Top 10 Body Changes that Occur during Pregnancy
In this article I shall telling us common problems of pregnancy
Pregnancy is totally a different phase of life every woman goes through. Just in case you begin to fear or wonder where all ‘these changes’ are coming from, this post is for you. When you become pregnant, a lot of changes happen which were never there before. So this article will help you get prepared or at least not be afraid when you start noticing the following body changes in pregnancy
Top 10 Body Changes that Occur during Pregnancy and Why they happen
1. Weight Gain:
This results from the increase in the concentration of progesterone and estrogen in your body. During pregnancy, the concentration of progesterone in the body increases. These are steroid hormones and increase the fat deposits in your body, causing weight gain.
2. Increased Risk of Developing Diabetes Mellitus in pregnancy:
This happens because your body tries to make glucose available for the baby. Because of that, there will be some form of insulin resistance in your body. Insulin is the hormone that drives glucose from your blood into the the muscles and adipose tissues. So because your body starts resisting insulin action, the excess glucose can accumulate in your blood causing diabetes mellitus. This makes checking your blood glucose during pregnancy very important. That’s why you must take antenatal care serious.
3. Breathing too Fast:
I am sure so many women that have given birth before can testify to this. The reason is because: you know we breath in oxygen and breath out carbon dioxide. The same thing happens to the baby inside the womb. But the baby cannot take his own oxygen directly from the atmosphere like us, so the baby draws oxygen from the mother’s blood and deposits carbon dioxide back into the mother’s blood. In other words, the mother is doing the work of two persons right? So, it has been found out that sometimes, carbon dioxide accumulates due to the mother’s inability to take them out fast. This accumulated carbon dioxide will cause the respiratory center in the brain to increase the rate of respiratory so that those carbon dioxide can be taken out fast. This will make you to start breathing faster than normal. I hope you you get it ?
Also, you know that the womb is inside your pelvis (in non pregnant state), and when you become pregnant, the womb starts to grow big and enters into your abdominal cavity. The growing womb containing your baby will displace some abdominal organs, pushing them unto the diaphragm. The diaphragm is a muscle that helps you to breath. So because the abdominal organs are impinging on it, it will cause you to breath fast.
4. Heartburn:
Heartburn occurs also because of the reason we talked about in the second paragraph of of no. 3 above. Because the womb is pushing on the contents of the abdomen (this time the stomach), it will cause acid reflux from your stomach to the oesophagus causing the heart burn you talk about.
5. Constipation:
If you are reading this, and have been pregnant before, you need to attest to whether you have experienced constipation. The explanation is partly because of the impingement of the womb on the intestines slowing the movement of the intestines. Also, it has been postulated that the increase in progesterone causes relaxation of the smooth muscles of the intestines, thereby slowing gut motility. The slowed motility of the gut results in constipation.
6. Itching(usually in the right side of the abdomen):
The commonest cause of abdominal itching in pregnancy is the accumulation of bile acids in the body. These bile is a product of liver breakdown of red blood cells. The biles helps in digestion of fats. Bile is produced in the liver and stored in the gallbladder. So in cases of gallstone (accumulation of stone) in the gallbladder, hepatitis, bile can accumulate and cause itching.
7. Urinating Too often:
This is because the heart increases the amount of blood it pumps out every minute during pregnancy so that the mother and the baby can have enough blood to share among themselves. So there is much blood in circulation. Because of this increased circulatory volume, the kidneys have enough blood to filter. The filtration rate of the kidney increases and causes increased urine output, that’s why you see yourself urinating too often. I’m so sorry about that. Lol.
8. Increased Chances of Urinary Tract Infection:
Even without pregnant, women have increased chances of urinary tract infection because of the nearness of the anal opening to the urethra. So intestinal microorganisms can easily enter the urinary tract and cause infection. Secondly, because of the progesterone-induced relaxation of the smooth muscles, the bladder is not spared. The relaxation of the muscles of the bladder will cause urinary stasis predisposing you to infection.
That is not all, generally, pregnancy reduces the strength of your immune system, so with reduced immunity, you catch infections easily.
9. Leg Swelling:
The leg swelling is due to dilation of the veins that suppose to return blood back to the heart. The dilation of the veins is due to the same progesterone. Progesterone causes the smooth muscles of the veins to relax causing the veins to dilate. This dilation reduces the return of blood back to the heart, causing leg swelling.
Constant mild exercises like walking around can help out in this regard.
10. Fatigue/Tiredness/General body weakness: This is usually due to anaemia. Reduced red blood cells/haemoglobin.
So what is the solution to the above problems of pregnancy
The above 10 things that happen to your body during pregnancy have solution. That is where your antenatal comes into play. Pregnancy is not your regular malaria you treat at home or at a chemist shop, you certainly must go to a doctor or a midwife if you really love your self. I have seen so many persons who say they do not have money for hospital only for them to loose their pregnancy after nine months due to mismanagement. Some have also lost their lives in the process too.
It is not a question of ” I know the cause, I can manage at home”. You cannot be too sure. Another disease can present the same way any of the above 10 problems present. So please, expertise is field specific. You have only one life. Be wise with your choices. #peace
Do you have any question? I’m sure you do. Use the comment box below:
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