Pregnant Father

Uterus 

A hollow organ, the uterus is shaped like a pear and is normally about three inches long. The lining of your uterus, known as the endometrium, is velvety and rich in bloody tissue. Sitting right in the middle of your reproductive organs, the uterus, or womb, can hold only about a teaspoon of liquid ordinarily. When you are pregnant, it expands to the size of a watermelon to hold your growing baby. the amniotic fluid, and the placenta. Continually being renewed, the lining of your uterus builds up in response to messages sent by your hormones and then sheds itself once a month during your menstrual period when you don’t get pregnant. During the first half of your menstrual cycle, estrogen makes your endometrial lining thicken. As your ovaries release eggs midway through your monthly cycle, progesterone takes over and helps your body get ready for a possible pregnancy If no fertilized egg finds its way to your womb, the endometrium falls apart and you have a period. Your hormone levels are at their lowest during that very first day of your period.

 Ectopic pregnancy

When the fertilized egg doesn’t travel all the way to the uterus for implantation in the endometrial lining. the result can be what is called an ectopic pregnancy. Trying to grow outside the womb, this ‘wayward egg can end up in your abdominal cavity. your ovary and even on your cervix; but mostectopic pregnancies occur in a fallopian tube. This is why they are often referred to as tubal pregnancies.
A dangerous and potentially life-threatening situation, an ectopic pregnancy ‘will give you warning signs of trouble. The three most important signs, according to New York obstetrician-gynecologist Howard Berk, M.D. are: “Bleeding, pain, and a positive pregnancy test.” You may experience severe cramps that begin on one side of your abdomen and travel to the other. This is a sharp, stabbing pain and it may hurt to move. You may start to bleed, be nauseous,
dizzy, fatigued beyond the ordinary and you must seek emergency medical treatment immediately. Go to a hospital. Don’t wait for the pain to pass. If the fertilized egg ruptures in your fallopian tube, you may bleed throughout your abdominal cavity. Surgery might be scheduled immediately. However. ultrasound and blood tests nowadays can help determine the diagnosis of an ectopic pregnancy. New technology has given practitioners a variety of warning signs so the large majority are detected before they reach crisis proportions.

You may know that you have two of them, but perhaps their size-four inches long-and their consistency will come as a surprise. Your fallopian tubes remind some experts of stretched tubes of cooked pasta. Lying just above your ovaries, fallopian tubes have featherlike fingers at the ends closest to the ovaries. They look a little like pieces of seaweed floating on the ocean. The little feather tips are called fimbria, which is the Latin word for fringes, and they make it easier for the tubes to stretch out and capture the ripened egg at ovulation time. Picture millions of tiny hairs and you’ll be able to envision the fimbria. better. Mucus and fluids help move the egg into and down the pastalike tube where it waits to meet the sperm. If no suitor appears on time, the egg is simply absorbed back into your body.
Never sell those fallopian tubes short’ Lined with muscular ligaments, they actually contract to help sperm and egg move closer together and toward conception. Closer to the uterus, they tighten up to hold onto an egg until the uterus is ready
for the planting process. which won’t occur until five to seven days after ovulation. Every once in a while. fallopian tubes are unable to catch eggs as they are released. However, if an egg falls to the floor of your pelvis, fallopian tubes have the power to reach down and pick it up, pushing the egg along closer to conception.

Body Basics

You can certainly get pregnant without a Ph.D. in human physiology, but sometimes it’s nice to know what’s in your reproductive tract. Here are just a few basics to help you gain more respect for the organs that are instrumental in pregnancy.

Your Cervix

In Latin, cervix actually means “neck,” and it’s easy to see the origin of this name. Located at the neck of your uterus, your cervix is only about an inch “vide but its opening is even smaller so it car
protect your uterus from germs or other unwanted invaders. Connected to your uterus, your cervix opens mid-cycle and the reason it opens mid-cycle is that nature has created a wonderful  term. When you ovulate, the cervix gets larger and the cervical mucus changes. You may notice a mucus discharge in the middle of your menstrual cycle when this mucus consistency changes. Before and after this time, the cervical mucus is thick and viscous to keep your system closed. Only at the time of ovulation, does your cervix dilate and the mucus change so that the sperm can get through. During labor and then delivery, the cervix goes through dramatic changes as it opens to a full ten centimeters, or four inches, to give your baby an opening to the outside world.

Your Vagina

A muscular passage only about four or five inches in length, your vagina is connected to the cervix on the inside and leads to the outside of your body. Most of the time. your vaginal walls stay close together; but during sex, as well as in childbirth, this organ exhibits amazing capabilities.

