When the delivery of a baby has to happen through a surgical process rather than normal child birth, the procedure is known as a Caesarean Section or a C-section. There are many reasons why one many need to go through this surgical procedure including complications during pregnancy and childbirth. One can also plan for a C-section beforehand by talking it through with a doctor who will recommend the same in case there are any complications and risks at play during the pregnancy. Read on to know more about the procedure.

Reasons: There are many reasons why a doctor may want to go in for a C-section. If the labour is not progressing properly, then a C-section may be required in order to extract the baby. This procedure may also be used in case the baby is not getting proper amount of oxygen which can put it in distress and lead to changes in the heartbeat. Also, if the baby is in an abnormal position like a breech position, then a C-section may be required. This procedure is also used when a woman is carrying twins or triplets. Other health concerns like high blood pressure and genital herpes or even HIV can lead to this procedure. Any mechanical obstruction like fibroids in the birth canal can also cause the doctor to resort to a C-section, while a patient who has delivered via C-section earlier may also be asked to do the same again.

Risks and complications: One has to remember that a C-section takes longer to recover from than normal childbirth and delivery would. Also, it does pose a few risks and complications that may arise during and after the procedure.

Breathing issues: The babies who are born via C-section are more susceptible to a condition known transient tachypnea which is a breathing problem characterised by an abnormally fast rate of breathing in and out. Also, other respiratory distress syndromes may take over subsequently.
Surgical injuries: The doctor may accidentally nick the baby s skin during the surgical process which involves the use of sharp instruments for making the incision.
Inflammation risk: The uterus may undergo inflammation which may also lead to endometriosis as well as infections of the membrane which can cause fever and foul smelling vaginal discharge. The wound may also get infected.
Bleeding: While some amount of bleeding is normal, this procedure can also lead to excessive bleeding in which case immediate medical intervention may be required. Also, the patient may suffer from blood clots inside the veins of the pelvic organs. These clots may also travel to the lungs and cause further complications.

C-Section - Are There Risks Associated With it?

Giving birth is a life-changing event for every mother and it leaves an everlasting impression in your life. Every delivery is unique and you can just gain from the experience of others, but don t expect it to be the same. 
You will experience many changes in your body and will learn to take care of yourself and your growing baby as soon as you find out that you are pregnant. Pain is a part of labour that every woman has to undergo. It is the fear of labour pain that make many pregnant women opt for c-section. However there is no denying the fact that c-section is a major surgery and requires several days to recover.

Keep in mind the following tips to go in for a normal delivery:

Try to get prenatal education, which guides you about labour, birth and natural labour pain management techniques, such as breathing, self-hypnosis, relaxation and other coping mechanisms. You should check with your hospital too as most of them offer an evening or weekend course.
Pick a gynaecologist who has a history in delivering babies naturally.
Keep yourself physically active by doing mild exercises throughout pregnancy.
You should keep a calm environment in your labour room.
Don t gain too much weight as women who aren't overweight do not have much difficulty in delivering babies vaginally.
Opt for fewer rather as more tests, treatments and interventions during your pregnancy tend to interfere with normal birth. Whenever tests or procedures are recommended, you should ask about the need of undergoing such tests.
Continue with your walks as it helps in relieving the pain.
Go in for a water therapy. A shower, bathtub, birthing pool and hot compresses are other tools for easing pain and helping you relax. Spend as much time as possible in water.
Use various positions such as sitting on the toilet, kneeling, and squatting to ease vaginal delivery.
Massage/back rubs equally help in easing the pain.
You can also go in for Effleurage which is a light massage of the abdomen to ease your vaginal delivery.
Apply warm or cold compresses.
Avoid hearing negative stories about labour.
Eat a healthy balanced diet as the health and development of your baby depends on your nutrition.
Stay away from stress and anxiety. Read good books about parenting and be in the company of good lively people.
Use relaxation/breathing techniques to keep yourself calm.
Guided meditation and prayers undoubtedly will reinforce your faith in yourself to deliver a baby vaginally.
Have adequate sleep. Avoid drinking tea or coffee two hours before going to bed in order to have uninterrupted sleep.
Following these tips religiously can definitely increase your chances of having a normal delivery.

Normal Delivery - 18 Things You Must Always Remember!

Menstrual cycle is an integral part of a woman's life. Isse mahilao ki reproductive shakti ka pata lagta hai. A typical menstrual cycle has a timeframe of about 28 days. Lekin kuch ladies mein yeh timeframe 35 days tak bhi ho sakta hai. Every female has different cycle. Usually, it is 11th to 14th day, counting from 1st day of the period, are the most fertile days.

