The baby's continuous movements comfort you because they make you feel that he is well, full of energy and desires to live. You are so emotionally linked to the baby that you sense his needs, you think you hear him when he gets the hiccups, you even converse with him in answer to his kicks and writhing against the abdominal wall.

Each baby is different in his behaviors and each mother is also different in her sensibility towards those behaviors. Depending on how active is your baby; you may perceive energetic movements or delicate turns of his body.

From the ecographies we know that, depending on the baby and the moment of the pregnancy, the daily movements oscillate around 200 and 700. Possibly some days the baby is more active than others, or his activity is different according to the moment of the day. All these changes are normal and they should not make you fear for his health.

Remember your fears and insecurities of the first months, if it is necessary look them up in your emotions notebook and, be aware of how you have progressed from then in the techniques of intra-uterine harmonization. You have overcome the first levels of your training as a mother with high scores.

Usually, the second ecography is taken in the 20th week of the pregnancy, so, if you have been lucky, you possibly know the sex of your baby. If this is so, it is time now to sit down to think of the best name for him or her. You are not in a hurry, look for a name that when you pronounce it, transmits the love that you feel for him well.

As the baby grows, you will find it more difficult to take a comfortable posture to sleep. The specialists recommend that the pregnant woman sleeps lying on her left side so that the flow of the uterus to the placenta is more dynamic. In this posture, try to flex your legs a little and don't superimpose them. An easy solution can be to place a pillow or cushion between the legs. The posture face down is not advisable for the annoyance created by the volume of the abdomen. Neither it the posture of face up because the weight of the amniotic sack can compress the blood vessels and provoke a sensation of breathlessness or nauseas. If your mattress is very soft, try placing a wooden plank under it and see if your back appreciates it.

Gestational diabetes

The gynecologist observes all the aspects that can affect your health and that of the baby during the whole pregnancy. Nevertheless, throughout this program we want you to obtain all the necessary information to take care of the baby and yourself in a good way.

Between 5% and 10% of the pregnant women, without being diabetic, suffer a high increase of the levels of sugar in their blood. This alteration is called gestational diabetes; it is a change that can take place starting from the week 24 of gestation in the metabolism of the sugars that are ingested through foods. It is provoked by the hormonal alterations and it usually disappears after the childbirth. As this alteration doesn't present evident symptoms, the doctors control the figures of glucose periodically to prescribe the precise treatment to control these levels.

Why does this happen? The pancreas segregates insulin that converts the sugars taken in the foods into energy. During the pregnancy, the blood transports more quantities of glucose, providing what the baby needs. For this reason, and for the hormonal changes, the organism is more resistant to the activity of insulin and the Glucemy level usually increases. In most cases, the pancreas produces more insulin and the levels are regulated, in the rest, the gestational diabetes occurs.

Pregnant women older than 35 have more possibilities to suffer diabetes, as well as those that have diabetic relatives, those who have had other babies that weighed more than 4 kilos when born, premature babies or several abortions. Overweight prior to the pregnancy is also a risk factor.

When gestational diabetes is diagnosed, the gynecologist indicates the necessary changes in the diet and the appropriate physical exercises for the period of pregnancy. If the levels of glucose are not normalized, he may prescribes the use of insulin that doesn't produce any problems for the baby.

It is very important to control the gestational diabetes because it can provoke the baby's premature birth due to his size being bigger than normal, there is more tendency in him to suffer hypoglycemia, excess of weight and he can become diabetic in the future. As for the mother, there can be urinary or vaginal infections, an increase in the blood pressure, bigger risk of renal affections, eyesight alterations, etc.

In 90% of the cases, the alteration of the levels of glucose disappears after the childbirth, although it can represent a risk factor to suffer chronic diabetes after a few years.

Stretch marks and other annoyances

The rapid variation of the corporal volume makes the skin stretch out and marks can appear. These marks are small and lengthened, similar to scars. They appear when the elastin fibers and collagen of the skin break due to the stretching during the gestation. The more prone areas for these marks are the stomach, the breasts, the buttocks and the thighs and, although some can disappear in the postpartum, most will stay. The best remedy is to avoid their appearance. Keep the dermis and the epidermis moisturized, drink abundant water and use specific creams in the areas of risk. Another quite habitual nuisance that provokes the quick increase of the volume of the abdomen is the pruritus; the itching can be accompanied by descaling. If you maintain the skin moisturized with natural oils such as sweet almonds or olive, you can prevent the appearance of these nuisances. The breasts, after the abdomen, are the area of your body that experiences bigger transformations, for this reason they require special cares. Massage them gently daily, use natural oils or specific creams to avoid the formation of marks, when you take a shower end it with lukewarm or cold water and use appropriate bras.

ACTIVITIES FOR THE SIXTH MONTH

RELAXATION AND HARMONIZATION

This month continue with the relaxation techniques like you have been doing from the first month. Also, we describe the steps to follow to obtain a quick relaxation for those days when the workload accumulates and you have free little time.

