What if you have an incompetent cervix during pregnancy?
The cervix, a part of your anatomy you probably never paid much attention to (unless you have been charting to conceive), plays an important role during pregnancy. As the "gateway...
Hip pain and aching joints
Hip pain, and aching joints around the pelvis and hips, are problems that many pregnant women encounter, especially during the later half of pregnancy. Research suggests that hormonal changes, which...
Cord blood banking pros and cons
Banking your baby's umbilical cord blood is an increasingly popular procedure. Stem cells that are harvested from the cord blood can be turned into other cells, that can play a...
Nesting instinct: the natural urge to prepare your house for the new baby
Have you got the almost uncontrollable urge to clean, reorganize every cupboard in your house, or wash your baby's clothes and iron them? This is what is referred to as...
How to recognize pre-term labor
Going into labor too early is a common concern among pregnant mothers, and that is not without reason. The earlier you seek treatment for pre-term labor, the better the odds...
What is a blighted ovum?
The term "blighted ovum" is commonly used to describe a pregnancy in which a fertilized egg starts implanting itself into the uterine wall as usual, but no embryo develops. During...
Lower back pain in the second and third trimesters
Your growing uterus and baby certainly start putting a strain on your body from the second trimester onwards, and lower back pain is a common manifestation of this. Your ever-expanding...
Using ovulation tests to get pregnant
Ovulation tests are urine tests that detect hormones that are released when a woman is most fertile, and therefore most likely to get pregnant. They can be used in the...
Heavy fetal movement and hiccups
Once you enter the third and final trimester of pregnancy, and your baby is quickly increasing in size, fetal movement is hard to miss! Do you remember those first, butterfly-like...
What do contractions feel like?
What do labor contractions feel like? This is a question that few women will ask themselves when they are still trying to conceive, but one that will inevitably pop up...