How Pregnancy Happens Video

So, you think you know everything there is to know about how pregnancy happens? You might be surprised at what you can learn if you listen to what your genitals have to say in this PSA created by FlickerLab for Planned Parenthood.

Written, Directed and Edited by : Harold Moss
Executive Producer : Tammy Walters
Producer : Franklin Zitter
Media Manager : Scott Brewster
Animation : Joseph Costantini, Thomas Costantini (Two Animators)
Storyboards : David Zung
Character Design : Zartosht Soltani, David Zung
Sound Design : Tom Lino
Voices : Lloyd Floyd, Laura Dillman

Weaning Your Baby

Recently, someone I worked with saying that his wife was getting ready to wean their baby, who was just over one. He mentioned his wife was going to be sad. I had to ask the question, then why wean? He told me that she was ready and had done an amazing job. It just reminded me that there is so much that goes into breastfeeding other than science and food.

The decision to wean your baby from the breast can be simple or complex, how and when to wean is different for every family. Here are some suggestions to help you make weaning a smooth process. What are some good weaning tips that worked for you?

Are you having twins?

People are very fascinated with twins and other multiples. It seems mysterious how one pregnancy can result in more than one baby.

Multiple pregnancies are on the rise in recent years with more and more twins and other types of multiples being born. The majority of the reason for this rise is the increased use of fertility drugs.

How Twins Are Made

There are a couple of ways that multiples are conceived:

• Multiple eggs are released or there is more than one ovulation. Both (or more) eggs are fertilized and you have fraternal twins. This can happen with or without fertility drugs.

• One egg is release but splits in two. Identical twins are made. This can happen with or without fertility drugs.

• In cases of IVF, there are usually 3 or more fertilized eggs put back into the uterus.
  
  
  The rationale is that not all of these will implant, though sometimes they do.

Once conceived you have a lot of possibilities on placentas, implantation locations, number of amniotic sacs. For example, you can have two babies, two placentas, and two sacs. You can have two babies one placenta, two sacs. It will be important to know exactly what you are dealing with, particularly when it comes to amniotic sacs.

How Multiples Are Discovered

Many people learn about their multiples at an early ultrasound. Although some critics say that before twelve weeks gestation there is still a high risk of Disappearing Twin Syndrome, where one baby stops growing and is either absorbed back into the mother's body or is still born when the other twin is born.

Some people find a rapid rate of grow in their uterus which leads some to suspect twins. I will say, for all of you second timers out there, that your bellies will grow faster than with your first pregnancy, so don't automatically assume twins.

Sometimes multiple heart beats are heard, leading your practitioner to believe that there is more than one bundle of joy in your uterus.

Some women find out when they have abnormally high levels on the AFP test that multiples are on the way, since multiple babies would increase the levels of these hormones. It's also sometimes possible to detect multiples with serial hCG levels in early pregnancy. The more babies the faster the rate of rise in the hCG which should nearly double every 48 hours with a singleton.

About 3% of all twin pregnancies are undetected until birth. It is possible to have an ultrasound and not see the other baby, though rare.

Multiple Pregnancy

Being pregnant with multiples is not necessarily a high risk situation, except when dealing with higher order multiples or specific problems. Someone on the bulletin board phrased it as being "high need." I really think that this is a positive shift away from the technical side. Find a practitioner who is experienced with multiples births, but one who will not panic at every corner.

In general you need to increase the amount of protein that you eat. Protein is the building block of every cell in your body and your babies' bodies. It will help you build a good placenta and a strong amniotic sac. A healthful diet will also help fight against infection.

You will probably see your practitioner more frequently towards the end of pregnancy. You may have more testing than most women during pregnancy, but not always. Some of these might include: non-stress testing, more ultrasounds, etc.

Complications

There can be a higher risk for complications. You will be monitored for the normal complications of pregnancy like high blood pressure, and fetal growth. However, twins and other multiples can have higher incidences of things such as Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR), Twin to Twin Transfusion (TTTS), and others. Remember to keep your appointments, watch your diet and do your Fetal Kick Counts.

Multiple Birth

In years past cesarean became popular for multiple births. Now that rate is about 50% for twins, and declining. We've found that vaginal birth is usually very safe for multiples, who frequently need the stimulation and rise in hormones levels associated with labor.

Whether or not you will have a vaginal birth will depend on many factors, including the position of the babies, and how the babies tolerate labor.

If your babies are in a position where neither can move, they are said to be locked. These babies will have to be born via cesarean.

Breech babies really depend on the size of the baby and the skill of the practitioner. Usually if baby A (The first baby in the pelvis.) is head down a vaginal birth will be attempted. If Baby B is breech or transverse an internal or external version may be attempted to help facilitate the birth, or that baby may be allowed to be born breech.

Monoamniotic twins will also be born via cesarean, due to the added risk of cord entanglement.

No matter how your twins were conceived, or how they were born, babies are delightful. Parenting multiples has its special challenges, but it also yields special rewards.

Your Pregnant Body

From the first sign of pregnancy to the last contraction, your pregnant body is changing and growing a baby. Do you just glow like all the books say? What about your belly? Is it big enough, small enough, round enough? How is your baby growing? Follow the pregnancy week by week pregnancy calendar to find out what is going on with your body and baby!

Prenatal Care

As soon as you find out that you are pregnant, it is vital that you call your health care practitioner to set up an appointment. Proper prenatal care will ensure that you optimize your chances of having a healthy baby. It is also very important to start taking a prenatal vitamin right away. Be sure to choose one made without artificial dyes and with the recommended amount of folic acid.

It’s very important to find the best care during your pregnancy. You need to find someone whom you trust; someone who will be there for you when you are in need. Choosing Your Practitioner will provide you with some valuable information about what to consider when you are trying to find someone for your prenatal care.

