This is the last stage in pregnancy i.e the third trimester where some ladies become increasingly uncomfortable as their due date nears. The fetus grows in size and crowds the abdominal cavity, some mothers-to-be have difficulty taking deep breaths or getting comfortable at night for sleep, while others are free from any discomfort as they anxiously await the arrival of their new son or daughter. The following is a list of changes and symptoms that a woman may experience during the third trimester and includes:

• Increased skin temperature, as the fetus radiates body heat, may cause the mother to feel hot.

• The increased urinary frequency returns due to increased pressure being placed on the bladder.

• Swelling of the ankles, hands, and fa occur (called edema), as the mother continues to retain fluids.

• Hair may begin to grow on a woman's arms, legs, and face due to increase hormone stimulation of hair follicles.

• Hair may also feel coarser.

• Leg cramps may become more frequent.

• Stretch marks may appear on the abdomen, breast, thighs, and buttocks.

• Dry, itchy skin may persist, particularly on the abdomen, as the skin continues to grow and stretch.

• A woman's libido (sexual drive) may decrease.

The crucial time for a mom to be, this week, your baby measures about 16 inches long. He weighs a little over 3 pounds and is headed for a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and he's beginning to accumulate a layer of fat underneath his skin in preparation for life as a newborn. As a result, his arms, legs, and body are filling out. She has very tiny toe nails and her fingernails have grown in, too. Some babies have a head of hair already; others have only peach fuzz.


Tips How To Take Care of Your Baby in 8th Month

• If you're having trouble sleeping at night, try wedging a pillow between your legs and behind your back.
• If frequent trips to the bathroom are robbing you of your zz's, cut back on fluids by late afternoon or evening.
• You may be feeling a little fatigued lately, and that's perfectly understandable.
• If you have to spend a lot of time on your feet, try wearing a maternity belt that supports your abdomen and helps redistribute some of the weight.
• Many midwives recommend massaging the perineum (the area around your vagina) to help prevent tearing during childbirth. This is a good time to start, though not everyone is comfortable with this technique and it may not help in every case. You can learn how to do it here.
• You may notice itchy red bumps or welts on your belly (they might even spread to your thighs and buttocks).

Congratulations, until now, the embryo has been a mass of cells, but by this point in your pregnancy a distinct shape begins to form. The neural tube, which will eventually form into the spinal cord and brain, runs from the top to the bottom of the embryo. A bulge in the center of the embryo will develop into your baby's heart. At this time, the placenta develops. It is through the placenta and its fingerlike projections, called chorionic villi, that an embryo receives nourishment from its mother


Food That U Should Avoid During This Period

* Soft Cheeses Such As Feta, Goat, Brie, Camembert, And Blue Cheese
* Unpasteurized Milk And Juices
* Raw Or Undercooked Meats, Including Hot Dogs And Deli Meats
* Raw Eggs Or Foods Containing Raw Eggs, Including Mousse And Tiramisu
* Raw Shellfish
* Paté

The journey of a baby from uterus to the outside world is a dangerous journey. The skull has to mould to facilitate passage through the pelvis and there may be cephalo-pelvic disproportion (CPD). Malposition increases risk whilst malpresentation demands caesarian section. Contractions tax the reserve of the placenta. The lungs and circulation undergo great changes. Difficulties in delivery may compound the situation. Delivery may need to be expedited because of fetal distress.

Injuries may be caused by a combination of mechanical trauma and hypoxia but this article will concentrate on mechanical injuries.

Birth injuries may be minor and transient but they can produce serious and permanent effect as well as being fatal. It used to be assumed that most cases of cerebral palsy were due to obstetric mismanagement but nowadays the figure for those caused by obstetric trauma is put at around 5%.


The Factors That Increases The Risk Factors of Skull Injuries During Pregnancy

* The size of baby especially if weighing more than 4,500g
* Instrumental delivery, especially midcavity forceps or ventouse delivery for deep transverse arrest
* Breech delivery.
* A premature baby has a small head and incompletely formed skull and precipitate delivery can cause "champagne cork popping", risking intracranial haemorrhage.
* Shoulder dystocia
* A skilled midwife or obstetrician will reduce the risk
* Cephalopelvic disproportion

These are some of the hideous facts about tenage pregnancy that we can not ignore in present day scenario. So we have to keep the following information in mind.