Choose a comfortable position and observe three objects that are in your visual field. Now concentrate on three sensations that perceived by your body (for example the feel of the clothes on your skin, something that your fingers can touch, a scent, the tingling sensation of the feet, etc.). To finish, center your attention in three sounds that you can hear.

Close your eyes and try to mentally see two of the objects that you have observed, feel two of the three sensations perceived by your body and listen to two of the sounds.

Keep your eyes closed and concentrate on one of the images, one of the corporal sensations and one of the sounds.

With this technique you may not reach the same level of relaxation than with the one you have habitually practiced, but it will help you prepare to relax you and concentrate on the rest of activities of the program.

MUSICAL SESSION

If up to now the musical session has been important, starting from this moment it will be a lot more because the baby can listen attentively to the music and the vibrations that reach him.

Music is a vibration with a certain structure and the brain is able to react and to remember more easily and effectively when the information that reaches him does it in the form of structures.

Carry on with the habitual sessions: Baroque music and relaxing music, your favorite melodies, etc.

Surely, you can use some of your favorite melodies to invent and adapt some words with a message of love for the baby. Try to do it; besides being fun, it can be an opportunity to discover your capacity as a composer.

PORTION OF LOVE 

This month you will try doing some creative activities to make you feel well with yourself and stimulate the development of your inner artist. Do you like to draw or paint? Possibly that was not your best subject when you were a student. It is also possibly that people in your family may have told you that your drawings were not good and that opinion was recorded in you until today.

Many of us stop painting at the end of our childhood because of the frustration that we felt when we didn't find our work realistic. Most of the times we tried drawing according to the mental representation that we had of an image instead of drawing what we really saw. To avoid this inconvenience you will try to paint with the right hemisphere of your brain voiding the left one so that it doesn't carry out its critical and analytic function, impeding your artistic creation.

To start choose a simple drawing, it can be an object, a cartoon or an animal in black and white. Turn the drawing placing it upside down. In a piece of paper take as starting point any part of the drawing and trace the lines, the angles, the forms... Avoid concentrating on the drawing as a whole, observe the lines, angles, forms and try to reproduce them just as you see them. Don't turn the drawing until you have concluded it, even if it seems that the drawing is not coherent.

When you are done, turn the drawing and compare it with the original, are you a better drawer than what you thought before the experience?

When doing a drawing upside down, the images present recognition problems for the left hemisphere that is in charge of analyzing all the stimuli that it receives. However, the right hemisphere captures with easiness the relationship between lines, angles, forms... Drawing in the way that we have described, the right hemisphere is limited to reproducing the visual information that it receives without analyzing it.

Practicing different techniques that implicate the right hemisphere, while you annul the analytic activity of the left one, will help you to enjoy more fully the sensations of peace and harmony, also to be in contact with the emotional states to deal with them appropriately or to be aware of your true feelings toward people and situations.

WRITING IN THE EMOTIONS NOTEBOOK

How many things have changed in your life since the day you received the news of your pregnancy! Your emotions notebook knows you better than any person in the world because the content of that notebook is yourself. You will have discovered so many aspects of your personality that, sometimes, you may end up thinking that maternity has changed you completely. It is not completely certain, but the maternity is helping you to grow and to mature as a person and that process will continue throughout all your life.

To be more aware of this evolution, complete in your notebook the following table and later read your notes of the first and second months.

TO FEEL BETTER

Back, neck and shoulders massage.

If because of your work you spend a lot of time sitting down, it is possible that the high area of the back, the neck and the shoulders accumulate tension. The following exercises can alleviate the nuisances, they are simple massages that your couple or any partner or co-worker can do for you.

Sit down comfortably on a seat that doesn't have wheels or a high back. The massage is practiced through the clothes, it is not necessary to take them off.

• Slide the base of the palm of the hand over the whole area between the spine and the scapulas. With the base of the hand and the fingers lift and pinch the muscle lightly. Do this 3 to 5 times over the whole area.
• Place the hands on the shoulders, and rotate the tips of the fingers describing circles throughout the muscle. Cover the whole triangle formed by the clavicle and the shoulder. You should be comfortable with the intensity of the massage.
• With the person that helps you placed by your side, place an open hand on the top part of the chest as a support and with the base of the palm of the other hand make circular movements on the top area of the back and the shoulder. Begin with a slow rhythm and increase it little by little.
• Place the two open palms on both sides of the vertebras and make circles with the tips of the fingers ascending and lowering over the muscles.
• In the same position, make some soft pressure with the tips of the thumbs in spaces of 3 centimeters in the top part of the shoulders.
• With the same technique, press the thumbs simultaneously on each side of the column. Go down the dorsal area to the lumbar area and up again.
• Have the person that is giving you the massage by your side, and hold with a hand your forehead and with the other one in the back part of the neck make soft pinches of the muscle between the thumb and the rest of the fingers. Work on the whole area to the base of the skull.
• With the person behind you, you intertwine the hands behind the head, at the height of the ears. The other person holds you by the elbows while you take air and when expelling it you throw slowly and on a straight line your arms towards him.
If the previous position for the massage tires you, try it sitting down comfortably and place your arms and upper part of the body on a cushion or pillow that is on the table. Your partner should be behind you with the arms straight. Another option is to sit astride on the seat.

