The Baby Beat or Doppler fetal heart monitor is a type of ultrasound apparatus that allows you to gauge your baby’s heartbeat from ten weeks into your pregnancy and on. The process of monitoring baby’s heart beat in the uterus of a woman and at the time of labor is called fetal heart monitoring.

This exercise is performed to monitor the baby’s heart beat and check for inconsistency between the beats. The tests may also indicate the frequency and strength of uterine contractions. At your regular visits, you must have been thrilled to hear the fetal heart beating. This device that allows this uses a prod to sense high frequency sound waves that are formed by your baby's heart. To help hear these sound waves, a gel/ oil or water solution is applied onto your abdomen. The prod is moved around this area until your child's heartbeat is detected.

First Trimester

The most crucial time in pregnancy is the first trimester. It carries the highest risk of miscarriage and this is when all the developing body systems in the baby are formed. By the end of this trimester your baby will be no more than 4 inches long and only weigh an ounce. Amazingly enough most of the major organs are formed and working. The heart is beating and the baby has fingers and toes.

Make sure you are eating well and try to take in an extra 300 calories a day to maintain and gain the right amount of weight and for good pregnancy nutrition. You will only see a 3-4 pound weight gain during this trimester and some women actually lose weight. You may not look pregnant yet, but you probably sure feel pregnant.

Frequent snoring during pregnancy increases the likelihood of developing gestational diabetes, according to a recent study from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. The study also found pregnancy raises the chances that a woman will snore. This is the first study to report a link between snoring and gestational diabetes, which is a condition that may cause health problems for both mother and baby.

"Sleep disturbances during pregnancy may negatively affect your cardiovascular system or metabolism," said lead investigator Francesca Facco, M.D, of Northwestern Memorial Hospital. "If snoring is bothering a woman who is pregnant, she should seek a consultation with a sleep specialist," Facco said.

Every woman will have different symptoms prior to discovering for sure that she is pregnant. She will even experience different symptoms from one pregnancy to the next. Certain women swear that they have symptoms within days of conceiving and other wait patiently to feel pregnant far into the first trimester.

There are some common early pregnancy symptoms that can be used to guide the woman who is trying to conceive or who may be not trying and anxiously awaiting the reason for certain symptoms.

Hormonal Changes

Symptoms will be triggered by the hormonal changes that occur from the moment of ovulation. These first symptoms are normally felt by every ovulating woman and can sometimes be confused for pregnancy symptoms. The real pregnancy occurs with implantation as chemical changes signal to the body that a new life has begun.

If a woman is pregnant and she has regular contractions and the cervix dilates before her 37th week of pregnancy, she is said to be in preterm labor. Preterm labor is usually a spontaneous event in which the body starts the process. Occasionally a caregiver (doctor, midwife) will initiate preterm labor in order to deliver the baby early if there is a pregnancy complication that puts the baby or mother at risk.

Spontaneous preterm labor can be caused by cervix complications, by an abnormal placenta, a genital tract infection, by bacteria that causes the amniotic sac to become weak leading to premature rupture of the bags, or when chronic illness of the mom-to-be threatens the pregnancy. Chronic illnesses can also be at fault, such as severe asthma, diabetes, or sickle cell anemia.

Preterm Labor Risk Factors