Sometime during the second trimester you will begin feeling your baby move. The first movements will feel more like butterflies in your tummy, or light tickling coming from the inside. As your baby gets bigger you will start feeling light taps and kicks letting you know that your baby is awake and is playing inside his little world.

As you go through the third trimester, the movements become more definite and more detectable. You are able to detect a kick from a punch as well as feel your baby flip and roll. As the baby gets bigger you start to guess what it is you see moving along your belly. Is it an elbow? Is it your babies foot?

Eventually the baby gets too big to do the flips and rolls, so he tried to stretch and play in other ways. He may start head butting you in your bladder, making you have to visit the bathroom constantly and find that nothing is coming out. He may stick out his elbow, poking you in the side as to say, “Mommy, I am here!”

If he is head down you might feel him stretching into your ribs, using his feet to push against your bones and muscles. You might feel pressure at the top of your uterus from the baby pushing on the inside. If you put your hand and push back you may feel a little ball. It makes you have to ask, is that his knee or his heel? You can start playing a game with your baby because he will probably move this body part to another position in your belly, which you can follow him and gently push back. You will be telling your baby, “I know you are there, I am here too.”

The movements of your baby are definitely the best part of pregnancy and as they get stronger in the third trimester, they make up for all the aches and pains you may have had in the first trimester from the morning sickness and fatigue you probably felt. The movements are normally the first thing a woman says that she MISSES about being pregnant, if not the only thing.

During pregnancy, your body creates a temporary organ called the placenta. The placenta is necessary during pregnancy in order for your baby to grow and be healthy. After the birth of your baby, your doctor or midwife will also have you deliver the placenta, as it is no longer needed.

The placenta is created during the first trimester but is not fully functional until the second trimester when it takes over all the nutrient production and waste management for the baby. The placenta is both genetically and biologically composed of two equal parts from the fetus and the mother. It is connected to the uterine wall and connected to the baby through the umbilical cord. It receives nutrients and oxygen and filters out any waste from the mother’s blood before delivering the blood to the baby via the umbilical cord.

Until the placenta takes over, a woman naturally produces progesterone to keep the baby viable. As soon as the placenta takes over it starts creating its own progesterone to sustain the pregnancy. After delivery of the placenta the cord is clamped near the baby and cut off permanently disconnecting the baby from the placenta. The entrance of the umbilical cord into the baby’s body later becomes the baby’s belly button.

Some cultures practice placentophagy which is the eating of the placenta. Those who do this believe that eating the placenta helps prevent postpartum depression and other complications. However, modern doctors and midwives do not believe that eating the placenta will actually help reduce the occurrence of postpartum depression.

In some pregnancies, placenta previa can occur. Placenta previa is a condition where the placenta covers at least part of the cervix, which is the opening that the baby will come through when born vaginally. This happens in about one of every 200 pregnancies. There are 3 types of placenta previa.

• Complete
  Complete placenta previa is the placenta covering the entire cervix. This can cause bleeding throughout the pregnancy, growth retardation and congenital defects in baby. It will also mean that a woman will need a c-section when it comes time to deliver her baby.
   
• Partial
  Partial placenta previa is a partial covering of cervix is covered. This can be anywhere from 1/4 to 3/4 of the cervix. This can also cause bleeding and may lead to a c-section.
   
• Marginal
  Marginal placenta previa occurs when just a small portion, or just the edge of the cervix, is covered. In this case, as the pregnancy progresses, the placenta will generally move up and out of the way, allowing a clear passage for the baby to be born vaginally.

If you experience bleeding during your pregnancy, you should talk to your doctor and rule out the possibility of any bleeding being caused by placenta previa.

One of the first tests that your doctor or midwife will do early in the first trimester, is to check blood iron levels. This test is generally run again during the second trimester to determine that iron levels are staying normal during the pregnancy.

Low iron levels in pregnancy are a common problem for women of childbearing age across the world. Many times if a woman’s iron levels are low, her doctor or midwife will prescribe an iron supplement for her to take during pregnancy.

There have been some studies done over the past few years which suggest that low iron levels in a mother during pregnancy can affect the child’s mental development in negative ways. Children who are born to anemic mothers tend to score lower on a series of tests given to them, than the children who were born to mothers that had normal or high iron levels in their blood.

Besides the iron suppllement pills, a woman can eat more foods that are naturally high in iron during her pregnancy in order to increase the iron levels. Foods high in iron include meats, egg yolks, dried beans or peas, green leafy vegetables, dried fruits, nuts and grains.