• Each year the federal government alone spends $40 billion to help families that began with a teenage birth.
• Nearly 80% of unmarried teen mothers end up on welfare.
• The sons of teenage mothers are 13% more likely to end up in prison, the daughters are 22 % more likely to become teen mothers themselves.
• 3 in 10 girls will experience at least one pregnancy before reaching age 20.
• Only 41% of teenage mothers graduate from high school and only 1.5% will earn a college degree by age 30.
• Nearly 80% of fathers of babies born to teen mothers do not marry their babies mothers.

• Babies born to teenage mothers are less likely to receive proper nutrition, health care, and cognitive and social stimulation. As a result, they may have an underdeveloped intellect and attain lower academic achievement.

• Baby Girls born to teenage mothers are 22% more likely to become teenage mothers.

• Babies born to teenage mothers are at greater risk for abuse and neglect.

• Baby Boys born to teenage mothers are 13% more likely to be incarcerated.

It is easy to quit smoking -- anyone can do it, for a brief time but not taking it up again -- that is the part that has proven so difficult for most people, especially those who have been exposed to nicotine before birth.

Researches have suggested that at pregnant women should quit smoking to avoid exposing their unborn children to nicotine, and that they should do so without the use of nicotine products such as patches or gums that also present a risk to the baby.

Smoking during pregnancy can harm the baby in ways that extend far beyond preterm delivery or low birth weight. It may cause changes in the brain development of the baby that can last a lifetime.The researchers studied two groups of rats: those that had been exposed to nicotine prenatally and those that had not. Initially, both groups of rats consumed nicotine at the same rates -- about ten hits per session. After four weeks, the researchers forced the rats to go "cold turkey" for a week, during which they had no access to nicotine. Once the scientists restored access to nicotine again, they witnessed a dramatic difference in the rates at which the two groups resumed the habit. The rats that had been exposed prenatally took nearly double the nicotine hits compared with those that had not.

While the rates of smoking in the United States are declining, approximately a quarter of Americans have mothers who smoked during pregnancy. Previous studies have shown these individuals have a higher chance of sudden infant death syndrome, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, obesity and even of becoming a lifelong smoker themselves.

Scientists have discovered that women on low-calorie diets or who skip breakfast at the time of conception are more likely to give birth to girls than boys. It also shows that child's sex is associated with the mother's diet, and higher energy intake is linked to males.

There has been a small but consistent decline, of about one per 1,000 births annually, in the proportion of boys being born in industrialized countries over the past 40 years.In humans, going without breakfast may be interpreted by the body as signaling low food availability, since it depresses levels of blood sugar.

Although sex is genetically determined by fathers, it is known that high levels of glucose encourage the growth and development of male embryos while inhibiting female ones, although the exact mechanism is unclear. In evolutionary terms, this correlation may make sense.

Males' breeding potential is strongly influenced by fitness, while females breed more consistently.

"If a mother has plentiful resources then it can make sense to invest in producing a son because he is likely to produce more grandchildren than would a daughter. However, in leaner times having a daughter is a safer bet," Mathews said.

Some researchers have been sounding alarms for years over the change in sex ratios in developed countries and have in the past blamed pollutants and synthetic chemicals such as those found in some pesticides which disrupt human hormones.

Doctors has introduced a new formula that significantly improves embryo implantation rates and reduce pregnancy complications in assisted reproductive technology. Existing assisted reproductive technology procedures triple the risk of pregnancy complications such as miscarriage, preeclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction and pre-term births, some of which are life-threatening to the mother or her baby. But, the researchers hope to correct these problems with the new treatment.

According to lead researcher professor Claire Roberts, "Assisted reproductive technologies provide some hope for the couples, but they have a relatively poor success rate with 15% to 40% of embryo transfers resulting in ongoing pregnancies, depending on maternal age.

"Fertility in women declines significantly with age, and so too does the success of ART. Since women are delaying childbearing, ART is increasingly required to make couples' desire to have children a reality. ART techniques act primarily to facilitate conception, rather than to promote embryo implantation and placentation. Therefore, they do not assist in some forms of infertility and pregnancy complications............

