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Sign And Symptom's Of Pregnancy's
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| Sign And Symptom’s Of Pregnancy’s |
The symptoms and signs of pregnancy in the early stage cannot be said to be absolute as other conditions can also give these features. It is only when pregnancy has advanced far enough for the fetal parts to be palpable, for fetal movement to be felt and fetal heart sound to be heard can physical signs and symptoms be said to be absolute. Diagnosis in the early stage is not certain but a combination of
These symptoms outlined below is highly suggestive:
- Amenorrhoea:– this means the absence of a menstrual period. In a woman who has previously had a regular menstrual period. Sudden cessation of period points to pregnancy until proved otherwise.
- Morning Sickness:– As early in pregnancy as possible, some women experience nausea and or vomiting. It occurs mainly in the morning hours and hence the name morning sickness. It is mostly retching rather than vomiting and it usually does not disturbs the patient. If however the vomiting is persistent and disturbs the patient’s health it is termed hyperemesis gravidarum.
- Breast Problems:– In early pregnancy the breast is bigger in size and it is tender to touch.
- Frequency of Micturition:– Early in pregnancy when the enlarging uterus is still a pelvic organ it presses on the urinary bladder especially in the daytime when the woman is standing. This causes her to urinate frequently.
- Abdominal Enlargement:– As the fetus develops in the uterus, the latter enlarges to accommodate it. This in turn causes the abdomen to enlarge.
- Quickening:– This is the feeling of fetal movement by pregnant women. Women who are pregnant for the first time are called “primigravida.” They feel the movement between the 18th and the 20th week of pregnancy. Multigravida feel it about two weeks earlier.
The signs of pregnancy which the nurse can easily elicit are:
- Palpation of fetal parts from the 24th week.
- Auscultation of the abdomen for fetal heart sound from the 24th week.
- Pigmentation of the areola of the nipple in the first pregnancy
- The appearance of striae gravidarum and the linea are helpful in the first pregnancy as they persist afterward.
Definitive diagnosis of pregnancy is done by a pregnancy test. A urine test or ultrasound scan can be used to confirm pregnancy in the early stage. A blood test is more accurate.
PSEUDOCYESIS
This means false pregnancy. The woman has a false but firm belief that she is pregnant whereas she is not. It is a psychological problem. Amenorrhoea may occur and other symptoms of pregnancy may also occur. Palpation of the abdomen will definitely show no fetal part and the pregnancy test is negative. The difficult thing is to convince the patient that she is not pregnant. The majority of them have marital problems. It occurs in childless mothers as well as in women with children.
TRIMESTERS
The duration of pregnancy is divided into three. Each is called a trimester. As already stated, the gestational period in man is nine months and this translated to 39 weeks. The firth 13 weeks is called the first trimester. The second 13 weeks is the second trimester, while the last 13 weeks is the third trimester.
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