Pregnancy--Your Baby's Growth and Development Within the Womb

Written by Larry Denton


Parenting does not start once a child is born. Good parenting starts even before you become pregnant. It begins by caring about what you eat, how much sleep and exercise you get and understanding aboutrepparttar stress and responsibilities that come with parenthood. Understanding your baby's development duringrepparttar 113660 first trimester (approximately 12 weeks) can give you some appreciation ofrepparttar 113661 gentle care your body should receive during this time.

Knowing how your baby is developing can also help you deal with your body to best nurturerepparttar 113662 growing life inside you. Understandingrepparttar 113663 importance of proper nutrition, vitamin supplements (particularly folic acid), early and regular prenatal care and healthy exercise, in addition to knowingrepparttar 113664 dangers of caffeine, alcohol and tobacco, can improve your chances of a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.

The most monumental and dramatic development of your baby takes place duringrepparttar 113665 first 12 weeks. This is whenrepparttar 113666 fertilized egg travels downrepparttar 113667 Fallopian tube to implant inrepparttar 113668 wall ofrepparttar 113669 uterus. Once that happens, powerful hormones are produced to sustain your pregnancy while your body continues to treat it like a foreign invader. The lack of hormone production at this stage isrepparttar 113670 cause of some miscarriages.

Inrepparttar 113671 first week after fertilization,repparttar 113672 pregnancy usually becomes established andrepparttar 113673 embryo begins to grow and develop. Duringrepparttar 113674 second week, groups of rapidly growing cells prepare to become specific organs and body systems. During week three,repparttar 113675 brain and heart begin to develop. Once twelve weeks have passed,repparttar 113676 limbs and allrepparttar 113677 internal organs are fully formed. It is vitally important that you be extremely cautious about diet, drug usage, alcohol consumption and tobacco use during these first 12 weeks, since that is whenrepparttar 113678 most crucial development takes place.

Atrepparttar 113679 beginning ofrepparttar 113680 second trimester, at around sixteen weeks,repparttar 113681 fetus is about five inches long and weighs approximately 4 ounces. Its heartbeat is strong and its skin is transparent. The body is totally covered in soft, downy hair called lanugo. By twenty weeks,repparttar 113682 fetus is a foot long and weighs about one-half to one pound. The fetus sucks its thumb and sometimes hiccups. During these middle months of pregnancyrepparttar 113683 expectant mother will probably feel better than she did earlier or that she will later.

Morning sickness (nausea) and fatigue usually lessen or disappear entirely. Asrepparttar 113684 baby's growth continues,repparttar 113685 expectant mother's uterus expands intorepparttar 113686 abdominal cavity. Psychological changes in response to their changing appearance occur in most women during this portion ofrepparttar 113687 pregnancy. Some expectant mothers enjoy how they look, while others feel unattractive, inconvenienced and restricted. Byrepparttar 113688 end ofrepparttar 113689 second trimester, around twenty four weeks,repparttar 113690 fetus has grown to fourteen inches in length and weighs about one and one-half pounds. The eyes are open andrepparttar 113691 fetus has a strong grip.

Introduction to Vitamins

Written by Andrea Putting N.D


This article is offered for free use in your ezine, or on your web site, so long asrepparttar author resource box atrepparttar 113659 end is included, with hyperlinks. Notification of publication would be appreciated.

Introduction to Vitamins

Vita – for live;

Amines – nutrient containing substances

Vitamins are organic food substances found only in living organisms. Our source of natural vitamins comes fromrepparttar 113660 animals and plants we eat that produce them. There is only a few ofrepparttar 113661 B vitamins that can be manufactured withinrepparttar 113662 body, withrepparttar 113663 assistance of bacteria and biochemical conversion. Vitamins don’t provide us with any energy and are not building blocks of our body, so therefore we cannot live on them alone, and we cannot live without them. Eating food provides us not only withrepparttar 113664 vitamins we need and energy to function but also to help formrepparttar 113665 tissues of our bodies.

One ofrepparttar 113666 main uses of vitamins is to function as co-enzymes, assisting metabolic processes to take place. Vitamins don’t function on their own as independent substances. They function in synergy with each other and with other minerals and enzymes. This is why it is so important to have a balanced supply.

Vitamins have many varied roles within our bodies. They are essential for growth and vitality, digestion and elimination and helping us to maintain our health and resist diseases of all types. When our diet is insufficient in certain vitamins, it can lead to disorder, which can range from mild to very serious. This depends, of course on how deficientrepparttar 113667 diet is and to which vitamin, or combinations are lacking. It wasrepparttar 113668 observations of diseases and ill-health in general that lead torepparttar 113669 discovery of vitamins.

There are two main categoriesrepparttar 113670 vitamins fall into; Water-soluble and Fat-soluble.

The water-soluble vitamins include many ofrepparttar 113671 B Vitamins and Vitamin C. These vitamins are essential inrepparttar 113672 diet everyday, as they are not stored withinrepparttar 113673 body. Excess of these is excreted fairly quickly. The best supply of these vitamins will come from raw foods, as they are easily destroyed by cooking. These are found mostly in vegetables.

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