Changes in the digestive tract are the morning sickness already described, and constipation. The latter is suffered by at least one half of all pregnant women and is due chiefly to pressure made upon the intestines by the enlarged uterus, though weakening of the stretched abdominal muscles may be one cause. Constipation is most troublesome during the latter part of pregnancy. There may be, also, heartburn, acid stomach and intestinal indigestion giving rise to gas, diarrhea and cramps. The so-called “cravings” of pregnancy are not so common in real life as they are in rumor, but the expectant mother may show unexpected likes and dislikes for certain dishes, possibly because of her tendency to be nauseated. Her appetite may be very capricious during the early weeks and become almost ravenous later on.

The bones and teeth may grow softer during pregnancy, if the expectant mother does not eat proper food, and as a result we hear of the old beliefs that each baby costs the mother a tooth and that broken bones heal slowly during pregnancy. Both of these occurrences are entirely unnecessary, and may be prevented by eating suitable food, as will be explained in the chapter on nutrition.

The carriage, or mode of walking, is somewhat affected by pregnancy because of the increased size and weight of the abdomen. In an effort, to hold herself erect, the expectant mother throws back her head and shoulders and finally assumes a gait that may be described as a waddle, being particularly noticeable in short women.

You hear a good deal about the thyroid gland these days, so you may as well know that it is very often enlarged during pregnancy and thus may form a swelling on the front part of the neck. If you notice it you might tell your doctor but it need not worry you for it will almost certainly return to its normal size after the baby comes.

When to Expect the Baby. Now that you are familiar with the most apparent changes which will take place in your body during pregnancy, you are probably on tiptoe to find out as nearly as possible the date upon which to expect the baby. Unfortunately we cannot foretell the exact date, for the very simple reason that we have no way of knowing just when pregnancy begins. Quite evidently, then, not knowing when it begins we cannot figure out the exact date upon which pregnancy will end in the baby’s birth. But we do know that labor usually begins about ten lunar months, or forty weeks, or from 273 to 280 days, after the beginning of the last menstrual period. Thus the approximate date of the baby’s arrival may be estimated by counting forward 280 days or backward 85 days from the first day of the last period. Or, what is perhaps simpler and amounts to the same thing, one may add seven days to the first day of the last period and count back three months. For example, if the last period began on June 3, the addition of seven days brings us to June 10, while counting back three months from this, indicates March 10 as the approximate date upon which the baby may be expected.

This is probably as satisfactory as any method of estimation, but at best it is only approximate, being accurate in about one case in twenty. However, it comes within a week of being correct in half the cases; and is within two weeks of the actual date in eighty per cent. of all pregnancies.

Still another method is to count forward twenty or twenty-two weeks from the day upon which you first feel the baby move. This “quickening,” as we have seen, usually occurs about the eighteenth or twentieth week, but is so irregular that it is not wholly reliable. The possibility of figuring out the date of the baby’s arrival is made still more uncertain by the fact that there is evidently considerable variation in the length of entirely normal pregnancies. Many healthy children are born before ten lunar months have elapsed since the last menstrual period, while more births occur after than on the expected date. The first pregnancy is usually shorter than later ones, and women who are well nourished and well cared for usually have longer pregnancies than those who are not.

Taking it as a whole, the average woman has unusually good health during pregnancy. She may feel some weariness during the first few months and she may lose a little weight, but during the latter part of the period her general health is improved and there is an increase of flesh, not alone in the abdomen, but over the entire body, sometimes amounting to twenty-five or thirty pounds. She loses about fifteen pounds of the increased weight when the baby is born, and still more during the weeks immediately following, when her body returns to about its original condition. But very often the experience of pregnancy is so beneficial that the improved state of health and nutrition which accompany it become permanent.

CHAPTER III
WHERE THE BABY’S LIFE BEGINS

As you plan for the care of your baby during the nine months before he is born, you will want to know something of the place where his life begins; where one tiny cell is so miraculously stimulated and nourished that it finally develops into a beautiful little body. Not only will you find all of this of absorbing interest, but a general idea of the structures and workings of those parts of your body where the baby lives and grows will help you better to understand some of the doctor’s precautions and to give yourself intelligent care while your body performs its supreme function.