• Morning sickness in pregnancy
• Indigestion and heartburn in pregnancy
• Itching (cholestasis) during pregnancy
• Low lying placenta praevia
• Constipation in pregnancy
• Bleeding in pregnancy
• Backache in pregnancy
• Hemorrhoids
• Constipation in pregnancy
• Baby anxiety
• Stretch marks

New research shows that the mothers of some children may have made antibodies against their fetuses brain tissue during pregnancy that crossed the placenta and caused changes that led to autism.
The causes of autism, a disorder manifesting itself with a range of brain problems and marked by impaired social interactions, communication disorders and repetitive behaviors, remain unknown for an estimated 90 percent of children diagnosed with it.

Scientists caution that the findings neednt be cause for alarm, but should be viewed instead as a step forward in untangling the complex nature of autism.

Mostly anecdotal past evidence of immune system involvement has emerged from unusual antibody levels in some autistic children and from postmortem brain tissue studies showing immune abnormalities in areas of the brain. Antibodies are proteins the body makes in response to viruses and bacteria or sometimes mistakenly against its own tissues. Yet, the majority of children with autism have no clinical evidence of autoimmune diseases, which prompted scientists to wonder whether the antibodies transferred from mother to child during pregnancy could interfere with the fetal brain directly.

To test their hypothesis, the research team used a technique called immunoblotting (or Western blot technology), in which antibodies derived from blood samples are exposed to adult and fetal brain tissue to check whether the antibodies recognize and react against specific brain proteins.

Comparing the antibody-brain interaction in samples obtained from 100 mothers of autistic children and 100 mothers of children without autism, scientists found either stronger reactivity or more areas of reactivity between antibodies and brain proteins in about 40 percent of the samples obtained from the mothers of autistic children. Further, the presence of maternal antibodies was linked to so-called developmental regression in children, increasingly immature behaviors that are a hallmark of autism.

While the findings suggest an association between autism and the presence of fetal brain antibodies, the researchers say further studies are needed to confirm that particular antibodies do indeed cross the placenta and cause damage to the fetal brain.

The mere fact that a pregnant woman has antibodies against the fetal brain doesnt mean she will have an autistic child, Singer says. Autism is a complex condition and one that is likely caused by the interplay of immune, genetic and environmental factors.

No one in this universe can guarantee to deliver a baby without the risk for barin injury during birth that can happen because of following

• Prolonged Labor

• Prematurity - delivery before 37 weeks

• Large birthweight - eight pounds, 13 ounces or more • Size of maternal pelvis

• Abnormal presentation - breech delivery

Ways that birth can injure the baby's brain

1. Skull Injury: A baby's skull is soft and the bones are not firmly fused. That means that if anything compresses the skull, it can damage the brain. This could be done by: • The force of labor contractions against the skull - which would usually not cause lasting damage. But sometimes the scalp is bruised and the associated swelling can cause brain injury • Too strong a use of forceps - which can compress the skull and cause lasting brain injury

2. Lack of oxygen :Insufficient oxygen to the baby's brain for too long a period will cause permanent brain injury. Ways this can happen are: • The baby does not get enough oxygen in between contractions to last for the duration of contractions, when oxygen stops flowing through the placenta. • The baby is born prematurely with inadequately developed lungs. Therefore when it takes the first breath after birth, it is immediately in Respiratory Distress Syndrome. This can be treated with an artificial surfactant to substitute for the baby's missing natural surfactant in the lungs. It's a foamy substance that lowers surface tension inside the tiny lung air sacs and keeps them from collapsing. But if it is not done quickly, the brain can be deprived of oxygen too long and sustain injury.

• Fetal distress: during birth was not noticed. If no fetal monitoring is done of the baby's heart rate, the delivery room staff may not know it is getting insufficient oxygen. A baby with fetal distress should be immediately be given a C-section. • Placental abruption - the placenta separates from the uterine wall, therefore being cut off from the mother's blood circulation. This lowers the baby's blood circulation. • Cord prolapse - the umbilical cord becomes pinched during birth, cutting off the baby's supply of oxygen

All these situations need swift intervention to prevent brain injury to the baby.

4. Cerebral palsy :This is a name for a cluster of results of brain injury during birth. They are permanent conditions of disordered physical movement, posture and balance. The impairment becomes evident in infancy, as the child is slow to learn how to sit, crawl and walk. Each case is individual. There may be seizures, breathing problems, bladder control problems, dental problems, and many more, and they can range from mild to very severe.