How wonderful this will be you think, as you imagine all the changes this little life will bring. Perhaps there will be stresses too, but you know it will be okay – there is a new life on the way!

Two weeks later, you cannot believe how bad you feel. This tiny fetus is making your life miserable with nausea, light-headedness and even vomiting. Surely, pregnancy should be better than this?

The answer is different for everyone; some may experience morning sickness which is mainly extreme exhaustion coupled with a desire to eat very little, and a strong aversion to cooking meat.

For others, it may be less severe, while a few suffer desperate illness, unable to even keep down water.

There are many ideas of what we can do to manage morning sickness. No one thing works for every woman, although some ideas work for most.

If you are in the early stages of pregnancy and have morning sickness, try the following to ease the symptoms somewhat :-

• Keep on eating and drinking. Many doctors say morning sickness is due to low blood sugar levels. Another new study says it is due to dehydration. Try to keep both your eating and fluids up. Eat small amounts often.

• Eat what you feel like – unless it is soap, coal or dirt (which all signal some sort of vitamin or mineral deficiency). Your body will tell you what it wants through your cravings.

• Sniff peppermints, or ginger to ward off nausea. Adding ginger to your food can also ease the urge to throw up.

• Avoid foods that make you feel awful. If possible, get someone else to cook meals so you don’t need to smell cooking odors.

• Eat foods high in protein and carbohydrates, and try to reduce fatty foods.

• Try to balance any cravings for junk food with some healthy alternatives.

• Chocolate has been known to help morning sickness – but if you are craving it all day, try a banana instead.

• Eating during the night if you wake up hungry or nauseous, and start the day with snack in bed. As one professional noted, the baby and placenta are taking from your body throughout the day, so you need to keep the intake small and regular.

• Rest when you can. Sit down if you feel faint, and if you are working, take naps during your lunch break, and when you get home. If you are at home with children, make sure you get a good rest throughout the day.

• Relax and don’t worry. Many professionals assure expecting mothers morning sickness is a good sign your baby is growing and taking what it needs from your body.

Many health professionals believe we are designed to avoid foods that are risky to our baby. Our reduced desire to eat some foods may be to help us avoid foods that may not be always fully cooked or fresh.

During the morning sickness weeks or month, it is good to try and eat as much fruit, vegetables and fresh nuts as possible. These are also often good natural sources of vitamins and minerals our bodies need.

During this stage, you may feel that pregnancy is playing a terrible trick on your body.

However, it is only a stage, and when the end comes, you will be that much closer to meeting your new baby whom you have held and supported inside you for so many months already.

The drugs known as selective re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) can cause convulsions, irritability, abnormal crying and tremors.

“Risks of neonatal convulsions and neonatal withdrawal syndrome seem to be increased with all SSRIs.” Said Professor Emilio Sanz of the University of La Laguna in Tenerife, Spain.

“If a pregnant woman is depressed and needs treatment, she should be treated,” Sanz said in interview, but he added that the lowest dose should be used.

The majority of reported cases uncovered by Sanz and his colleagues were associated with paroxetine, which is produced by drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline under the brand name Paxil or Seroxat.

“Paroxetine should not be used in pregnancy, or if used, it should be given at the lowest effective dose.” Said Sanz, a specialist in clinical pharmacology.

GlaxoSmithKline said it would review the findings of the study. “However, to date we have not seen any causal link between medication and the symptoms,” a spokesman for the company said.

The scientist also suggested doctors should monitor the used of other SSRIs, particularly citalopram, made by Biovail Corp, and Wyeth’s venlafaxine, which is sold as Efexor.

The findings, which are reported in The Lancet Medical Journal, are another blow for SSRIs, which have become the global standard treatment for depression.

It follows warnings from the European Medicines Agency that SSRIs may increase the risks of suicide in young people. British health authorities have urged doctors to use the drugs sparingly and to consider other methods of intervention such as counseling to treat depression.

Sanz and his team searched the World Health Organization (WHO) database on adverse drug reactions for convulsions and withdrawal symptoms in newborns associated with the use of SSRIs in 72 countries.

Ninety-three cases had been reported by November 2003, which they suggested a causal relationship.

“Nearly two-birds of reported cases of suspected SSRIs-induced neonatal withdrawal syndrome were associated with paraxetine,” Sanz said.

All cases reported in the study recovered after a few hours or a day. Vladislav Ruchkin and Andres Martin, of Yale University School of Medicine in the United State, said the research raises the question of how concerned we should be about exposing the youngest patients to SSRIs.

“It remains to be seen whether the report ultimately reflects a minor problem for a particular anti-depressant, or further evidence of a larger set of serious problems for SSRIs use in young people,” they said in a commentary.

In the meantime, they suggested doctors use non-drug therapies and review prescription thresholds, particularly during pregnancy.

