This Morning Sickness Kit at Amazon could be a great buy for a woman undergoing the rigors of morning sickness or it may make a great present for someone. The kit includes these items:

• Preggie Pop Drops – these are a remedy for morning sickness that contain essential oils to soothe the stomach and also give the mother to be an energy boost at a time when she finds her energy levels are at a low ebb. It also takes care of the feeling of a dry mouth that many expectant mothers may face.
• B-natalTM Therapops (Cherry) eases morning sickness due to its vitamin B6 and sugar content ingredients, which can relieve symptoms.
• Morning Wellness Tea Sip – it is recommended that this be frozen into ice cubes which can be sucked first thing in the morning.
• Crystallized Ginger – Ginger is known to relive nausea.
• Gin-Gins Hard Candy Take Gin Gins – a Ginger candy that can be carried around wherever you go.

It is estimated that 75 to 90 per cent women develop some stretch marks during pregnancy.

So can you prevent stretch marks and once having got them can you get rid of them? The answer to that is, partly or somewhat yes.

Many creams and lotions promise that application during pregnancy on the belly or affected area during pregnancy can prevent the formation of stretch marks.

One study has shown that while you cannot prevent stretch marks altogether, the use of products containing Centella asiatica (Gotu kola or Asiatic pennywort) extract, vitamin E, and collagen-elastin hydrolysates was shown to limit the appearance of stretch marks to a noticeable extent.

The fact is that stretch marks do fade and become less visible, even in some cases practically invisible with passage of time this can take months to years for them to disappear.

What is important is the nature of your stretch marks and your skin type. Also the ability your body has to heal will determine the appearance and disappearance of stretch marks.

If your body is a very efficient healer and you rarely see any scars from prior injuries or wounds; chances are your stretch marks will behave similarly. Topical creams may help speed up that process; however they cannot make the stretch marks disappear altogether.

Exfoliation can help, as can certain treatments such as skin peels or laser treatments for reducing the appearance of stretch marks. While some treatments can be expensive, some can also be painful.

Since however there is no real way to ‘repair’ damaged skin fibers, which is what stretch marks actually are, it could take cosmetic surgery to actually get rid of them.

This can actually remove the affected skin from the area and also pull the skin taut by tightening it, which can help to reduce the appearance of the stretch marks.

So whether you decide to get some treatment or not, do remember that stretch marks do fade with time and become far less obvious and visible.

Also remember that most people have them though some manage to hide them by some or other artifice. If however stretch marks are just something that you cannot seem to live with, then you can discuss your options with an expert.

Prolife and Prochoice are two sides of a raging debate, wherein each side has some very valid points, whereas the former present abortion as murder, the latter view is that women should have the choice to make the decision that is best for them.

The fact is that no one except the woman who has conceived knows exactly the circumstances in which the fetus was conceived, her own mental, physical and financial state as regards her ability to bring another child into the world, her fear at being completely unable to cope and about the plans that she has for herself in the long term.

There are many personal reasons that a woman may have to have a pregnancy terminated. There is the option of putting a child up for adoption but system is not always so efficient as to be able to place children in homes that want them and are able to look after them.

Additionally, a woman may feel unable to carry the child to term and then offer it for adoption. It is difficult for many to envisage the uncertain future that a baby may have when it hasn’t a natural guardian to take care of it. A future such as that may be difficult or even impossible for many to contemplate.

There is also one view that says abortion is much the same as birth control: both prevent life, however at different stages. This view is of course rejected for the reason that with birth control there is no destruction as such. However consider the point of viability of life.

A fetus is not viable until a certain point in gestation, and cannot survive on its own before that time. Until such time it is not considered an individual in its own right and is therefore up to the woman to decide what is best for her body, her life and eventually her baby when she chooses to have it.

Abortion is legal and no woman needs to feel guilty for having chosen to go that way.

It is important to remember that no one who pickets abortion clinics or who otherwise tries to discourage abortion knows exactly what it is to have undergone what that woman, who is considering an abortion, has undergone. No one except that woman knows exactly her circumstances, her thoughts and her conflicts.

For the most part, having an orgasm during one’s pregnancy is quite safe; it is also the opinion of some experts that it may actually be beneficial.

Some women experience orgasm for the first time during pregnancy, due to the increase in sensitivity and enlargement of the genital area. For many others the orgasm is likely to be more intense and pleasurable than ever before.

