Pregnancy

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Can I put a hot pad on my stomach?

Expert

Generally, it is best not to put too much heat near the baby because heat can be transmitted to the baby and increase the temperature inside so it is preferable not to do it . You can put a hot pad on your back because it doesn't transmit so much directly under your tummy to the womb. You can put your heat pad on your shoulder or your neck but preferably not directly on the abdomen where the womb is.

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What are the signs of gestational diabetes?

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Unfortunately, there are no obvious signs that's why we have to do screening tests. Every time when you go for your follow up, the doctor will do a urine dipstick test to check. If you have sugar in the urine more than twice the normal amount, then they check for gestational diabetes or the oral glucose tolerance test. Having sugar in the urine can be a normal thing during pregnancy because more blood flows to the kidneys, which doesn't have the time to absorb everything so the sugar passes through in the urine. It doesn't mean your body cannot handle the the sugar level. It is just a filtration absorption thing. Gestational diabetes is not sugar in the urine but an inability to handle the sugar in the blood to metabolize it well. During the follow-up, we usually look out for whether the baby is too big or the water level is too much as signs of diabetes. It is difficult to distinguish between general pregnancy and gestational diabetes symptoms.

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What are the risks of gestational diabetes for me and the baby?

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If you have gestational diabetes, your baby may be at increased risk of: - Excessive birth weight. Higher than normal blood sugar in mothers can cause their babies to grow too large. Very large babies — those who weigh 4kg or more — are more likely to become wedged in the birth canal, have birth injuries or need a C-section birth. - Early (preterm) birth. High blood sugar may increase women's risk of early labor and delivery before the due date. Or early delivery may be recommended because the baby is large. - Serious breathing difficulties. Babies born early to mothers with gestational diabetes may experience respiratory distress syndrome — a condition that makes breathing difficult. - Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). Sometimes babies of mothers with gestational diabetes have low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) shortly after birth. Severe episodes of hypoglycemia may cause seizures in the baby. Prompt feedings and sometimes an intravenous glucose solution can return the baby's blood sugar level to normal. - Obesity and type 2 diabetes later in life. Babies of mothers who have gestational diabetes have a higher risk of developing obesity and type 2 diabetes later in life. - Stillbirth. Untreated gestational diabetes can result in a baby's death either before or shortly after birth.

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How often should I feel my baby move at 21 weeks?

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It is very variable, starting from about 20 weeks for first time mothers and from 18 weeks for second and subsequent pregnancies. It is very subtle such as just rumbling in the stomach and slowly builds up to actual proper obvious movements. Different individuals experience different movements but in general, if you're not sure about your baby's movement being well or not, we put you on the foetal movement chart where you are supposed to monitor baby movement and collect at least 10 movements over a 12 hour period usually from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM. So if you start counting and you reach 10 movements by 11:00 AM for example, you can stop counting for the rest of the day. The key thing is to monitor whether the baby is moving the same as yesterday and not less movements or else you have to see your doctor to find out if there is something wrong, not going well or any trouble. People who are stressed at work and those who are cough/antihistamine medication resulting in possibly a numb feeling may feel less movement. In general, a lot of people go to full term thinking that their baby is moving less but in actual fact, they are actually weaker movements due to less space (smaller movements), but the number of movements should be the same.

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Why are some babies born with low birth weight?

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Some could be due to hereditary reasons but what we are afraid of is babies with low birth weights because they are not growing well, also know as intra uterine growth restriction/retardation (IUGR). Babies not growing well could be due to the mother having a medical problem. For example, high blood pressure or badly controlled diabetes, which can affect the growth of the baby. Sometimes, it's due to he lack of oxygen for many reasons - it could be an umbilical cord being twisted or the placenta is not healthy so less blood flow to the baby, the mother having an infection that gets transmitted to the baby. Other reasons include chronic alcoholism, chronic smoking and use of recreational drugs. These are some common reasons in addition to the baby having structural or chromosomal abnormalities.

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My breasts are getting bigger. Is this normal?

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The breasts are expected to grow even during pregnancy. After delivery, the breast will be larger than usual because of lactation, which is quite common. Hormonal changes can cause the breast to swell and feel tender. You still need to do your own self examination as lumps or cancer can still occur during pregnancy.

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How do I deal with breathlessness?

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It all depends on the cause of your breathlessness. Common causes include anemia, asthma and heart problems. Even if you do not have any of these issues, your lungs may feel some restriction to inhalation expansion as your womb is growing bigger. Patients tend to take smaller breaths, which could result in feeling breathless as well and some eventually get used to it. To make it better, the patient should be healthy and active so that there is a lower tendency to feel breathlessness. Certainly, if you're breathles other than in pregnancy alone, we will have to assess for any possible reason that's treatable such as anemia which is very common. To alleviate this problem is to stay healthy and to start exercising early. When you start exercising early, your lung capacity build up so you may not feel so breathless. You should continue exercising throughout your pregnancy.

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What is NST? Is a Negative Non Stress Test cause for worry?

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A nonstress test isnot a routine test done by everyone. It is for situations such as if your baby is not moving so much. There's a machine called the Cardiotocography (CTG) where you use a sensor on the tummy while the other probe measures the contraction. If the probe shows that baby is sleepy and not moving much, we usually try to stimulate the baby to see if the baby wakes up. his simulation can be done by movement tapping or using a sound as a buzzer to buzz onto the abdomen to stress the baby and see whether the baby moves and react.

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How will pregnancy affect my back and pelvis?

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As you get bigger, the heavier weight in front will cause the back to hunch over, easily straining your back. If you don't do anything about it, you may get chronic backache in the long run. We always tell people to try to do stretching (stretch all round). Swimming via breaststroke can also help stretch your back and relieve the pressure. The other thing that happens in pregnancy is that joints will swell a bit and pelvic girdle joint - if already lax - may have severe pain which may require painkillers for severe cases. Stretching and physiotherapy will help slowly loosen the tightness in the ligaments, which will help with the pain.

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Will I develop gestational diabetes if I'm overweight?

Expert

Not necessarily, but being overweight does increase your chances of developing gestational diabetes. The higher your body mass index (BMI), the greater your risk. If you have a BMI of over 30, you're more than three times more likely to develop gestational diabetes than if you have a BMI of 25 or below.

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