In cases of incompetent cervix, the cervix slowly thins and opens without any contractions or labor. This causes the fetus drop through the opening causing loss of baby. Major Causes of Incompetent cervix are not known. However, experts believe trauma to cervix, hormonal changes during pregnancy, use of certain drugs like diethylstilbestrol (DES) as major reasons for incompetent cervix.

The chances of this abnormality grow when a women has had three consequent pregnancy losses during the second and third trimesters. In some women there are no obvious reasons for cervical incompetency. Some of the symptoms of cervical incompetency are back pain, pressure in lower abdomen, vaginal discharge, and surge of warm liquid from vagina.

Treatments for incompetent cervix include prescribing tocolytics (drugs that prevent labour contractions), pessary ( a rubber device that supports cervix), and surgeries. History of the patient is also considered while treating a patient. About 15 to 20% women are affected by miscarriages. But miscarriage due to incompetent cervix is 1%.

Here are few nursing guidelines to treat and provide support to the women affected with “incompetent cervix”:

• Patients are emotionally very disturbed in case of a miscarriage, so providing emotional support plays a key role.
• Assist and make efforts to maintain pregnancy, if possible.
• Evaluate fetal status.
• Understand the patients therapeutic needs.
• Provide complete information about the abnormality.
• Remember to discharge the patient only when the uterine contractions are absent.

Implantation Bleeding:
When the implantation (adherence of fertilized egg to wall of the uterus) takes place, little bleeding (unlike normal menstrual bleeding) may be seen in few women. This bleeding tends to be pink, brownish or very light in color. This may last for a day. This occurs few days before the period due date. So is confused with light menstrual period.

Hormonal Bleeding:
Few women undergo bleeding like their periods throughout the first few months. This is also called ‘Decidual Bleeding’. This may be caused due to hormonal imbalance in pregnant women.

Ectopic Pregnancy:
When a fertilized egg implants outside the womb, it is termed as ‘Ectopic Pregnancy’. In Ectopic Pregnancy, the development of fertilized egg takes place usually inside the fallopian tube. In this case bleeding occurs with severe pain in one side of lower abdomen along with pain in shoulder, fainting, collapse or sickness. This kind of complication must be consulted immediately with doctors.

Early Miscarriage:
Some pregnancies end up in miscarriage at their early development. This can also result in period-like bleeding. Miscarriage may include – heavy bleeding, clotted bleeding more intense than a usual period. Severe abdominal cramps are also common.

Restrictions during flight are made to some pregnant women who have Diabetes, Sickle cell disease, Placental abnormalities, Hypertension etc. Airlines also have their own restrictions. Some Airlines don’t allow to fly 30 days before due date and in some it is 7 days. Check with your agent about restrictions and also tell him your pregnancy details like – due date, complications etc., before booking any flight.

Flying In The 1st Trimester:
Be it your 1st trimester or third, the best way to be safe is to discuss with your physician before any travel plans. Flying in the 1st trimester is safe, provided you are capable enough to cope with your pregnancy symptoms like – morning sickness, nausea, dizziness etc.

Flying In The 2nd Trimester:
Most women also consider that 2nd trimester is the most safe period during the whole pregnancy. Reduced morning sickness and lowered chances of miscarriage and premature labor make it extremely comfortable for women to travel. If you are flying in your trimester, chances of premature labor are high. Before leaving health check up is mandatory. Carrying of papers of health insurance for both mother and daughter and all reports are necessary. Onset of any labor sign must be informed to the crew members. Due to change in cabin pressure, rise in heart beats and blood pressure may happen.

How To Have A Comfortable Flight:
If possible put your feet up during a flight. With due time, your belly grows, so sitting becomes little uncomfortable. Request for aisle chairs to seat. Tying seat belts throughout the flight is advised.
Pregnant women always need to be careful about blood circulation problems while flying. They must wear loose clothing and compressed stockings, do not cross legs while sitting and drink a lot of water (to avoid dehydration). Walking a little every hour is very helpful. Seats that provide you extra leg space may be opted. Flex your feet, wiggle toes and rotate ankles every half an hour.

CPR is Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. CPR is procedure done in an emergency for a cardiac arrest or respiratory arrest patient. It involves physical pressure to create artificial circulation in the body. Rhythmic pressing is done on the patient’s chest. This pumps the blood through the heart. This method is called Chest Compression. Sometimes, a rescuer exhales into the patient’s mouth to expand the lungs. This results in drawing oxygen into the blood. This procedure is called Artificial Respiration. Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation pumps little amount of blood to the heart and the brain. This acts as a support to buy some time till normal functioning of the heart and lungs is restored.