If you are trying to get pregnant and have low iron levels, or are afraid that you will have low iron levels, there are things you can do prior to pregnancy to try to increase your iron. If you are planning on getting pregnant, you should start taking prenatal pills immediately, versus waiting till you are already pregnant. Also, start eating more iron-rich foods, remembering that foods coming from animals (the meat and eggs) have higher levels of iron in them than the foods coming from vegetables. If you are not a big meat eater, eating just a small amount of meat with your iron-rich vegetables will dramatically increase the amount of iron that is absorbed from those vegetables.

Adding Vitamin C to your meals will also help increase the amount of iron that is absorbed into your body. If you are consuming mostly vegetables to get your iron, avoid tea while eating them because the tea can prevent or reduce iron absorption. Also, try cooking food in an iron skillet, as the iron from the skillet adds to the iron levels in the food.

If you are worried or unsure about your iron levels during your pregnancy, be sure to ask your doctor or midwife if they have any additional suggestions for you to help you raise the levels while you are pregnant.

When you are pregnant, your baby starts moving around as early as six weeks, into the pregnancy, about the time the heart starts beating. As the legs, arms, hands and feet are formed, you can actually see this movement during an ultrasound long before you can feel it in your body.

There is no set rule as to when you will first feel your baby move. The first movements that a woman can feel are generally referred to as fluttering. Some women say it feels like butterflies in their stomach. Others say it feels like gas. In reality it can be hard to tell if this fluttering is in fact your baby moving.

Some women claim that they can feel this fluttering as early as 12 weeks. Other women don’t feel anything until 20 weeks or even later. There are many reasons for this wide timespan.

Women who are very thin, or have had previous pregnancies, often start to feel their baby earlier than women in their first pregnancy. If a woman is overweight, the extra pounds around her belly could shield some of the movements as well.

Another thing to consider is the position of the placenta. If the placenta is positioned in the front of her uterus, it functions as a pad as the baby kicks. It will take longer for the mother to feel her baby kick. The baby will have to get bigger and stronger in order for his movements to penetrate through the placenta.

If you haven’t felt your baby move, do not worry. As long as your doctor says all is fine at your appointments, and you hear the heartbeat, you know all is ok. By the time you get to the third trimester the baby will be moving, kicking, tossing and turning so much that it may sometimes be painful, and you will be asking him to settle down and go to sleep!

Besides a woman’s breasts being tender and swollen early in the first trimester of pregnancy, a woman may notice changes to her areolas and nipples. New hormones running through her body may cause your nipples to become bigger and darker than they normally are.

As your breasts get bigger, your nipples naturally get bigger as well. The darkening of the nipples is caused by a temporary increase of melanin, the natural pigment that your body produces that gives your hair, skin and eyes their color. For most women, within a few months of having their baby, the nipples will return to their normal color and size. If a woman is breastfeeding, the nipples may not return to their normal size until after she weans her baby.

Another change in the nipples that a woman may discover once she gets pregnant are the Montgomery’s tubercles (glands or little bumps surrounding the nipples) getting bigger, elevating and becoming more prominent. Not all women experience this, and some may not experience it till the second or third trimester.

If you do not believe you are pregnant, there are other things that can cause these changes in your nipples. Weight gain can cause your breasts to enlarge, therefore causing your nipples to enlarge. If you like to tan, your nipples may become darker. A hormone imbalance may cause your nipples to get darker, or left over melanin from a previous pregnancy may cause this darkening. If you are not sure what is going on with your body, be sure to ask your doctor.

Starting in the first trimester, many pregnant women find that they have an increasing amount of aches and pains throughout their bodies. Two of the most common are backaches and headaches.

Lower backaches in the first trimester often happen when the egg attaches itself to the uterine wall, and your uterus starts growing in order to support the new pregnancy. The extra pressure can cause the muscles in your lower back to ache. Throughout the second trimester this pain may increase as your belly, while low, starts to get bigger.

By the third trimester, the backache may include your upper back, or may only be in your upper back. By the time you come to the end of your pregnancy, your breasts have grown and weigh approximately 5 pounds more than they did before you got pregnant. Your upper back muscles are working twice as hard to support the extra weight.

If you are in the last days of your pregnancy and suddenly begin experiencing lower back pain, it could be a sign of early labor. Many women have back labor, where the contractions are felt mainly in their backs, rather than the abdomen, causing pain and discomfort. If the contractions radiate from the back to the front, they are most likely true labor contractions. Braxton Hicks contractions generally stay in just the front of a woman’s belly.

Headaches can happen throughout pregnancy, although many women are never affected by them. When a woman gets pregnant, her blood volume increases in order to help sustain the pregnancy. This extra blood can increase pressure in the head and cause headaches. Some women, who have never had a bad headache before, begin experiencing migraines once they get pregnant. If you start getting bad headaches, be sure to check with your doctor to find out what medications are safe to take while you are pregnant.

By the end of pregnancy, a woman might find that her headaches are becoming more frequent. Some women will begin to get them every day, which can complicate other late pregnancy complaints like not being able to sleep.