Your Ovaries

Sitting right within reach of your fallopian tubes are the two little, yellowish walnut-shaped glands known as ovaries. Their color inside your body is unlike nearby structures, which are covered in a greyish protective film. These yellow glands are able to release the eggs they produce monthly as well as the hormones you need to menstruate and to get pregnant. The hypothalamus is an area of your brain that secretes releasing factors. The hypothalamus first secretes follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), which ripens an egg and produces estrogen. When the estrogen gets to a particular level in your body, not only does it turn down the FSH but it causes the release of luteinizing hormone (Lrl). When the LH comes out, on about the twelfth day, you ovulate. Then, in the ovary, a body forms called the corpus luteurn, which maintains the progesterone. If there is no pregnancy, then the corpus luteum fades. Then, you get your period. This is the basic cycle that can happen. All of these messages start from the very beginning of your cycle and not just at the time you are ovulating. Each month, several eggs ‘will begin to ripen and move, but usually only one rises all the way to the surface of an ovary. If you could get a closer look inside, you would be able to see 3 ‘ot or uneven pits and bumps on the ovaries, which indicatewhere other follicles degenerated. In a healthy woman, along with stains, from all the monthly most women, ovulation takes place approximately two to three the elevation of LH levels.

1. Your mate’s testicles have to be producing healthy sperm that can swim the distance to your egg and then penetrate it.

2. Your ovaries must be making healthy eggs that are released when you ovulate once a month.

3. To produce the best sperm that are ready to make the longdistance swim up through your reproductive tract, have fun.
4. The egg, which is released when you ovulate, has to be able to make an easy journey to one of your fallopian tubes. Obstructions in the tube, for instance, will interfere with your fertility.
5. Your partner’s sperm have to be able to swim freely. If they encounter physical, chemical, or mucus barriers in your cervix, the race toward conception can be lost.
6. After fertilization, your egg has to move to your uterus at a time in your physiological cycle when it can safely implant
itself in the uterine wall.
7. The ovum has only twelve to twenty-four hours of life in
which to match up with the right sperm.
8. Meanwhile, sperm have twenty-four to seventy-two hours of meaningful life inside your body.

In other words, you and your mate have about three really perfect days during each menstrual cycle to make a baby. The unfertilized egg can live for up to twenty-four hours once a month. If sexual intercourse doesn’t take place exactly on target, when both egg and sperm are ready, nothing will happen. So start synchronizing your calendars.

worried:

Probably not. Statistics indicate that 75 percent of all couples can get pregnant easily within the first six months of trying and up to 90 percent will be successful within a year. If you’ve just begun to consider pregnancy, then don’t worry yet. Every day in the world, hundreds of thousands of babies are being conceived.

To be fertile one of your ovaries must produce and then release a ripe, healthy egg approximately before your next expected period begins. This little egg, or ovum, will remain viable for about two days in your reproductive tract. The next thing that must happen depends on your fallopian tubes. You have two tubes, but only one is needed to pick up the ovum as it drops from your ovary or to retrieve it from the floor of your pelvic cavity. The tube must be open, however. Fertilization will take place when healthy sperm enter your vagina and swim upstream through your cervix and uterus and right on into the fallopian tube, which has captured the ovum. One little sperm, only one-thousandth of an inch long, is all that you need to get pregnant. However, this sperm must be strong enough to swim a distance that some experts liken to crossing the English Channel three times without stopping. As it happens, millions of sperm do start the race, but only a few hundred survive this long occurs when the sperm penetrates distance event and only one will penetrate the egg. The successfully egg sperm manages to strike the egg at Just t e ng t angle for penetration. If you could view the process under a microscope, you might actually see the losing sperm battling for entry on the surface of the egg. Capacitation is the process by which the sperm actually penetrates the egg, and only sperm that have spent some time in a female reproductive tract, within the egg’s environment, have such power. Through a process known as the acrosome reaction, the little sperm receives a “stocking cap” on its head, which helps it to release enzymes to create a hole in the egg and, thus, make conception possible. After this happens, the fertilized egg will move down the fallopian tube and on into your uterus, or womb, where it will be implanted in the spongy wall called the endometrium. Voila! This is the very point at which pregnancy begins.
Meanwhile, you may be wondering, “Is all this moving, maneuvering for position, egg and sperm orchestration really going to happen inside me?” Yes, at least in the best of all circumstances it will. If all the organs in your reproductive tract are healthy and hormonal factors work in perfect timing, your brain really is the power behind the entire pregnancy process. Your brain signals when some hormones should rush into action and when they ought to slow up. Your emotions, you see, are directly involved with your fertility. In fact, what might seem to be a simple human endeavor-having sex and getting pregnant-soon appears to be more like a miraculous chain of events.

