faq

• Pregnancy can be difficult for various reasons. So, try to become as fit as possible before conceiving your baby. That will ensure that your baby grows healthy and you have a less worrying pregnancy and a safe labor.
• Identify a gynecologist and visit the doctor for a pregnancy checkup. Clarify all your doubts with him/her. Take diet, drug, exercise suggestions. Ask about the various stages of pregnancy and the dos and don'ts for the period. Understand all you need to know about your menstrual cycle after delivery and sexual intercourse during your pregnancy.
• Quit smoking for a few months before your planned pregnancy. This will help your body get in better shape to conceive and carry a healthy baby. Smoking adversely affects the baby in the womb and is a strong factor for low birth weight and birth defects. It is also one of the leading causes of infertility in men and women.
• Control your obesity, diabetes, blood pressure, and other health problems before you can even conceive.
• Eat the right foods in the adequate quantities. A healthy diet is rightfully linked to a healthy and successful pregnancy, labor, and postnatal period.
• Also, identify a psychologist, maybe one in your maternity hospital, to help you get through the emotional highs and lows of your pregnancy and in order to avoid postnatal depression.

• Most of your diet must now comprise leafs and healthy greens, other vegetables, all fruits, wholegrain bread and cereal, low-fat dairy products, eggs, and chicken.
• Ensure that you receive all the proteins, carbohydrates, calcium, and vital minerals through natural sources, instead of popping health supplement pills (unless absolutely necessary).
• Meet your dietician and ask them about the right and wrong foods and follow the food chart they prepare for you.
• Exercise lightly, walk, do little chores, etc. it is important to be active during your pregnancy. Being inactive leads to unwanted complications in your and your baby's health.
• Unless there is a complication that calls for a no-sex pregnancy, it is okay to have sex. There is nothing wrong in it. Your amniotic fluid naturally protects your baby and so it is okay for you to have sex and feel loved. But, meet your gynecologist and understand the safe sex positions.
• Keep yourself and your home clean at all times. You want to be sure that no infections affect your baby. Shower twice a day, wash your hands very frequently, etc.
• If you need to travel by air, do it in your second trimester. That is when the risk of premature labor or miscarriage is lowest.

• Expose your body to excessive, unnatural heat by using hot water in bathtubs, sauna, and tanning booths. Too much heat can harm your baby.
• Take too many pills unless really necessary. Medicines can be a bad thing for your growing baby.
• Undergoing mammograms or x-rays can be excessively harmful to your growing baby.
• Travel on bad roads, ride on rollercoasters, have rough sex, etc. Remember that it is not about your temporary satisfaction, but for a healthy and uncomplicated pregnancy and a healthy baby.

• Severe or unusual abdominal pain or cramps
• Significant reduction in your baby's movements, especially after you cross 28 weeks
• Breathlessness
• Bleeding in the 2nd or 3rd trimester
• Frequent aches or tightening in the abdomen or lower back, or excessive fluid discharge can be signs of premature delivery
• Frequent ache or cramps in legs, arms, or chest
• High body temperature; over 100°
• Severe vomiting, dizziness, or diarrhea
• Blurred vision
• Excessive fingers, toes, hands, or face swelling

Also,

• Talk to your dietician about the right foods that aid in milk production so that you can feed your baby for a longer period.
• Talk to your lactation consultant. They will provide you with prenatal breastfeeding awareness to the postnatal hospital and home visits, to relevant literature on breastfeeding, etc.

The symptoms of postnatal or postpartum depression can include feeling hopeless, helpless, and sad; frequent crying; withdrawing from social circles, even friends and family; stressful and excessive eating or sleeping; feeling guilty or worthless; etc.

Talk to your family or psychologist about these feelings. Don't take a drastic step, one that will affect many lives for the rest of time. Talk, take the necessary medication, and do happy things. Light-hearted reading and cinema will surely help.