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Phases of Pregnancy and What to Expect

So, you're going to have a baby! You probably can't believe that you have a new little human being growing inside of you. Many women find themselves in shock for the first little while after they find out, whether it was a planned pregnancy or not. Lots of women can tell that they're pregnant even before they went to the doctor's office and found out for sure, just by the fact that their body felt different. If you have been through this before, you probably have a pretty good idea of what to expect, but if this will be your first child, then you are probably spending a fair amount of time wondering what it will be like. Although it can be very different from woman to woman, and even from pregnancy to pregnancy, here is a rough guideline of what you can expect through the various stages of pregnancy, broken down into trimesters (a trimester is three months):

First trimester

Everyone you know, and even complete strangers, will be telling you all kinds of weird stories about their aunts or their sisters, and everything that they've ever heard about pregnancy. There are countless superstitions and old wives tales about the subject matter. The important thing to remember is not to believe everything you hear, and that just because something happened to one person, doesn't mean that it will happen to you. As you probably already have noticed, your breasts are probably very sore and tender. For many women, this is why they first suspect that they're pregnant. Also, you may have noticed that you're making more trips to the ladies room in a day, it seems like you have to pee twice as much as usual. One of the hardest things to deal with though is the nausea that you may be experiencing. Some women are only sick for a few hours in the morning (thus the term morning sickness), but really, it can happen at any time of day, and for varying lengths of time during the day. Luckily, the vomiting usually only lasts a month or two before it stops. It is also quite common to have a particular food that you usually quite like gross you right out. You will also discover you just can't stand the smell or taste of a variety of foods that normally don't bother you in the least. The first trimester is also always symbolized by fatigue. You will barely have the energy to get yourself to work every day and function properly, you may fear that you will be too tired to do anything again. Don't worry, your energy level will increase again in the third or fourth month. You also may find that you get more blemishes than usual, but this shouldn't last too long either. If you are prone to headaches, you may discover that you have more of them than usual, and some women experience accompanying dizziness as well. A common and rather unfortunate aspect of pregnancy that will be the hardest on your partner and others around you is your new found moodiness. It is really quite normal for expectant mothers to begin to cry at the drop of a hat, perhaps over something as simple as not being able to find your car keys. Others are not used to seeing you like this and they are not quite sure just how they should take you, they may pussyfoot around you a little more than usual. Don't get mad about it, it is only because they care and they don't want to upset you. It is important to let your partner know that it isn't something he's doing. You will have to give him reassurance if you want him to try and be understanding.

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