CPR Procedure As Follows:

CALL:
Try to wake the victim up.
Rub the joint of your finger (knuckles) against the sternum of the patient. If patient does not wake, medical help should be called.
If patient wakes or moans, CPR may be avoided.
Medical help should be called if patient is unable to speak.

BLOW:
Tilt head back and put ears to patient’s mouth.
Listen and feel for air passing through mouth or nose.
If no breathing is felt, pinch the nose and seal over the mouth with yours.
Blow a big breath to raise the chest.
Once the chest falls, repeat once more.

COMPRESS:
In the middle of the chest, place the heel of your hand. Put other hand on top of it. Make your fingers interlaced. Compress chest about 4-5 cm (1.5-2 inches). Once the chest recoils completely, repeat the same for 29 more times. The rate of compression should be about 100/minute.

Repeat rescue breaths without checking for breathing.
Then perform 30 more chest compressions.

CPR Performed for Pregnant Women Outside The Hospital:
Finger seep of the mouth and chest thrust may be used. Abdominal thrust should be avoided. Chest compression should be performed after lifting the uterus away from the blood vessels of the heart. Manual lifting of the body may be done by placing pillows under the right abdomen. Another person should be kneeling beside the patient’s body and placing his knee joints under the side of the abdomen.

CPR Performed for Pregnant Women Inside The Hospital:
The approach for chain of survival should be followed, which includes: Early CPR, Early Defibrillation, Early advanced Care and Early Stabilization. Life support systems are needed. The technique of Endotracheal Intubation is used to protect trachea. Immediate delivery should be performed by cesarean.

There are few models which also display of heart rate in beats per minutes. Such models provides information similar to fetal stethoscope. An important aspect of fetal Doppler monitor is that it allows other people apart from the user to listen to the heartbeat. The disadvantage with this is that it is a complex machine with high cost and low credibility.

Digital Fetal Doppler:

A normal fetal doopler will not tell you the total count of your baby’s heart beat. Digital fetal doopler is considered a better choice as it displays the automatic count of heart beat per minute. Actually, the heart of baby beats very fast so it can not be manually calculated. Digital doopler helps you in getting that count automatically on per minute basis. A good quality of doopler will help you hearing the heart beat right from 8 weeks itself.

Digital doopler works by converting the turning movements of the baby into sound. If you hear a fast heart beat of your baby. No need to worry as the fast heart beat is a sign of strong heart. There are few dooplers which need application of gel over the stomach before using them but some of them are there which can be directly used without any application.

So, the use of dooplers will make you happy and will also help you in knowing the well being of your unborn baby. You can either purchase them or rent them easily and enjoy your pregnancy period.

Causes Of Morning Sickness In Pregnancy:
Some of the basic causes during pregnancy are:

• Rapid changes in the levels of the hormones during the early pregnancy period can result for this condition to arise.
• The levels of hormone called Estrogen rises severely in the first trimester of the pregnancy which this condition to arise.
• The sense of smell increases drastically in the pregnant women which can also trigger nausea. This because any irritating odour can be judged very quickly by a pregnant lady which cause nausea or vomiting.
• In some women the gastrointestinal tracts are very sensitive to the changes of the early pregnancy. Thus, this can also cause morning sickness.

How To Avoid Morning Sickness In Pregnancy:
There are few basic steps which can be taken to avoid morning sickness in pregnancy. These are:

• Do Not come out of your bed suddenly. Take your time to come out of it.
• If you do not feel fit while getting up in the morning, make sure you have something to eat immediately after you get up, before coming out of your bed.
• Try to eat something after every two hours.
• Intake of liquid in large quantity is very necessary. 12- 15 glass of water, juices etc. are necessary.
• Avoid lot of fat, spices, alcohol, caffeine.
• Ginger Tea and capsules of ginger will help in reducing the nausea.
• Try have rest at frequent intervals.
• Move slowly and avoid sudden movements.
• Try to avoid those odors which make you sick.
• Go out and have fresh air, exercise for time and walk mildly to relax and refresh your body.

Ginger For Morning Sickness:

Ginger is the common remedy for treating morning sickness. It can be used in tea. Ginger tea is very beneficial in treating nausea. Just crush few cloves of ginger and add it to the water and milk solution. Make a tea with strong ginger essence. This will help in treating the nausea early.

Ginger can be taken in the powdered form. Just some powered ginger and take it directly in with the water. This is beneficial for many purposes in the morning sickness. Being the purest form of ginger it works efficiently and gives effective results too.