Nowadays, people have a choice between obstetricians, family practitioners and midwives as their health care providers when they are pregnant. We have a directory that will help you find a caregiver. Many women are rediscovering the wonderful experience of using a doula at their birth. To help you with your choice of caregiver, refer to the list in Questions to Ask your Prenatal Care Provider. Even if you are set on one type of care, it is important to read about all your options so you can be sure that you choose the best type of care for you.

If you are anxious about that first medical appointment, read Your First Medical Exam to get a better understanding of how it will be different from other medical exams. A standard feature of prenatal care from the eigth week of pregnancy on is checking the baby's heart beat. If you're particularly nervous about your pregancy, though, you may want to consider having a fetal heart monitor at home.

And if you are already looking forward to that wonderful day of birth, read Birthing Alternatives. Here you will learn about different ways of giving birth that can help you get the most out of the experience.

We hope this information will help you to decide what works best. A positive pregnancy experience and a wonderful childbirth often result from a respectful and trusting partnership with your practitioner.

Naming Your Baby - How to Choose the Right Baby Name

Where to start with picking a name for your baby: There are many ways to name a baby. Perhaps you stumbled on the perfect name. Maybe you and your spouse have already decided long ago. Or maybe you're like me and wrestling with the decision for a long, long time. I'd suggest starting with narrowing some of the names or types of names you don't like. If you hate certain names don't consider them. Start with the positive names. Then define your baby naming style. From there I'd suggest lists of baby names. Baby names books are great for that purpose.
Baby Names for Boys: Names for baby boys are changing. Gone are the days of about 20 standard names. The names parents are choosing for a baby boy vary greatly. You still see the standard names like John and Mark, but now names like Ashton are creeping up the charts as well. There is still more pressure placed on baby boys when it comes to the perfect name, so take everything to heart when choosing an offbeat name for your child to wear.
Baby Names for Girls: What's in a baby girl's name? Sugar, spice and anything, including nice or naughty depending on the parent. The names that are given to baby girls are more open to spelling variations (Caryn, Karen, Karen, etc.) and don't seem to be confined to any preconceived notions. That doesn't mean you should go wild, but know that the constraints are fewer. There is also a resurgence in older names that had fallen out of favor, like Olivia, Sophia, Lilah and Clara.

Pregnancy Weight Gained Questioned

A recent study from Harvard indicated that packing on too many pregnancy pounds may lead to obesity in your baby in the first three years of life. The thing is, they found this to be true when women gained the recommended pregnancy weight gain sometimes. They advised that maybe we need to look at revising what we tell pregnant women about weight gain during pregnancy. Remember weight gain doesn't have to be the first sign of pregnancy!

The whole issue of obesity in kids is a huge issue, pardon the pun. I truly believe it is multifactorial. For instance, we also know that babies who are breastfed tend not to be obese, but that isn't enough to make everyone want to breastfeed. We also know that feeding kids junk food will make them obese, and yet parents still do it. My only fear is that we will see women restricting their pregnancy weight gain to the other end of the spectrum and experiencing preterm births and low birth weight, which is the number one killer of babies. So be sure to talk to your midwife or doctor about the right amount of weight gain for you and your baby.

The Ultrasound Quiz

I think we are all fascinated by the ability to be able to discern the sex of our baby before birth. The biggest question still lies within the validity of the answers to that question, "Is it a girl or a boy?"

The answer depends on many factors. From the machine being used, to the person reading it - the technology issues abound in the pregnancy sex determination debate. Is your ultrasound tech certified? Is the machine new or old? Is the machine a 2D or 3D ultrasound? When you add physical factors like the position of the baby or the gestational age of the baby you have a lot of variables.

Here is a fun quiz, designed to test your ultrasound knowledge:

Start the Quiz

Prenatal and Fetal Development - How you and your baby grow during pregnancy

Pregnancy Overviews: The amount of growth both physically and emotionally in pregnancy is vast and rapid. There are many ways to watch a pregnancy proceed. Some prefer to look at pregnancy from the standpoint of the three trimesters, while others enjoy a pregnancy week by week format. For those that want a middle ground, there is also a monthly view of pregnancy. Each has the basics to more in depth coverage of both fetal development and how the changes occur in the mother's body.
Fetal Development: Pregnancy is amazing to go from being a couple of cells to a total, albeit small, human being in the period of about nine months! Most people enjoy tracking their baby's developments during pregnancy. There are many ways to peak into the uterus during this time. Sometimes your doctor or midwife will order an ultrasound exam or genetic testing like an amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling (CVS). You may also enjoy reading about your baby's growth.

25 Signs of Pregnancy and Pregnancy Symptoms

If you're like everyone else you're trying to figure out what the signs of pregnancy or pregnancy symptoms are and how likely they are to mean that you are pregnant. You can ask other people, you can worry in silence, but the best thing is to read through the categories and add up the signs. The more you have the more likely you are to be pregnant.

On the chart below are 25 of the most common signs of pregnancy and what they mean. You can also click the sign to get more information on each sign of pregnancy. The three categories of pregnancy signs are: possible, probable and positive.

Pregnancy Week by Week

This Pregnancy Calendar is trying to help you understand your pregnancy and the fetal development taking place week by week through your pregnancy including ultrasound pictures. You will find lots of pictures from the smallest embryo to the largest baby! We hope you enjoy this section! (See below for the pregnancy week by week calendar links to each week of pregnancy.)

Here we are!

So You Got a Double Line!
"Baby On the Way" - Congratulations! You've now uttered those words "I'm pregnant!" and are probably feeling excited, scared, and curious about what lies ahead. Here you will find a guide to our resources as you make your way through morning sickness, butterfly kicks, ultrasounds, preparing your nursery and more!