Pregnancy is an exciting time as you prepare for your new baby. It is also a time of change in how your body looks and how you feel -- more tired, uncomfortable and even moody.

Whether you'd like to conceive or are trying to avoid pregnancy, it's common to scrutinize yourself for signs of early pregnancy--particularly if you've recently missed a period. Early pregnancy causes many changes in a woman's body and in the way her body functions; some of these changes take place in the breasts.

Morning sickness is characterized by nausea that occurs during pregnancy. For men, morning sickness can be a symptom of Couvade Syndrome, which sometimes occurs in the husbands of pregnant women.

Weight gain and abdominal skin stretching during pregnancy can make toning the abdomen troublesome following childbirth. If you also have undergone tubal ligation -- also known as tying the tubes -- you also will have incisions in the abdomen.

Parnate, the brand name of the drug tranylcypromine sulfate, is an antidepressant classified as a monoamine oxidase inhibitor, or MAOI. Parnate is used for the treatment of major depressive disorder. If you take Parnate--or have taken it within two weeks--you must avoid any food that contains tyramine.

Your body changes in many ways during pregnancy. One of the changes that might be quite apparent from the very beginning of pregnancy is that your digestive tract slows down significantly to help you extract nutrients from your food. Unfortunately, this can lead to uncomfortable bloating and gas after eating.

There are many benefits to regular exercise, including maintaining a healthy weight and warding off dangerous conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes. During pregnancy, exercise is even more important, since it helps keep both you and your baby healthy.

The hormone HCG, which stands for human chorionic gonadotropin, helps to communicate to your body that you're pregnant and maintains the pregnancy during its early weeks and months.

Some types of soft cheese are unsafe for consumption during pregnancy because they may contain a bacteria called listeria. An infection with the listeria bacteria, called listeriosis, causes mild flu-like symptoms in the mother.

Active labor -- when your cervix has started to dilate -- is very difficult to stop. But if you're in preterm labor, having contractions more than three weeks before your due date, your doctor might prescribe tocolytic medications to slow or stop the process.

Your physician may prescribe an antibiotic called Cipro for signs and symptoms of an infection. Known generically as ciprofloxacin, this medication is used to treat bacterial infections affecting the urinary tract, bone and skin, as well as inhalation and cutaneous anthrax.

Pregnancy is an exciting time, but sometimes it causes aches and pains as the body changes. Hip and pelvic pain is referred to as pelvic girdle pain, which is closely related to low back pain during pregnancy. Pain in these areas tends to develop in the second or third trimester.