Since the orgasm causes the uterus to contract, generally speaking, as the uterus grows bigger with the baby, the more intense and bigger is the orgasm experienced.

The reason why some experts opine that an orgasm is good for the mother and baby is that it gives the mother obvious sexual satisfaction, but it also causes more blood to flow to the uterus, bringing more nutrient rich blood to the baby for its nourishment.

Orgasms during pregnancy should be avoided if a woman has any of the following problems:

• problems with preterm labor
• an incompetent cervix,
• placenta previa,
• if the contractions lasts beyond intercourse and for a considerable amount of time thereafter.

There are several different methods of abortion, and they can each be used at different stages of the pregnancy.

Abortion Pill or Medical Abortion: This is also called an abortifacient or a substance that induces abortion. This is to be distinguished from an emergency contraception pill or the morning after pill which prevents a conception.

An abortion pill ends a pregnancy that is already subsisting. This is usually a two step process involving two doses and is seen to be successful in 90% cases as long as it is used within 49 days of gestation.

Vacuum Abortion: If the abortion is to be performed within 12 weeks of the conception, vacuum or suction aspiration where the pregnancy is removed from the uterus by vacuuming through a syringe. This is also the procedure used after a spontaneous abortion or miscarriage or when a sample of the endometrial lining is required for a biopsy. This is now the most common and safest obstetric procedure.

Dilating and Curettage (D&C): Here the cervix is dilated and the content of the uterus are surgically removed by using a curette, or a sharp curettage to scrape the lining of the uterus and checked for completeness so that no part of the pregnancy gets left behind.

Late term abortion is both more dangerous and more controversial because it is considered a viable fetus after 20 weeks gestation. In some cases D&C is still used, however many times labor is induced for this kind of abortion.

In many places abortion after the first trimester is not permitted by law or requires certain specific criteria to be met. The risk to the mother increases significantly after the first trimester so unless there is a medical requirement to terminate a pregnancy, this is not advisable.

For more information about abortion and birth control, it is available at Planned Parenthood.org which is a good resource for information and support. Here you will get help to find the nearest Planned Parenthood health center where confidential and low cost health care can be obtained.

If you do decide to get nursing bras for yourself, do it when you have gained most of your pregnancy weight, but don’t leave it too late, this is a job that is best done by you; a panicked husband or well meaning friend may not be able to do it as well as you would wish.

Usually two nursing bras and one nursing tank top should be enough to be getting along with.

Though many women find that their regular bras will do just as well, and that there is no need for a special nursing bra, you would need to decide, if you are breastfeeding whether a nursing bra is required or if a regular bra will do just as well.

Since many women may go up a cup size or two during and soon after pregnancy, they find that they have to get new bras anyway, and prefer to get nursing bras which facilitates easier breast feeding.

Nursing bras are different from regular bras in that they offer extra support at a time when the breasts are heavier and fuller. They also offer the option of unfastening only a portion of the cup which is usually a flap that fastens over the breast near the shoulder strap.

So with a nursing bra you don’t have to remove the bra, all you have to do is undo the flap which will uncover the nipple area so many women find this very convenient. Others however do find it as convenient to simply slip off one of the straps of the bra to get the job of breastfeeding underway.

Nursing bras are of many different kinds, and come in soft cup, underwire, seamless etc. There are nursing bras with or without flaps. Those with flaps work in the obvious way; those without are designed to be pushed up or to the side when it’s feeding time.

Underwire nursing bras could work very well for some women but just a note of caution there, if the underwire digs into the tissue at the base of the breast, it could clog a milk duct for the first few weeks of breastfeeding, it is generally recommended that a soft cup nursing bra be used.

So hunt around a bit and get a proper fit; a good support nursing bra may make the task of breastfeeding that little bit more comfortable and enjoyable.

Fact is, a woman’s sex drive during her pregnancy could swing to either extreme or not change much from what is normal in her non-pregnant state.

The hormones of a pregnant woman are typically all over the place during the time that she is pregnant, which will determine whether she finds the intimacy of sexual intercourse unwelcome or whether she has the best sex of her life.

Either way it is important for her partner to be sensitive and accommodative about this. If a woman is disinclined or even experiences discomfort or pain then it is important to clear the air; perhaps the couple can engage in other kinds of physical intimacy, such as stroking or massage and engage more in the kind of intimacy that comes from expressing feeling, emotions and thoughts.