Part of the problem is that there is simply too much information coming in–and too fast!–to be absorbed. Many times media reports are either vague or ambiguous at best or, at worst, clash glaringly with conventional medical knowledge.

For most laymen, interpreting medical jargon, research scientists and anyone else who sends out health-related signals is like trying to figure out a Rubik’s cube. A pregnant woman cannot escape the confusion and is, perhaps because of situational anxieties, more prone to misinformation than ordinary individuals, especially when every woman in her life–mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, cousin, in-law and friend–is anxious to dispense advice on the healthy, “proper” way of going through pregnancy and labor.

Our advice? Talk to your obstetrician. No issue should be too simple or too complicated to discuss. Ask her all your questions and explore with her all your concerns. You and your doctor are a team. Your goal is to make sure you deliver a healthy baby. The only way that can happen is if you work together and communicate regularly.

Pregnancy no-no’s
For starters, we’ve listed a few choices and decisions we discourage pregnant women from taking:

A healthy pregnancy they surely will not make. Check to see if any of the items apply to you and then go see your doctor so you can both figure out what to do about them.

1. Taking preconception folic acid for granted. Folic acid is essential for the healthy development of baby’s nervous system. This occurs during the first 45 days of life, at a time when a woman doesn’t even know yet that she’s pregnant. If you’re planning on having a baby, be sure to take a multivitamin supplement containing folic acid once you begin trying to conceive.

2. Stopping medications for pre-existing diseases. A lot of women think that all prescription drugs are teratogenic (can cause birth deformities), and the reflex is to stop taking them once the stick turns blue. This decision often does more harm than good, especially for women with pre-existing diabetes, seizure disorders or psychiatric illnesses, which have to be kept in check. The best thing to do is to ask the doctor for advice on continuing versus stopping the medication.

3. Thinking that morning sickness is always normal. Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, which occur in 70 percent to 85 percent of women, are traditional signs of a healthy pregnancy. Severe and persistent vomiting unrelated to other causes and leading to weight loss of at least 5 percent of pre-pregnancy weight, however, is not. It strongly suggests hyperemesis gravidarum, a condition that can lead to dehydration, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and a low birth weight. The truth is that pregnant women don’t have to “grin and bear it.” Many medications can help alleviate morning sickness.

4. Not screening for chromosomal abnormalities. A lot of women think that having children with chromosomal abnormalities (e.g., Down’s syndrome) occurs only in pregnant women over 45, who carry a one-in-30 risk of having a Down’s baby. The truth is, these abnormalities occur sporadically and, while age-related, may still strike the offspring of young women. Screening is widely available, and all women should be aware of this option.

5. Eating for two. Average weight gain during pregnancy should only be about 25 pounds. Putting on a lot more weight will increase your chances of hypertension, gestational diabetes and having a big baby (and a more difficult delivery, of course!).

6. Decreasing activity. Engaging in mild to moderate exercise is still best. It keeps you fit and prepares you for the rigors of delivery. Ask your doctor to prescribe an exercise regimen for you.

7. Suffering through low-back pain. The condition called sacroiliitis is very common in pregnancy due to the laxity of the lower back ligaments and postural changes. Physical therapy and simple exercises can help relieve sacroiliitis.

8. Abstaining from sex. Except in cases of preterm labor (or a history of preterm deliveries) and bleeding due to a diagnosed placental abnormality, it is safe to engage in sexual activity–as long as it’s not too acrobatic–at all stages of pregnancy.

9. Missing the blood work. Asian women are particularly predisposed to gestational diabetes, so it’s important to be screened for this condition.

10. Shunning pain relief, especially epidural anesthesia, during labor. Evidence has shown that being given an epidural doesn’t necessarily lengthen labor, as was previously thought.

11. Thinking that Lamaze will work miracles. The Lamaze technique is not guaranteed to work for everyone, so don’t count on pain-free labor.

12. Asking the universe for twins. Multiple pregnancies, compared to ordinary single-baby pregnancies, bring a lot more complications.

13. Asking for a C-section. A C-section will involve more difficult, more painful recuperation than vaginal delivery, believe it or not.

14. Asking for perineal repair after delivery to “make the vagina virginal again.” Perineal repairs and episiotomies may cause more blood loss during delivery. Discuss your options with your obstetrician.

15. Not taking prenatal vitamins and iron. Iron is the only mineral that must be supplemented in pregnancy, but some women stop taking their iron supplement when they begin to experience side effects like nausea or constipation. A simple solution to the problem is to take the iron pill at bedtime, and increase the fiber in one’s diet or take stool softeners.

16. Fretting about breast-feeding. While breast-feeding is best for babies, a woman has the right to decide whether to breast-feed or not. She should not feel guilty if she cannot breast-feed for any reason or produce milk immediately after delivery. It’s perfectly normal not to have milk until the third to the fifth day, so giving a temporary bottle at this time will not cause nipple confusion.