If you just think you might be pregnant, there are other reasons why you may be experiencing backaches and headaches. If your period is coming, if you are stressed, if you have another back problem, or if you pull a muscle you may find that your back aches more than normal. Impending menstruation, stress, eye strain and dehydration can also cause headaches. When in doubt, always call your doctor.

by Beth Butler

Remember high school? You could choose French or Spanish. What you couldn’t choose was to be the right age to learn a new language easily. You memorized verbs, but you probably didn’t learn to speak fluently.

Today, enlightened school systems know better. Second languages are introduced in elementary school. Little kids do learn more easily than high school students.

But current research says to really do it right, start even earlier. Start when the child is learning a first language. Babies have an astonishing ability to absorb. And in today’s complex world, a second language is not a luxury – it’s a necessity.

We know now that studying a second language offers surprising benefits to children. Research has demonstrated improved ability to communicate, better cognitive development, richer cultural awareness and, ultimately, better job opportunities for those who know a second language.

What’s more, today’s children will all be required to have command of two languages by the time they reach college.

Research suggests that from birth through age 10 is the best time to introduce new languages to a young child. The child will learn the language faster, retain it better and most often speak it with near-native pronunciation. Recent research indicates a young child up through age 5 can learn and process up to five languages!

Many parents deliberate over how to bring a new language into their little one’s life. Many experts agree the bilingual approach for the very young child is best. Teach the new language alongside the native language. It’s as easy as pointing to a cat and saying “cat” then following with “gato.”

This bilingual method provides continuing education in the child’s native tongue while acquiring skills in the new one. Language experts agree the strong sense of pride, higher self-esteem and long term retention are all reasons to introduce the new language with this bilingual/dual-language approach.

Today’s parents know the importance of being bilingual. Now they just need to know where to turn for assistance in finding fun and affordable bilingual products that will bring the target language into their child’s life. The internet has made their search much easier than five years ago. Look for bilingual programs that allow you to sample their visual or audio products on line so that you get a good feel for the content and style of the language learning within that particular program.

Remember to make it fun! Remember to start early! There is a reason Time and Newsweek both ran feature articles on the “window of opportunity” to learn a new language is between birth and age 10. The experts agree, the earlier the better. Don’t miss out on the prime time of your child’s development to provide your child with a lifetime of language skills.

About the Author
(c) 2005 – All Rights Reserved. Beth Butler is the creator of the BOCA BETH Program – a bilingual educational program geared towards helping young children get a head start on becoming bilingual. She motivates and assists educators in developing a bilingual environment for children, and she has developed a program that makes bilingual education a fun and easy part of the normal, child-raising routine for today’s parents. For more information, visit www.bocabeth.com.

by Armin Brott

For a lot of couples, the question about whether to have another child isn’t really a question, it’s a given. For others, though, the issue is more complicated. And most of the problems have to do with exactly what you’re going through in your home: one spouse wants a second (or third) child while the other isn’t nearly as excited about the prospect. Unfortunately, there’s no easy solution to this problem.

The time crunch is a common concern of prospective second-time parents. But it’s usually not the only thing they’re worried about. So sit down and make a list of other factors as well. You might want to start with these:

• Finances. Can you really afford to have another baby? If you answer No, does not having enough money really make a difference for you?
• Your own childhood. Were you an only child or did you have brothers and sisters? How did you like growing up that way?
• Ability to love more than one child. Are you worried that you won’t be able to love your second child as much as the first one? While this is an incredibly common worry, the simple answer is that your capacity to love your children–no matter how many you have–is infinite.
• Labor and delivery. Are you worried about putting your partner through another painful pregnancy and labor? Since she’s the one going through it, leave that decision to her. Consider, though, that while being a parent is exhausting enough, trying to be a parent while you’re pregnant is something altogether different. Is that OK for your partner or not?
• Your firstborn. Do you have a child with a difficult temperament? If so, keep in mind that your next child’s temperament may not exactly mirror your firstborn’s.

When you’ve put your list together and had a chance to think through each of your concerns, schedule a time to talk them over with your wife. You’ll probably find that even though she’s more gung-ho than you are right now, she shares many of them with you.

About the Author
Armin Brott, hailed by Time as “the superdad’s superdad,” has written or co-written six critically acclaimed books on fatherhood, including the newly released second edition of Fathering Your Toddler: A Dad’s Guide to the Second and Third Years. His articles have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, American Baby, Parenting, Child, Men’s Health, The Washington Post among others. Armin is an experienced radio and TV guest, and has appeared on Today, CBS Overnight, Fox News, and Politically Incorrect. He’s the host of “Positive Parenting,” a weekly radio program in the San Francisco Bay Area. Visit Armin at www.mrdad.com.