During the 9 months of pregnancy, your urinary system undergoes some major changes. During pregnancy, the hormones stimulate your kidneys to expand and make more urine, helping the body get rid of waste more quickly. However, during pregnancy, mothers may urinate incontinence to many degrees. Sometimes it is only fleeting and infrequent, but for some mothers it is a real problem that causes them to seek treatment.
During the first trimester of pregnancy, for many women, frequent urination is one of the signs of pregnancy. Hormonal changes in your body that increase the production of urine cause your uterus to expand and press on your bladder. Even when the fetus is very young, it makes pregnant mothers need to urinate more often. You shouldn't be too surprised if this change occurs during pregnancy. Your body needs to change when there is a 3 - 4.5 kg baby.
Over the next three months, early symptoms will be lessened as the uterus grows larger and higher in the abdomen, away from your bladder, so you will urinate less.
During the final month of pregnancy, the baby will descend lower in your pelvis to prepare for labor and this puts increased pressure on the bladder. As a result, mothers will start to feel the need to urinate a lot again, even causing you to wake up several times during the night. If this is interfering with your sleep too much, try cutting back on drinks after 4:00 pm (but make sure you drink 6 to 8 glasses of water the day before). At the same time, you should avoid teas, coffee, coca and other stimulant drinks as they can make you urinate more.
Besides changes from inside the body during pregnancy, pregnant mothers may experience incontinence due to increased pressure in the abdomen. This puts pressure on the bladder, which causes the bladder sphincter to not perform well and causes incontinence. An overactive bladder is an uncontrolled contraction of the bladder. Women who experience this need to urinate more often than usual.
In addition, the muscles around the urethra (the tube that carries urine from the bladder) may be affected. These muscles help stop the urine from flowing, but it can open if the bladder has a strong enough contraction force. The bladder sphincter is a valve located at the base of the bladder that helps control the flow of urine. During pregnancy, the dilated uterus puts increased pressure on the bladder. The bladder sphincter and perineal muscle can be overwhelmed by pressure on the bladder. Urine can leak out of the bladder when there is additional resonant pressure, such as when a woman coughs or sneezes. After pregnancy, incontinence problems may continue because childbirth weakens the pelvic muscles, causing bladder to increase. The contraction of the bladder during pregnancy and childbirth affects the nerves that control the bladder.
Some methods to help pregnant mothers treat incontinence during pregnancy such as behavior correction, urination timer and bladder training may be helpful. It is recommended that mothers try this method first at home. These changes in daily routine have no serious side effects. To practice a urination timer, you can use a chart or diary to record when you urinate and when you leak.
For bladder training, extend the amount of time you spend in the bathroom by waiting a little longer before you go. To get started, for example, you might plan to go to the bathroom once per hour. Then change the toilet schedule to every 90 minutes. Finally, go up every 2 hours and keep stretching it until you reach the 3 to 4 hour mark. Another thing you can do is try to hold for 15 minutes when you feel the first urge to urinate. Do this for 2 weeks and then gradually increase the time to 30 minutes and so on.
As you step into the world of pregnant mums, many changes in your body make you feel uncomfortable. However, do not worry too much about these changes. If you experience incontinence, you can take medication to control your bladder muscle contraction as well as strengthen your urethral muscles. Several other medications also work to soothe an overactive bladder. It is best to see a doctor for accurate advice about your health condition.
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