Top tips for boosting your fertility and improving your chances of getting pregnant.
Advice on caring for your body prior to conception.
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Your first weeks of pregnancy - from early signs and symptoms to your baby's development in the womb
Your middle weeks of pregnancy - from eating healthily, to what will happen at your tests and scans
Your final weeks of pregnancy - from eating healthily, to what will happen as you approach labour and birth
From exercise in pregnancy to tips on health eating, we've got your wellbeing in mind
From tips for your newborn's shopping list to planning a nursery, nesting and enjoying a healthy sex life
Something wonderful is happening to your body and, quite naturally you?ll want to know as much as possible about the changes week by week.
Follow the highs, lows, changes, and surprises Emma experienced during her first pregnancy from week six right up until she gives birth.
Everything you need to know about being in labour, from early signs to pain relief and plans for dad
Whether you have a vaginal, caesarean, water or home birth we have useful advice and information for you
Emma's diary mums have been there and done that! Read some of their thrilling, emotional and heart-warming stories
From coping with crying to changing nappies, we have advice for every step of your journey with a newborn
Useful information and advice on everything from when to call your doctor, to guidance on your child's immunisation test
Information and advice about premature babies.
Learn how to breastfeed, what dreamfeeding is and find solutions to your breastfeeding problems
Read our month by month guide to your child's development and key stages right up to her second birthday
Babies grow and develop new skills so quickly. See our articles and videos to help your baby achieve key milestones
How to cope with sleepless nights, advice on where your baby should sleep and establishing a good sleep routine
Our dental zone has information on caring for your baby?s first teeth, coping with teething problems and more...
Is your child about to start on solids? Here's some useful weaning and food allergy advice
Need to know the words to the popular nursery rhymes or how to play with your baby's Then this is the zone for you
Check out our useful information on common baby illnesses and accidents and how to deal with them
How to recognise common childhood illnesses and conditions and how to deal with them
Bladder and bowel control will be an important achievement for your child. Follow our guide to successful potty training
Whether your toddler is a fussy eater or enjoys everything put in front of her you?ll find these food features useful
Do you know what toys and games your toddler would most enjoy at her stage of development? Find out here
Topics from technology to tantrums and toddler chores to learning life skills... Plus how to discipline your toddler
Toddlers develop at their own unique pace, read more about what you could expect from your toddler development.
Here we give you advice on everything from sex after pregnancy to postnatal depression and baby blues and how to get back into shape after giving birth.
See our selection of ten of the best products so that you can make the best choices when buying for your baby
With so many products available and so much choice when it comes to buying for baby, it can be difficult to know how to choose. That's why at Emma's Diary we have done the work for you and have information on the best baby products for you, your budget and your lifestyle.
Here we cover everything from the childcare options available to you along with how to register your baby's birth and keeping your child safe when in and outside of the house.
Becoming a parent is an epic event in life, with it comes significant changes in the way you do things, your finances, and how much time you have to spend on your admin.
Even before a baby girl is born she will have around 1-2 million eggs stored in her newly-formed ovaries. After birth her body will not produce any more eggs and throughout her fertile years, the ovaries will release a total of only three to four hundred eggs.
A girl's first period usually occurs between the ages of ten and fourteen. From then on, until the menopause she will have a monthly period at the start of each menstrual cycle.
Ovulation; when an egg is released into the fallopian tube ready to be fertilised by a sperm occurs 12-14 days before a period, so if a woman has a 28 day cycle this is halfway between periods, around day 14. If the cycle is regularly 30 days she will normally ovulate between day 16 and day 18 of her cycle, taking day one as the first day of her period.
It is also quite normal to have shorter or longer cycles which last anything between 23 and 35 days.
Physical signs of ovulation include an increase in vaginal discharge, which changes from white and creamy to clear and slippery, breast tenderness, bloating, mild abdominal discomfort, a slight increase in body temperature and an increased sex drive.
Light blood spotting can also occur at the time of ovulation in some women.
Although the ovary prepares up to 20 eggs each month for release, only one (or two if it's going to be non-identical twins) prevails and makes it out of the ovary to the fallopian tubes. These tubes will gently transport the tiny egg on its journey to the uterus (womb) using a rippling wave-like motion; the journey from ovary to uterus takes about five days.
In simple terms, if the egg becomes fertilised by a sperm at this mid-cycle stage it will settle into the uterus lining (endometrium) and begin to grow into a baby. If it is not fertilised, the egg will be rejected by the body, along with some of the endometrium and will appear as the next period.
It is a well known fact and the butt of many jokes that hormones control a woman's menstrual cycle.
There are five main hormones involved and the whole process begins in the brain. At the beginning of the cycle, gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRh) starts everything off and instructs follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) to stimulate the ovaries to produce another hormone; oestrogen.
Oestrogen then encourages around 20 eggs to ripen, one of which will mature quicker than the rest and that will be the one that is released. Oestrogen also causes the lining of the uterus to thicken, in preparation for pregnancy (should fertilisation occur).
Normally the cervix (the neck of the uterus) produces a thick, opaque mucus that sperm cannot penetrate. However, just before ovulation oestrogen changes this mucus so that it becomes thin and clear. This change allows the sperm to swim through the cervix into the uterus and up to the fallopian tubes where fertilisation may take place.
Soon after this, another hormone; progesterone alters the mucus in the cervix again so that it becomes impenetrable to sperm once more. Progesterone also acts on the lining of the uterus to prepare it for a fertilised egg.
Ingeniously, as soon as fertilisation occurs, the woman’s pituitary gland will stop producing FSH so that no more eggs can mature during the pregnancy.
If fertilisation doesn't occur or the egg doesn't implant into the uterus, the oestrogen and progesterone levels will drop and the womb lining will begin to produce chemicals that reduce the blood supply to the uterus and cause it to contract.
This is then the beginning of the woman’s next menstrual cycle.