to make such-and-such happen, only a certain amount of control really exists. That’s not a bad thing–the woman’s body is designed to do this, after all! Even if you’re not into new-age thinking or any other kind of spirituality, there is a certain common-sense truth to the advice of “listen to your body.” For those of us who never had kids before, there’s even more wisdom in that recommendation. I’m no physician, and with only one child, I’m no expert, either. Fact of the matter is, though, when our baby was coming, there were things we did that neither the midwife nor the books nor the websites told us to do, and everything, all together, got our baby out in one healthy piece.

We had read all about what to expect during labor, but very little of it matched exactly with what was happening to us. With back labor starting from the first contraction and the bag of waters not breaking until jacuzzi time (so we didn’t even realize, for sure, that it had happened until the baby was being born, and the bag was already broken), we were kind of afloat, with no full-blown precedents to watch for what to expect next. Thankfully, my spouse is calmer than I, so we didn’t have mass hysteria, and once I was calmed down, it became a matter of going with the flow and waiting to see what came next. One thing you’ll probably read that definitely held true for us was the advice to relax–that was probably the only thing that obviously helped. Everything else, we weren’t sure it wasn’t just psychosomatic, and even though it worked one time, it might not work the next time.

But, this was just us–everybody’s different, or so it seems.