The mucus plug is made of thick mucus produced by glands in the cervix. Near the end of your pregnancy, when the cervix begins to soften, thin, and dilate, it may fall out. The mucus plug fills the cervix and prevents microorganisms from entering the uterus.
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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.
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Women age 50 and over rarely get pregnant without in vitro fertilization and donor eggs. Just 0.01 percent of all births occur in women over age 47, reports reproductive endocrinologist Mark Sauer in "Treatment of the Postmenopausal Woman."
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Baby walkers, wheeled devices that allow a non-walking infant to scoot himself around the house by pushing off with his feet, are controversial devices.
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While nothing in life is certain, there’s a good chance that your second labor will differ from your first in a number of ways. Both you and your uterus have been down this road before, so you know -- or think you know -- what to expect when labor starts.
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Most pregnant women don't track their hCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin, levels unless they have undergone fertility treatment or are experiencing pregnancy complications. Produced by the growing placenta during pregnancy, hCG is the hormone that home pregnancy tests detect in the urine.
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It's not possible to tell whether you're pregnant immediately after ovulation. In fact, the embryo doesn't even begin to implant into the lining of the uterus until about 6 days after the egg is fertilized. Only after implantation does your body produce the hormones that cause early pregnancy symptoms.
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Nausea and vomiting, among the most unpleasant aspects of early pregnancy, affects around 75 percent of all pregnant women during the first three months of pregnancy, according to BabyCenter. Human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG levels in the blood also rise in early pregnancy, suggesting a correlation between the two.
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Yawning, a normal human activity that also occurs in many animals, affects even in fetuses as early as 11 weeks after conception. Yawns occur involuntarily; a person can’t force themselves to yawn or stop a yawn once it starts. The causes of yawning are not well understood.
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Both men and women produce follicle stimulating hormone, or FSH, which plays an important role in a woman's ability to get pregnant. In women, this hormone, produced by the pituitary gland, signals the ovaries to produce an egg-containing follicle each month. As you age, your FSH level rises.
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Most parents have accepted the necessity of placing small children in approved car seats. Once children reach 40 pounds, however, many parents want to ditch the space consuming -- but ultimately safe car seat -- and strap a child directly into an adult seat belt.
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Paternity testing can change the life of a child as well as the lives of the adults tested. Paternity testing provides highly accurate results within a few days.
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During surgical anesthesia, respiratory reflexes such as gag reflexes that normally prevent vomited food or gastric juices from entering the lungs are suppressed. Food, stomach juices, blood or saliva can enter the trachea, the tube that leads to the lungs.
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Menstrual cycles cease during pregnancy. After a woman gives birth, menstrual cycles may not occur at the same interval or last the same amount of time as they did before pregnancy. Some women also experience a change in menstrual flow, with periods becoming lighter or heavier.
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Once you know you're pregnant, your next concern will likely be, "Is my baby developing normally?" Measuring your blood level of the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin, or HCG, produced by the growing placenta, every few days can help determine whether your pregnancy is progressing well.
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It's possible to have what appears to be a period, even if you're pregnant. It's also possible to have a negative home pregnancy test and still be pregnant. If you think you might be pregnant, even though you're having vaginal bleeding and you have a negative pregnancy test, talk to your medical provider.
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Umbilical hernia, protrusion of the intestine into a weakened opening in the abdominal muscle, occurs more often in infants than adults. Around 2 percent of adults develop an umbilical hernia, M. Velasco of Puerto Rico University Hospital Department of Surgery reported in 1999 in “Hernia.
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You probably don't consciously evaluate your child's color each day, but your parental radar might alert you to the fact that your child looks paler than usual.
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Progesterone plays an important role in the regulation of your menstrual cycle. This hormone also helps maintain a uterine lining suitable for the implantation of an embryo if you get pregnant. A low progesterone level can affect your menstrual cycle, cause symptoms in perimenopause or threaten a pregnancy.
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As nice as it would be, nature doesn't include an abdominal window so you can see your baby's sex before birth.
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