Periods are important because it signifies the childbearing age of a woman. In a normal menstrual cycle, the innermost lining of the uterus starts to thicken to prepare itself for embedding of a growing foetus. In the absence of a foetus, the lining breaks down and results in periods.

Aap periods ke baad kitne din mein pregnant hote hain ye aapke menstrual cycle ki length pe depend karta hai. Typically, in a woman with a normal menstrual cycle length of 28 days, ovulation happens around the 14th day.

Ovulation ke waqt aapki ovary ek mature egg release karti hai. The released egg sits in the Fallopian tube to meet a sperm for fertilization, jiske turant baad aapki pregnancy start ho jaati hai. While a sperm can survive in the uterus of a woman for up to three to five days, female egg sirf 12 to 24 hours ke liye available rehta hai.

Yadi is timeframe ke beech sperm, egg se mil jaata hai toh aapke pregnant hone ke chances zyada hote hain. While it may not be a great idea to try getting pregnant after ovulation, egg release hone se pehle agar aap koshish karein toh pregnancy possible hai.

Therefore, periods hone ke baad se 12th to 16th day pregnancy ke liye kaafi crucial hote hain. In case you have unprotected sex during these days, then there are bright chances that you may get pregnant in this window.

There are certain signs of ovulation that indicates that your body is the most fertile in those particular days. For example, ovulation ki date ke aaspaas aap abdominal bloating, pet ke ek side mein dard aur increases sense of smell mehsus kar sakte hain.

In addition, there is an excessive production of clear cervical mucous, which closely resembles egg white. Agar aap ye symptoms experience karein to iska matlab hai ki your ovulation date is near and you can try and get pregnant around this time.

One way to determine your individual fertile period is to keep a record of your menstrual cycle (for eight or more months, if possible). Select your shortest cycle (say 27 days) and subtract 18 from it. The resulting number nine is your first potentially fertile day. Subtract 11 from your longest cycle (say 30 days) and you get 19. This marks your last potentially fertile day. So if the cycles you measured over several months were between 27 and 30 days long, you would be most fertile somewhere between days 9 and 19. 

This is still a very wide window of opportunity. You can narrow it further by charting your basal body temperature (your morning temperature before getting out of bed). For most women, it ranges from 96 to 98 degrees Fahrenheit. When your temperature rises slightly (four- to eight-tenths of a degree), it usually means you have ovulated within the past 12 to 24 hours. 


Periods Ke Kitne Din Baad Pregnant Hote Hai

Pregnancy is one of the most exciting and anxious phase in a woman s life. There is definitely an information overload from all sources i.e. family, friends, medical team, books, Internet, etc., that is dumped on the mother-to-be. The idea is to prepare her for the delivery. What needs to be borne in mind though is that each delivery is unique and there are no two women who have had the exact same experience.

However, it is good for the mother to know what to expect so that she is mentally prepared and not totally caught unawares when the actual scenes unfold. The following are the sequence of events that she should be aware of and watch out for:

With the due date nearing, she should keep a watch for the water breaking. This is passing of fluid surrounding the baby and is usually colorless and odorless. However, if it is green or brown, it is an indication that something might be wrong. Immediate medical help should be sought in that case.
Along with water breaking, contractions is the next thing to watch out for. This is due to the tightening and releasing of the uterus, indicating that the baby has begun to descend down towards the cervix. If these last for up to a minute, occur every five minutes, and persist for up to an hour, it is a clear indication that it is delivery time and you must head to the hospital.
Two sensations very prominent during delivery are pain and pressure. The pressure is from the baby passing down the birth canal. As the cervix and the vaginal canal expand to allow passage of the baby, there would be a great deal of pain and pressure. It is not just the mother, even the baby exerts significant pressure to come out of the womb during labor.
The process of the baby getting out of the womb is what is medically termed as labor and has three distinct stages to it:
The first stage has two parts to it i.e. an initial, gradual phase that may last for a few hours and a later, quicker phase. The rate of progress of delivery is steady.
The second stage usually lasts for about two hours, during which the cervix is minimally dilated and pushing begins. This stage lasts until the baby is out of the womb.
The third and the last stage is where the placenta is extracted and the umbilical cord is cut.
Some common problems you may expect include injury or tearing of the vagina or cervix, need for episiotomy, vomiting, passing of motion, anesthetic complications, etc. However, what would remain etched in the mother s memory would be the first sight of the baby.

The Top Things To Know About Delivering A Child!

