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What are Some Pregnancy Facts for First Time Moms?
Fun pregnancy facts for first time moms and dads.
As an expecting mom, you are excited and filled with awe at the new life growing inside you. You’ve created something beautiful, and this leaves you with a feeling of joy and fulfillment.
However, with this love comes anxiety and a curiosity so profound, it’s all you can think of. You wonder how your child is fairing; if he is developing as he should inside you.
If this describes you, then you need worry no more as these here are some pregnancy facts that will allay your anxiety, giving you a first-hand knowledge of all you need to know.
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Here are 60 Pregnancy Facts for a First Time Mom
First Trimester Pregnancy Facts for a First Time Mom
1) The first trimester in pregnancy starts from the first day of your last period. This means at week one of your pregnancy, you are pregnant but not actually pregnant.
2) First trimester is a busy time for your baby and is when she undergoes the development.
3) Morning sickness doesn’t always happen in the morning as its also possible for you to be sick the whole day.
4) Morning sickness typically begins by the 6th to 8th and goes away by the 12th to 14th week. You should be completely over it by the 16th week, unless you have what is termed Hyperemesis Gravidarum, a more severe type of morning sickness that causes severe nausea, vomiting, and dehydration.
Related: 16 Things to Know When Expecting Your First Baby
5) By week 4 of your pregnancy, the fertilized egg or blastocyst is now an embryo and measures 1.5mm in size.
6) Your baby develops a heart from the 18th day of conception, and it starts beating, signifying a life has just been formed.
7) By the 9-12th week, all of your baby’s fingerprints are formed.
8) Your first antenatal visit with your doctor or midwife will also take place during the first trimester within weeks 8-12.
9) By week nine your baby is now a fetus.
10) Your baby’s taste buds and kidneys are functioning.
11) By week 12, your baby should start to look like a human being with a recognizable face.
Second Trimester Pregnancy Facts for a First Time Mom
12) Your morning sickness symptoms should be easing off by now.
13) Your uterus grows large during this trimester, and you should start to show.
14) Even though nausea and vomiting may subside by this time, you might experience other symptoms like dizziness and lightheadedness.
15) Your baby starts to see and hear, and most of her organs become fully develops. By the 18th week she could get startled by a loud noise.
16) Your baby grows up to 14 inches during this phase.
17) Most expecting moms begin to produce breastmilk from the 14th week of pregnancy.
Read Also: What Do I Do If My Baby Doesn’t Latch On Right Away? 7 Breastfeeding Tips That Work
18) Your baby starts to pee right inside you from the fourth month of pregnancy and could produce up to a liter of urine daily.
19) Before the 16th week, all your baby had in place of bone was a rubbery cartilage. However, by the 16th week, this cartilage begins to harden into bones.
19) From the 20th week of pregnancy, you begin protecting your baby by transferring antibodies to her.
20) Your antenatal visits become regular, and you should be having an appointment every 2-4 weeks.
21) You can find out the sex of your baby during this trimester.
22) You can also check for birth or genetic defects during this time.
Third Trimester Pregnancy Facts for a First Time Mom
23) The third trimester starts from the 28th week all up until the 40th week.
24) This is the last lap of your pregnancy, and by this trimester, your baby’s organs are almost fully developed, and she can recognize your voice from in there.
25) Your baby’s eyes are open, and she will be able to see objects close by; up to 15cm away.
26) From weeks 28 – 32, your baby will put on a lot of weight, up to 500g per week.
Related: How to Get My Baby to Sleep Through the Night
27) This weight gain slows down to 250g from weeks 32 – 35, but her brain picks up this pace and starts to grow.
28) By week 35, your baby can be born as she weighs 2.46kg at this time. And although premature, she would have a 99% chance of survival.
29) Your baby is regarded as termed or mature by week 37.
30) Your baby should arrive between the 37th – 40th as only 30% of babies stay longer.
31) If your baby still doesn’t arrive by the 42nd week, you’ll be termed overdue and medically induced.
Other Fun Pregnancy Facts for First Time Moms
32) During pregnancy, your womb can grow to about 50 times its original size.
33) As the womb expands, it pushes other organs out of their original places, and this is what causes the feelings of discomfort or pain you sometimes feel all through the duration of your pregnancy.
34) Your baby grows a lot while in the womb! – about 3, 000 million times.
35) The lungs, however, is one of the last organs to be formed and will only become fully developed in the third trimester.
36) Your baby’s heart beats about 150 times each minute, that’s twice the normal of times an adult’s does.
37) At birth, your baby gets born with 300 bones, but as she grows into adulthood, some of these get fused to become 206.
38) Your baby gets born with an eye color but sometimes this keeps changing up until the sixth month or a year when she assumes her permanent eye color.
39) Babies are the perfect parasite, and your baby will take her full share of the nutrient she needs from the food you eat. So you should eat enough for both of you.
40) You are more susceptible to infections in pregnancy, so you should guard against this.
41) Your eyesight and sense of smell get sharper in pregnancy.
42) Sometimes, contractions don’t stop after labor and it’s possible to get them up until a few days after your childbirth.
43) Its likely your skin tone changes during pregnancy, and 90% of women report experiencing this.
44) Pregnancy makes you have less oxygen flowing in your bloodstream, and this could sometimes lead to forgetfulness.
45) The longest pregnancy duration ever recorded ran for 365 days and was carried by Beulah Hunter in Los Angeles.
46) Pregnant women get a lot of vivid or scary dreams, and science is yet to come up with an explanation for this. So if you get one of these, just know they are perfectly natural and not an indication of a looming danger.
47) Men also experience pregnancy symptoms in what is known as Couvade syndrome.
48) All pregnant women have what is called a mucous plug, a kind of plug at the opening of the cervix that keeps bacteria from entering the womb.
49) The rate of pregnant women who give birth via a caesarian section continues to grow as one-third of all pregnant women give birth via this a CS.
50) 1 in 2,000 babies get born with a tooth or more in what is known as natal teeth.
51) A few pregnant women experience extreme sadness after childbirth, a condition known as postnatal or postpartum depression.
52) Pregnant women are strongly advised to take supplements as they may not get all the nutrients required for the baby’s development.
53) Your baby also tastes the food you eat while still in the womb.
54) There are more twins born in Central Africa than anywhere else in the world. A town in Oyo, Nigeria, has been dubbed the twin capital of the world due to its high rate of twin births.
55) Pregnant women retain more water, and this could cause your feet to grow up to a shoe size.
56) A few pregnant women report experiencing a weird condition (called Pica) where they crave nonfood items. They could also develop habits that are considered strange like wanting to perceive the smell of wet rain or being close to the bathroom with someone busy inside.
57) Most pregnancies end before the 20th week due to no fault of the woman. One primary reason why most pregnancies end is with the presence of chromosomal abnormalities
58) Your baby’s cartilage will get transformed into bone by the 7th or 8th month.
59) Tall or overweight women have a higher likelihood of conceiving twins.
60) Nipple stimulation has been scientifically proven to be capable of inducing labor.
Tags: Pregnancy facts for first time moms, first time mom things to know, what a first time mom should know
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