Exercise Ball for Late Pregnancy Workout

If you are in your third trimester of pregnancy, and considering what exercise you should do as your bump and weight are getting heavier, you may want to get on the ball.

Exercise ball is indeed an effective tool for strengthening your core abdominal muscles during pregnancy. Exercising using ball also provide you with relaxation and physical relief during pregnancy and labour.

There are some tips and guidelines you should follow when purchasing exercise ball.

• Make sure the ball is made of high quality burst-resistant material


• Inflate the ball according to your height


• If your height is less than 5 feet 3 inches (160 cm), inflate the ball to 55 centimeters


• If you are taller than 5 feet 3 inches (160 cm), inflate to 65 centimeters

Pregnancy Waddle

I am now in my last month of pregnancy! Yeayy! Can't wait to get back to the normal me, in terms of size and brain. Despite of ever increasing size and weight, my brain seems to shrink as day goes by. My memory has indeed becoming poorer and poorer, if it's not already at the worst stage now. All thanks to the pregnancy hormones.

In addition, I have been walking like a penguin too. A penguin waddle it is. Thanks to the pregnancy hormones again. The hormones cause the connective tissue in pregnant body to soften and loosen. This is actually very important though, to ensure that baby can squeeze through already-loosen-by-hormones-pelvic-bones.

The drawbacks, of course, besides what's obvious like walking like a penguin, all the joint flexibility causes dicomfort in pelvis and hips. The weight of the baby, heavier uterus and also the baby's head which starts to burrow deeper into pelvis, cause pain when walking these days.

Some of the things you can do to alleviate the pain is to relax with your hips elevated, do some pelvic exercises, take warm baths, apply warm compresses, get a massage, or try some complementary and alternative therapies.

Don't get disheartened. Soon enough, baby will drop into pelvic cavity (doctor refer this as lightening), and it will be easier to take deep breaths and eat bigger meals as the upward pressure of the uterus on diaphragm is relieved.

Want A Baby Boy? Don't Let Your Wife Skip Healthy Breakfast

In Chinese cultures, baby boy is very much expected as they will continue on their generation, carrying the family name. Most of Chinese families would try their best and would not stop conceiving until they get at least one boy in the family.

And maybe now there's good news for those who are trying to conceive for a baby boy. UK scientiests have recently revealed in their studies that a child's sex is associated with the mother's diet. The higher energy intake is linked to males, and lower energy intake is linked to females.

Women who eat low calorie diets or who skip their breakfast at the time of conception, are more likely to give birth to baby girls. This may help to explain why the proportion of baby boys is falling in developed countries. Since in these countries, many young women choose to have low calorie diets.

Although a baby's sex is genetically determined by fathers, it is known that high levels of glucose encourage the growth and development of male embryos while inhibiting female embryos. The exact mechanism for this remains unclear.

The researchers conducted studies on 740 first-time pregnant mothers in the UK. They found that 56% of those in the group with the highest energy intake at the time of conception had sons, compared with 45% in the lowest group. Meanwhile, intakes during pregnancy were not associated with sex, which suggest that foetus sex is no longer affected by the mother's diet.

In addition to eating high calorie diets, the study has found that women giving births to more males were also more likely to have eaten a wider range of nutrients, including potassium, calcium and vitamins C, E and B12.

It was also reported that women who consumed at least 1 bowl of breakfast cereal daily compared to those who ate less than or equal to 1 bowl a week, the statistics of giving births to male went up sharply.

The mechanism for diet affecting sex is not yet understood though.

This latest findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

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For reference
Title: You are what your mother eats: evidence for maternal preconception diet influencing foetal sex in humans
Author: Fiona Mathews et al
URL: http://journals.royalsociety.org

Coffee: Good or Bad?

Some of us, including myself, need coffee to start a day. And even worse, we need caffeine to kick-in to get our brain start 'working'. This is actually quite a common situation for us, working people.

Well, some findings do show coffee contains higher anti-oxidants than found in fruits. And also that coffee consumption is beneficial for men. It is said that this would increase the swimming speed of sperms.

However, you should also know the side effects of coffee consumptions. Besides heart beating faster and insomnia, coffee actually have greater side effects that these common knowledge.

Coffee is indeed doing no good for women as it may cause infertility if it is consumed in excess amount.

In fact, there is a new US study shows that pregnant women who drink two or more cups of coffee a day can double their risk of having a miscarriage.

US researchers say they have conclusive proof to show that women who drink a lot of caffeine on a daily basis in the early months of pregnancy have an elevated risk of miscarriage.

The researchers say in a paper published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology to be absolutely safe, expectant mothers should avoid caffeinated beverages of any kind during the first five months of pregnancy.

Expectant mothers should avoid daily caffeine consumption, be it from coffee, tea, hot chocolate, caffeinated beverages, or a combination of all of these.

So, do watch out your caffeine intake, especially for working expectant mothers.