4 Exercises That'll Help You During Labour

There are technical ways in which you can get your body all set for labour. Although you may not know how your labour will progress, you can ease the pain that you experience during childbirth to a significant extent by doing these four exercises:

1. Kegel exercises: These exercises target the muscles that provide support to your bladder, uterus, urethra and rectum. By strengthening the muscles of the pelvic floor, these exercises help in improving the flow of blood to your vaginal and rectal area. Kegel exercises involve contracting of the muscles of your pelvic floor as you would do if you had to prevent passing urine or stool. It is also known to reduce the duration of the pushing stage of childbirth, which is the second stage. You can do the exercises sitting or standing and in either of the two ways-

Slow Kegels: For this, contract the muscles of your pelvic floor and hold them for 3-10 seconds. Release and repeat the exercise for ten times.

Fast Kegels: To be able to do this, you need to contract and loosen up your pelvic muscles 25-50 times. Do the set for about 4 times with 5 seconds interval between each set.


2. Squatting: Practising squatting during your pregnancy can help in preparing your pelvic muscles for labour. While strengthening your thighs, it opens up your pelvis for an easy descent of the baby. So, here's what you should do:

1. Begin by standing behind a chair for support with your feet wide apart

2. While contracting your abdominal muscles, relax your shoulders and chest before lowering your tailbone towards the floor

3. While inhaling and exhaling deeply, push into your legs and go back into a standing position


3. Pelvic Tilt: This exercise helps in strengthening the muscles of your back, pelvis and thigh regions while improving posture. Ensuring your pelvic joints remain flexible, it eases the pain experienced during delivery. 

Here's how it's done:

1. Get down on both your hands and knees while keeping your head in a parallel position with your back

2. While arching your back, pull in your stomach

3. Hold this position for a few seconds before releasing

The exercise needs to be repeated 3-5 times - all the while maintaining a strong hold on your back and stomach.


4. Tailor pose: The tailor pose is designed to help relax your hip joints as well as open up the pelvis. It also helps in improving your body posture while easing the aches that occur in the lower part of your back. For this, you need to perform the following steps:

1. While keeping your back straight, sit comfortably on the floor

2. Placing the soles of both the feet together, press your knees gently towards the floor

3. Keep the position for 10-15 seconds
You can repeat the exercise for 5-10 times.





4 Exercises That'll Help You During Labour

Pregnancy brings with it a new set of additional responsibilities. The mother has to be extra vigilant about monitoring and caring for her health. This ensures that sufficient nutrition is being provided to the growing infant, at the same time, ensuring no harm comes to you. Listed below are some simple ways to do the same.

1. Prenatal care: As soon as you realize you are pregnant, it is advisable to talk to a doctor or a midwife about proper prenatal care. This could include anything and everything from prenatal vitamins to food habits to exercise to sleeping habits to periodic scanning and a number of other things that your doctor will prescribe.

2. Diet: You need to ensure two things that is you are eating enough for two people and everything is healthy and not harmful for the little one that gets all its nutrition through you. The diet should be healthy, nutritious, wholesome and of course free of junk. Some pointers to a healthy diet include:

a. Include a good amount of fruits and vegetables every day; break it into five small portions.
b. Sufficient amount of carbohydrates should be the basis of each meal.
c. Whole grains are preferred to white grains, which also give good amount of fiber.
d. A good amount of proteins including fish, eggs, meat, nuts, pulses, milk, and other dairy products.
e. Ensure adequate amount of iron, calcium, and other minerals are included in the diet.
f. Avoid eating unpasteurized dairy products, uncooked or undercooked food and smoked seafood.
g. While most vitamin requirements should be met through the diet, in some people, prenatal vitamins which provide the increased demands for folic acid.

3. Weight gain: If your weight was normal for your age and height before pregnancy, expect to add about 12 to 15 kg during your pregnancy. Consult with your doctor on weight changes and nutritional aspects to monitor weight throughout pregnancy. This could change based on if it is twins, your weight before pregnancy, and body type.

4. Exercise: Exercising during pregnancy is being increasingly encouraged for the following reasons:

a. Improved energy levels
b. Controls back pain
c. Improved sleep pattern
d. Improves constipation
e. Improves muscles strength and endurance
There are specific exercises designed to benefit the pregnant women. Whether it is walking or swimming aimed at improving overall health or Kegel exercises aimed at improving vaginal and perineal muscles, your doctor should be able to draw up a routine.

5. Lifestyle changes: With pregnancy setting in, it is time to bid goodbye to smoking and drinking alcohol. Continued smoking after onset of pregnancy has many serious complications, including growth retardation, low birth weight. Alcohol can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth and premature delivery.

These are simple ways to monitor and care for your and of course, the baby's health throughout pregnancy.

5 Ways to Monitor and Care for Your Health During Pregnancy

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