Did you know...?

Did you know that stem cells from your baby travel back across the placenta to help heal you if you need it?

Some of your baby cells migrate to your body and back - it's called mother foetal microchimerism. Some of those cells stay with you forever. Your baby is literally a part of you, all your life. Becoming a mother changes you at the cellular level.

How amazing is that?

This is true even if you experience loss. A little bit of your baby lives on with you, and you carry them with you always.

I will never not be astounded by pregnancy and birth. It truly is an extraordinary process. There is always something new for me to learn and be amazed by. I've been teaching classes for over a decade and I am still picking up more knowledge all the time.

Here are some more amazing facts about pregnancy....

1. The uterus can grow up to 500x its original size.

2. You have a higher blood volume during pregnancy - up to 50% more! This is to be able to carry all the oxygen needed to sustain a healthy pregnancy. It's why a little loss during the birth process is usually not too much of a concern. Your heart also grows - not just a pretty metaphor, it actually does grow to be able to deal with the increased amount of blood it needs to pump.

3. Your baby can feel your touch from the outside from about 19 weeks. During class, I often suggest mums-to-be-bring their hands to their bump for exactly this reason.

4. Your baby can taste stuff in the amniotic fluid! As the kids say these days, "I was today years old when I learned..." The foetus develops tastebuds around 13 - 15 weeks, and anything that goes into your blood stream also goes into your amniotic fluid. If it's strong flavours (like garlic or spice) your baby can get a taste of it, and even develop a preference for it.

5. "Oh, you have heartburn? Your baby will have lots of hair!" - it turns out this really could be true! I always wondered about this. It's a really prevalent old wives tale, but I never understood why. Why would heartburn = more hair? It was bugging me, so I went and looked it up recently. Oestrogen and progesterone (two things pregnant women are generally not short of) can stimulate hair growth. (THAT makes sense, I grew LOADS of extra hair in pregnancy. The extra all fell out in the 3 months or so after I gave birth, but for a while there, I did look fabulous!) Those same hormones can also relax the oesophagus. Bingo - hairy baby and heartburn.

6. Taller women are more likely to conceive twins. Specifically, fraternal twins (non-identical). Women over 5 feet 5 inches tall have higher levels of a protein that is linked to increased ovulation.

7. In your third trimester, your placenta produces more oestrogen in a day that you produce in 3 years when not pregnant.

8. An unborn baby girl has all the eggs she will ever have. So, if you cause a pregnant woman upset or stress, you are potentially negatively affecting three generations ina single moment. Do not do this.

9. Our ova are about 0.2mm. If you jab a page in a notebook with a pencil, it's probably about the size of the dot you make. Same size as the eggs produced by rabbits. And whales.

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Pregnancy classes available: https://pregnancyclassesshrewsbury.company.site/

Find me on Facebook (I'm on Insta as well, but Facebook is where I get the best engagement): https://www.facebook.com/pregnancyclassesshrewsbury

And our closed discussion group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/pregnancybirthparenting