Your developing baby gets all of the nutrients essential for her growth through the placenta and your bloodstream. Therefore, your diet is critical to the baby's proper growth. The baby's organs, which form during the first few months of pregnancy, require certain vitamins and minerals to develop correctly.

When you're pregnant, you naturally want to do everything you can to protect your unborn child and ensure the healthiest pregnancy possible. You might not think that enjoying an occasional piece of licorice could be harmful. Unfortunately, licorice contains a chemical that can hurt your unborn baby.

Pregnancy requires the elimination of many foods and drinks because they might harm your or your baby's health and compromise your pregnancy. Hibiscus is one herb you should use with caution if you are pregnant because evidence indicates the potential for harmful effects during pregnancy.

Rhubarb is a vegetable, despite its typical use in sweet desserts such as strawberry-rhubarb pie. This perennial plant consists of an edible, celery-like stalk that is usually red in color and it has inedible leaves. Pregnant women may safely consume rhubarb stalks; this vegetable provides many benefits.

At seven weeks into your pregnancy, the bloating you experience is just getting started. Bloating is common throughout your pregnancy, especially when your growing uterus starts pressing on your stomach. There are several steps you can take to ease bloating caused by gas and constipation during your pregnancy.

Pregnancy is a time of exciting changes to your body. As the new life grows inside of you, your body begins to behave in ways you didn't know possible. Some of these changes may surprise and delight you, such as thicker hair and fingernails. Other changes may alarm you.

Women routinely are advised to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet during pregnancy. According to childbirth educator Amy Haas, writing in "Midwifery" magazine, pregnant women should eat at least three servings of vegetables daily -- two servings of green and one of yellow vegetables.

Light-headedness, or dizziness, is a very common symptom during pregnancy. Your body is going through some massive changes – weight gain, hormonal shifts, an increase in blood volume and fluctuating blood pressure – that affect your blood flow and can make you feel dizzy.

One of the less common, but more worrisome, symptoms of teething is bleeding. A few spots of blood can sometimes be seen during teething, along with other symptoms like sucking, biting on solid objects, pain, slight decrease in appetite and irritability.

Exercise is generally safe during your entire pregnancy. However, do not start exercising until your doctor gives you permission after your first prenatal appointment.

Pregnancy symptoms don't appear until hormone levels produced by the growing placenta rise. While the occasional woman misses the signs of pregnancy until she's in labor, others know they're pregnant almost immediately.

Nausea is a common pregnancy symptom during the first trimester, but as you enter the fourth month of your pregnancy and the second trimester, you probably hope to say goodbye to nausea. However, that is not always the case.