It is very interesting to know that most migraines simply disappear during a pregnancy. The reason of their disappearance is the hormonal changes occurring in your body.

Sometimes if you do get a migraine headache during the pregnancy, it would be advisable to not use any medication without medical supervision. Using alternate options like lying down in a dark room, walking in fresh air and relaxing is a better way out. Most migraine drugs that you use are not safe during a pregnancy, so you should definitely consider talking to your doctor in case you cannot tolerate the pain.

Some women have found using the breathing exercises they learned in their child birth classes, to be helpful in controlling the migraine pains too.

For a detailed answer please read here about intimacy during pregnancy.

One of the most common reasons of abortion is when women or young girls become pregnant when they are not ready to bear the responsibility of the pregnancy or the baby. This is more common amongst teen girls who become pregnant and out of the fear of the parents or the responsibility of a baby. The teen pregnancies are on the rise in the US and elsewhere too. Unfortunately, some teen girls after having an abortion once, become pregnant again and choose to abort pregnancy once more.

Sometimes, during the pregnancy, the medical tests reveal severe abnormalities in the fetus. In such situations, some parents choose to terminate the pregnancy rather than giving a painful and dependent life to the baby. In any case, choosing for an abortion is like a nightmare for the parents.

If the pregnancy has occurred due to a rape or sexual assault, the girl may not want to carry a child that is a result of a crime. In such situation, even the government permits abortion and the insurance companies cover for the costs.

There are two schools of thought: Pro-life and Pro-Choice. The proponents of pro-life believe that all life is sacred and regardless of whatever the reason, the defenseless life in the womb should be protected at all costs. The proponents of pro-choice believe that the mother should have the right to choose if she wishes to give birth or not.

Nowadays, if the couple is homo sexual, then they go for an adoption. A child can be adopted from an orphanage or it could be anyone from the family itself. But, it takes a big heart to adopt a life that does not belong to you !

At the first thought, people think it is easy. But, later on, it may or may not turn out good for the child or the parents or both. Normally, awkward situations arise that puts everybody in a limbo.

There are many such cases, where people try hard but still they are not able to conceive. Or, take the case of lesbians or gays, since it is legal now, if the homo sexual couple decides to be together forever, then they adopt a child. Here, may be when the child grows, he may not like the fact that his/her parents are homo sexual.

On the other side of the coin, there are cases, where the parents keep the child so happy and make his/her life wonderful. Their child knows the fact that he/she is adopted but everybody is happy. Here, the child is undoubtedly given a better life.

The anxiety of losing a job can have people thinking about the expenses in the family. Not many would opt for adding the expenses to handle the pregnancy and a new family member during the times of stress. Many of the families decided to cut down on non-critical activities like summer camps, dance classes and more in order to keep the monthly budgets under control.

It is not like everyone stopped making babies due to the economy. More than half of the pregnancies in the US happen by accident, which may not have relationship with the state of the economy. Secondly, the women who are older and are planning to have a baby may not be able to defer getting pregnant.

When we talked to some couples who did have babies in the last couple of years, most of them did acknowledge that the state of economy was in their mind but having a baby was more important for them than to worry about losing a job.

Besides, just being healthy from the outside, the doctors recommend certain steps for women who are planning to become pregnant. These recommendations are:

1. To prevent birth defects, folic acid supplements should be started before conception. 
2. The mother should have all her vaccinations, dental care, x-rays or any vitamin deficiencies taken care of before the conception takes place. 
3. If a woman has had a history of premature deliveries or miscarriage, the doctor would want to review the history so as to prevent the complications this time during pregnancy. 
4. Women who are pregnant or about to become pregnant should keep away from toxic substances, drugs and smoking of all kinds.

Many babies born in the United States are born prematurely, have a low birthweight or have genetic birth defects. Many of these issues can be prevented if the parents decide to and improve their lives before starting a new one.

STDs can result into multiple development issues for the fetus. Infections like HIV can be passed to the infant perinatally.

Women having sex during pregnancy should make sure that the male partner uses condoms. Even though HIV cannot be completely prevented by just the use of condoms, it has been found that condoms can mitigate the risk for many other STDs.

Whooping cough, also known as pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory tract infection. If it happens to infants, many parents may take it to be ordinary cold. As a matter of fact, whooping cough may not always make the whooping sound. However, whooping cough is most contagious before the coughing starts.

Since whooping cough may not be easy to detect before it spreads or becomes dangerous, the best way to prevent it is by using vaccination. The latest CDC recommendation increases the importance of vaccination even more.

Some people believe that it is a good idea to have a name that need not be shortened to make it the pet name. Having a long official name and a short name that is used more often than the former, may sound interesting to some but not to all. Keeping a name short and easy to spell and pronounce can reduce a lot of issues for the named later in life!

Also, a point to keep in mind is how the name could have different meanings in the different parts of the world. A name that sounds cool in your culture might have an offensive or funny meaning in another culture or language. In this small interconnected world, if  you think your child might never be exposed to the culture that might have her name meant differently, you are highly mistaken. It does not mean you have to cross check every culture or language in the world, but to check out the most prominent ones is not a bad idea.

It is often seen that the parents simply out of sheer affection start calling the baby with names that unknowingly become permanent names forever. What may sound nice and affectionate for a small new born baby can sound very embarrassing for a grown up. A funny name can ruin a child’s life during the school and college days also.

Finally, some names are so common that you might not feel special having such a name. Besides, there are some names that the governments monitor looking for the people wanted in crimes and terrorism. It is a good idea to keep away from name that are connected to a violent act or incident.

You are right. Choosing a name for your baby is not easy. The name you give her would be her identity forever. So do your best diligence and come up with a name that your child can be proud of!

What Is My Due Date?

Therefore, the doctors monitor the growth of the baby every month and then on more frequent basis as the estimated due date comes closer. This helps the doctor to predict the due date with some more certainty.

Normally, the due date should be calculated from the date of conception. However, since it may not be possible to know the date of conception, the medical community uses the first day of the last period as the reference. Since, it many women do not remember the first day of their last period, calculating the due date using this method is seldom precise.

A second method adopted by the doctor is using the ultrasound to determine the size of the baby sometime after the baby is about 7 weeks old and before the baby in the uterus is less than 3 months of age. As if things cannot get more complicated, not all babies grow the same way in the uterus. The ones who grow more or less than normal, may not help predicting their due date with any certainty or precision.

If the information about the first date of the last period is available, it can be used with the information from the ultrasound test to come to a more precise due date.

Again, the due date is an approximation. Less than 5 percent of the children are actually born on the predicted due date. Therefore, as the time nears, it is important to have more frequent and regular check ups so the doctor can monitor the progress of the pregnancy and make you prepared for the big day!