Ginger Tablets or ginger capsules are also available. In case, you have some difficulty in taking powered ginger then ginger tablets and capsules are best for you. Crystallised gingers are also the other form which can be taken for treating morning sickness.

Ginger tea, ginger tablets, crystallised ginger are sweeter forms of ginger whereas the powered ginger is bitter in taste. So the tablets of ginger are the best option.

Effects Of Ginger:

Although ginger is recommended during the pregnancy period but their is a view that ginger interfere with the blood clotting process and hence can prolong the bleeding process. Some studies say that intake of ginger in the first trimester of the pregnancy can result in malformations, abortions which are spontaneous and also still births.

This condition of HG can be either mild or severe. The mild cases can be solved with some changes in the diet, rest etc. But if the condition is severe then the women will have to stay in hospital under the doctor’s surveillance.

Causes Of Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG):

This condition is can be recognised as the intense form of morning sickness. Almost all the women have morning sickness during the pregnancy period. When this morning sickness is experienced in an extreme level then it is termed as Hyperemesis Gravidarum.

Some believes are there that the rise in hormonal levels result in the intense nausea, but the still the actual cause for this condition to arise is not yet known.

Signs And Symptoms Of Hyperemesis Gravidarum:
The signs and symptoms of HG are:

• Aversion of the food
• Severe vomiting and nausea
• 5% of the pre pregnancy weight is lost or 5% more of the pre pregnancy weight
• Urination decreases
• Dehydration will be there
• Headaches, fainting and confusion in mind are common
• Jaundice can also be one of the symptoms.

Treatment Of Hyperemesis Gravidarum:
The treatment of HG includes:

• Total Bed Rest: Rest is very essential as it will relax the muscles which can exhaust due to the loss of weight.
• Acupressure Can Help: The point of pressure will can reduce nausea must be activated so as to reduce the problems These points lie in the middle of the inner wrist, precisely three finger lengths away from the wrist and in between the tendons. If this point is located and pressed firmly for three minutes, one wrist at a time then it will help in reducing the nausea.
• Herbs : Herbs like ginger or peppermint will help in curing the nausea quickly.
• Homeopathic Medicines Can Help: The medicines of homeopathy are non toxic and also reduces the nausea quickly.

Placenta is that part of the body which attaches the baby to the uterine wall of the mother. Placenta has the blood vessels which forms umbilical chord. This chord attaches the baby to the belly button of the mother. It is structure which allows the baby and the mother to exchange oxygen, nutrients and waste products.

What is Calcification Of Placenta:

Placental calcification is referred as the deposition of the calcium on the placenta. These calcification represents the aging of the placenta which occurs near the end of the pregnancy. Small parts of placenta dies due to the deposition of the calcium on it.

Sometimes some parts of the placenta is replaced by the fibrous tissue due to the presence of calcium. Most often parts of placenta are blocked with the clots of the mother’s blood. This can cause the hardening or blocking of the mother’s blood vessels. But, most of the times the deposition of calcium did not harm the placenta and neither did it harm the foetus.

Indications Of Placental Calcification:

Placental calcification indicates that that placenta has aged. if it is found in the early pregnancy it means that it is aging rapidly. In such a case, a close eye must be kept on the development of the baby. It must be made sure that it gets all the required nourishment through the placenta. this is because calcium deposits can block the nourishment flowing towards the baby. Thus, the situation must be closely monitored so that foetus do not face much problem.

The levels of estrogen increases after puberty. So, the swinging in the mood is noticed when puberty is achieved.As the levels of estrogen decreases after the menopause postpartum is there. Although sometimes estrogen has been used as the antidepressant but still it is linked to the depression.

Estrogen And Depression:
Depression and estrogen are interlinked. This can be understood by the effect of estrogen on brain:

• Estrogen increases the levels of norepinephrine in the brain.
• It decreases the amount of Dopamine which is released from the brain.
• Estrogen has multiple effects on serotonin and also effects the levels of blood tryptophan( it is the amino acid which prepares serotonin).
• It directly effects the production of neurotrophic factors. These are known as the brain’s own cell fertilizer. These are directly involved in the mechanism of depression.
• Estrogen also increases the levels of endorphin in the brain as well as in the blood stream too.
• Estrogen also has some relation with melatonin which is the sleeping- regulating hormone.
• Estrogen is also linked with a neurosteroid which effects moods, like DHEA as the levels of this secretion also increases.

Thus, it can be concluded that Estrogen is directly or indirectly linked with mood swings.