Talking about a baby is so very important for your relationship with the man in your life. Not only do you want to make sure your image of living happily ever after with a family coincides with the picture in his mind, but also you don’t want to make the mistake of thinking a baby will cement your partnership. Having a baby to strengthen a relationship is definitely a mistake. Becoming a parent is emotionally and physically hard work. In the best of all possible worlds, both you and your partner ought to begin with your eyes open.Aunt Edna’s red hair, Uncle Albert’s big nose. your mother’s diabetes, and your father-in-law’s hemophilia are suddenly becoming more important. While the red hair and prominent nose may not be of primary concern to you, certain disorders or conditions can be inherited and you will want to know all about them. Diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), thalassemia, Tay-Sachs disease, sickle-cell anemia, hemophilia, muscular dystrophy. cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s chorea, chromosomal abnormalities, and even twins run in families. Concerned or aware of a family medical issue? Schedule a preconception counseling appointment with your primary care physician. Then, if necessary, a session with a geneticist can SLear up any confusion about familial disorders. What’s more, you may walk out with a prescription for prenatal vitamins even though you are still getting ready to get pregnant. Ask your family practitioner for a recommendation.
Consider your own health

If you have a long-standing medical condition, make an appointment with your specialist and explain your plans to become pregnant. If you haven’t had German measles or toxoplasmosis or you aren’t sure, have a blood test to check and get vaccinated before you become pregnant. German measles, especially during early pregnancy, can cause birth defects. Is your weight average for your height? Being underweight can affect your ability to get pregnant. If you are overweight, now is not the time to start a reducing diet. Your unborn baby needs vital nutrients and you are the supplier. You can’t hire someone else to supply vitamins, minerals, proteins, and carbohydrates. You’re it. If you smoke cigarettes, quit. Drinking alcohol or taking recreational drugs are not good ideas, either. Meanwhile, aerobic exercise (walking or swimming) is just great.If you have never been pregnant before, you’ve probably taken your fertility for granted. And why not! What could be more natural! You were born with more than 250,000 follicles or capsules containing immature oocytes, or eggs. Each one of these little eggs is quite capable of turning into your dream baby. Yet, timing is everything in the game of fertility, both in years and in days of your menstrual cycle. The older you get, the less fertile you become. If you are in your twenties, your timing is just right as far as age is concerned. If you are under eighteen, you run a greater risk of having a stillborn or small baby, and if you are over thirty-five, the risks of a difficult pregnancy or of chromosomal abnormalities in the fetus increase. Timing also plays a critical role when you begin to build your sexual life around the days of the month made perfect for reproductive intercourse.

prepartum anxiety to postpartum blues, there is no doubt about it and no need to hide it: Pregnancy can make you feel downright crazy at times. In fact, under old English law, the eccentricity of an expectant mother was once thought to be so serious that her testimony was not considered reliable enough for a court of law. Relax. You aren’t crazy. You are just pregnant  or trying to get pregnant! This emotional roller-coaster ride can skew your view of the world. Get ready for confusion, ecstasy, tears, pain, panic, wonder. awe, joy, worry and a mountain of ‘excessive guilt. Rest assured that you don’t need to feel alone on this trip. Moreover, talking about your fears and finding answers to your questions are excellent ideas. No worry is ever too silly to overlook and no question is too stupid to ask.
To calm your fears, put the changes in your life into perspective, and tackle thousands of those “What if” questions swirling just below the surface of your anxiety, start turning the pages. Don’t try to read from cover to cover. Flip through sections and find the month, the issue, the symptom, the stage, or the feature that suits your needs right now. The Everything Pregnancy Book is designed to be userfriendly. Meanwhile, I’m certain you have a private list of “What if’s” already. In fact, the true extent of “what if” nightmares before, during, and after pregnancy can easily fill an encyclopedia. What if ! waited too long to try to get pregnant? What if I’m not a good mother? What if my husband’s lack of interest in babies now is a predictor of his future success as a father? What if that wine! drank harms my unborn baby? What if I catch toxoplasmosis from my cat? What if my baby isn’t normal? What if I flunk Lamaze classes? What if I don’t have enough money, patience, or love? Talking about a baby is so very important for your relationship with the man in your life. Not only do you want to make sure your image of living happily ever after with a family coincides with the picture in his mind, but also you don’t want to make the mistake of thinking a baby will cement your partnership. Having a baby to strengthen a relationship is definitely a mistake. Becoming a parent is emotionally and physically hard work. In the best of all possible worlds, both you and your partner ought to begin with your eyes open.