Pregnancy triggers a number of physical as well as physiological changes in your body. As your pregnancy advances, it is common to experience sleep difficulties. And yet, you need to rest soundly during this crucial stage. The usual difficulties faced in sleeping during pregnancy include back ache, heart burn, shortness of breath and sleeplessness. Of course discomfort due to an increased abdomen size is the most dominant cause.

What sleep postures to avoid?

During the advanced stages of your pregnancy, you should avoid sleeping on your back or your stomach. With the growing size of your abdomen, you will obviously find it difficult to sleep on your stomach. Sleeping on your back during pregnancy may aggravate back pain and breathlessness. This position is also not good for your digestive system and may lead to low blood pressure. Less blood may also reach the baby.

Good sleeping positions during pregnancy

The best sleeping position during pregnancy is commonly known as “SOS” or Sleeping on Side. It is better still to sleep on your left side with a pillow between your legs. You will also find it comfortable to keep your legs and knees bent. The SOS position improves circulation to reach your baby. For back ache, short breaths and heartburn, try the SOS posture with pillows to prop up your upper portion.

You can also put a pillow under the abdomen for convenience. It is perfectly fine to rotate positions during the course of the night.

It is essential to go through a thorough medical check up at the time of planning to get pregnant. This is essential only because if you have any sort of abnormality it could be easily detected and solved with utmost care and efficiency just before planning to conceive. Certain characteristics, which can cause immense problems at the time of fertility, include
1. Menstrual problems
2. Endometriosis
3. A history of pelvic infections
4. High stress levels
5. Unhealthy eating habits
6. Age factor
7. The types of medicine consumed
8. Harmful smoking habits

Not only getting pregnant is a matter of great importance it is also essential to form a definite idea about your pregnancy due date. Generally a baby is born after 40 weeks after the last menstruation. This is however, just a mere presumption because most of the babies are never born on the exact due date.

More important than pregnancy due date is your conception due date. A woman is said to have conceived two weeks after the first day of the last period. In most of the cases the mothers are unaware of their pregnancy but the first day of the last period is essentially considered to be the starting point of a specific calculation. However, in certain cases when it becomes necessary to possess a clear idea about the conception date some women have to go through artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization.

Pregnancy is a very delicate issue determining the life and healthy growth of a developing fetus. Thus, every decision taken during pregnancy should be absolutely well calculated and well estimated as well.