It isn’t just the partner, the pregnant woman also needs to be sensitive about the feelings and needs of her partner, and should explain her point of view while attempting to be as accommodative as possible. Read more about sex during pregnancy here.

Although previous studies have shown the risks for school aged children, this is the first time a link has been shown between smoking during pregnancy and behavior problems for kids as young as 3.

Dr. Kate E. Pickett, of the University of York, Hull-York Medical School and colleagues looked for link between smoking during pregnancy and behavior problems in more than 13,000 3-year kids in UK Millenium Cohort Study.

The study gathered wide range of information including economic status of family, parents’ education level, ethnicity, marital status of parents, financial problems and maternal smoking, drinking or usage of drugs.

Source: Reuters

Even a woman who believes in and is committed to natural and unassisted delivery may change her mind through a long and difficult labor, so if she does change her mind at a later stage it helps to have known the options from before.

Also every woman is different and so is every birth.

Even one woman may have several different kinds of labor. While there are several kinds of pain relief available for a woman such as an epidural, narcotic assistance, IV shots, etc.

There are however other natural ways to obtain some relief from the pain such as:

• Music can be therapeutic in nature and can help relieve pain
• Bathing can be soothing for labor pains and can lessen the pain that the contractions cause. A warm bath is seen to relieve the pain for many women. Many women tend to opt for a water birth because of this and other reasons
• Breathing exercises and specific breathing patterns can bring about relaxation and help to get a handle on the pain making it more manageable
• Acupuncture is also known to relieve labor pain
• Certain massage techniques also help in relieving labor pain
• Women can remain active throughout the process of labor which helps them deal with and lessen the pain
• Many women find squatting the most comfortable position to give birth in, others find that sitting on a chair facing the chair back is the most comfortable, and yet others find that leaning against a wall is helpful.

In addition there is the TENS machine or transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation which consists of electrodes attached to the birthing mother’s back, which is thought to stimulate the body’s natural painkiller mechanism and promote the production of endorphins. The woman herself controls the device and the strength of the current. There are no known side effects or effects on the baby.

Entonox is another option, which uses equal parts oxygen and nitrous oxide to take the edge of the pain. A woman can inhale this through a mouthpiece and thereby control how much she uses.

There are no effects and this does not pass to the baby however some women find that this gas and air mixture can make them lightheaded and does not let them concentrate on the task at hand.

It is also good to know that we can help them form an opinion about their lives.

The beauty of the world they live in during the 9 months of pregnancy is that part when we choose to treat them like the best thing that ever happened to us and by this integrate them in our daily routine.

I have read in so many magazines for mothers about the wonderful step a mother can make starting the education of her baby from the very moment he or she is conceived.

I used to think that this is something out of a science fiction book and even though I am a strong follower of the concept that the bond between the mother and her baby is unbreakable and goes on long years after the birth, this idea of starting an education this early seemed a bit too much.

What has convinced me was my god daughter. Her mother use to take yoga classes before she got pregnant. This and the fact that she was very much into “get in touch with nature” life style made her keep on doing yoga during pregnancy. [pregnancy yoga]

She liked environmental music a lot and I remember she was all the time with her iPhone headphones in her ears listening to it.

I used to say to her she will make the baby’s brains go mush after so much environmental noise but she made fun of me and went one with it.

Funny is that her pregnancy went smoothly without any problems, the little one kicking on schedule and behaving very nicely with her mom.

I remember that during my own pregnancy time both of my kids were pretty restless and there were nights when I couldn’t sleep because of their” football game”.

Well…my god daughter was very good. Her mom got all the rest she needed and was feeling wonderful.

She was a single mom, and she was dreading the fear of the birth moment. But the little girl surprised her. She came into the world a week earlier while her mother and I were shopping and the birth went as smooth as a birth can go.

When I first saw this little bundle in the arms of her mom I was so glad to see them both radiant that I almost cry.

Ever since then the little girl and her mother are exactly as they were during the pregnancy, best friends, enjoying life, smiling and listening to environmental music.

There is something about the pregnancy that makes us think we are facing 9 months of burden and maybe most of us are.

What does happen to those mothers that go through this period with a smile on their face, acting like they have the time of their life?

They really enjoy being pregnant and their children are sure to enjoy life.