What to Expect When Expecting a Child

First Trimester

• After receiving positive results from a pregnancy test, you might not feel or see any symptoms right away. Pregnancy hormones will begin to course through your body to cause noticeable symptoms within a few days or weeks, though, states the Mayo Clinic. You may begin to feel slight or severe nausea, depending on how your body responds to hormones. Breasts will become tender, urination will become more frequent and you may experience constipation, fatigue, food aversions, food cravings, dizziness and heartburn. Emotions can change wildly, feeling thrilled and then overwhelmed and then back to excited again in a short period of time. Expect to make your first appointment with your health care provider during the first trimester and you will receive a complete exam. The practitioner will outline a care plan for your pregnancy based on your needs.

Second Trimester

• It̵7;s common for uncomfortable physical symptoms of pregnancy to lessen during the second trimester. Nausea and frequent urination may fade or even disappear completely. Fetal growth reaches the point where you will begin showing outward signs of pregnancy. Expect to move into maternity clothing as the baby̵7;s weight multiplies more than seven times during the second trimester, according to the experts at Lucile Packard Children̵7;s Hospital at Stanford. You should begin to feel fetal movement with the baby̵7;s larger size. You may feel hungrier than usual; you may have increased congestion, bleeding gums, backache, heartburn and constipation. Your physician will continue to monitor both your health and the baby̵7;s well-being at prenatal visits.

Third Trimester

• During the third trimester ̵1; the last third of the pregnancy ̵1; you may feel increasingly uncomfortable with physical symptoms due to the baby̵7;s growing size. Common physical symptoms include shortness of breath due to pressure on the diaphragm, frequent urination, constipation, swelling of hands and feet, difficulty sleeping and pre-labor contractions, according to the Obstetrics & Gynecology of Indiana website. By the end of the third trimester, a baby typically weighs between six and nine pounds and grows to between 19 and 21 inches, states the Intermountain Healthcare website. Prenatal appointments generally occur once per week during the final month of pregnancy to ensure that the physician monitors both mother and child carefully.

Labor and Delivery

• Anticipating labor may cause anxiety because you don̵7;t know what to expect. Uterine contractions involve pains that begin as cramps and a low backache. Initially, you may feel unsettled and slightly uncomfortable. As labor advances, the baby moves lower into the pelvis and contractions intensify in strength, duration and frequency. The cervix dilates until it opens to the full 10 centimeters and then the pushing stage of labor begins. Pushing to birth the baby could take as long as two hours, states the Pocono Medical Center website. Some mothers choose to experience labor and delivery without pain medication and others opt for anesthesia to manage the pain of delivery. Discuss benefits and risks of pain medication with your practitioner. The average length of active labor for a first-time mother is 10 to 14 hours, states The Best Chance website.