Take care of your postures

If because of your work you stay a lot of time in the same position, it is possible that you adopt harmful postural habits, bad for your health. Also, with the increase of weight and volume, all pregnant women have a tendency to adopt not very appropriate postures to compensate the corporal changes. The bones, the muscles, the articulations and the ligaments of your back are subjected now to a bigger effort. If to this you add keeping inadequate postures for a long time, the result is nuisances such as sciatica, lumbalgias, muscular contractures, etc.

• When you are standing you tend to arch the lumbar area and push the gut towards the front, tossing the shoulders back and placing the hands in the kidneys. This posture is completely incorrect no matter how widespread. While standing, keep the back straight, the shoulders relaxed and the gut a little contracted.
• If you have to remain sitting and you do it without supporting the lumbar area, the baby compresses the column hindering the blood circulation. Sit down with the back straight and with the back completely on the back of the seat. Place a small stool or some phone guides on the floor and raise the feet on them, this way the thighs are not compressed and you facilitate circulation. Try that your legs are located perpendicular to the floor or a little forward and keep the shoulders relaxed.
• Do all your movements without hurry and gently. If you are seated and you should rotate to pick up something located to your back, don't move only the upper part of the body, as the disks can feel the effect. If the seat rotates, move it until you are in front of what you should pick up, or you get up slowly to pick it up.
• When you need to reach something located in a high place, don't do it on tiptoe, stretching the body and curving the back. It is better to place the small stool or the phone guides that you use to elevate the feet when you are seated and climb over them.

BREATHING EXERCISES

Possibly, this month you will start your preparation course for childbirth. In the different sessions they will teach you the way to use breathing correctly so that it becomes your ally when the baby is born. We can not insist enough about the importance of appropriate breathing before, during and after the childbirth. Only through some correct breathing techniques will the uterus and the baby receive the appropriate supply of oxygen, and you will be able to liberate tensions that cause contractions, mitigate the nuisances and get the maximum possible relaxation, both physical and mental.

The teacher of the course will ask you to do some breathing exercises at home. These exercises can be similar to those that you have been doing until now, if so, you can substitute them or add them, as you feel is better for you.

If, for any reason, you cannot attend, we provide here some exercises that you should practice daily. Keep in mind that the preparation sessions for childbirth offer you information and formation to live such an important moment in a good way, besides the breathing and relaxation techniques.

The best posture to practice your breathings is lying or semi flexed face up, with the eyes closed, the trunk semi flexed, or sitting with the back straight.

When you feel some nuisances will practice three types of breathing: abdominal, thoracic and combined. With them you will maintain your body oxygenated for the effort of the childbirth.

• Abdominal breathing: take in air slowly through the nose and drive it to the abdomen. Notice how the gut swells as if it was a balloon. Expel the air through the mouth, little by little, while it reduces the swelling of the gut.
• Thoracic breathing: inhale through the nose and direct the air to the thorax, not to the abdomen. Observe how the top part of the chest swells. Expel the air slowly through the mouth while it reduces the swelling of the thorax.
• Combined breathing: inhale slowly through the nose, swell first the abdomen as if it was a balloon and later fill with air the thorax without deflating the abdomen. Expel the air through the mouth, deflating the abdomen first and later the thorax.
During the childbirth, fundamentally you will use the following type of breathings:

• Deep: take air through the nose swelling the abdomen. Expel the air through the mouth deflating the gut. In one minute you should do between 10 and 12 breathings.
• Panting: take air through the nose swelling the abdomen and expel it through the mouth in an interrupted way, making sounds, while you deflate the abdomen. This breathing should last about 5 seconds and you should alternate it with other deep and slow breathings because it is tiring. This breathing is used to diminish the desires of "pushing" when it is not the appropriate moment. This pushing is what eases the baby's exit.
• Blow: you should take in and expel the air maintaining the cheeks swollen and when expelling the air you make it in an interrupted way.
• Candle: inhale slowly through the mouth and expel the air through the mouth while you maintain the lips puckered. Do this as if you were blowing a candle.
It is important that in each phase of the childbirth you use the appropriate breathing (slow, active transition or expulsion). To get it you should identify the contractions by their intensity and duration. The contraction is the pain provoked by the stretching of the muscles of the uterus; this pain is irradiated towards the abdominal wall and, in occasions, towards the lumbar area

Slow phase:
Weak contractions, with duration between 20 and 45 seconds.
When the contraction begins, take an abdominal breathing, continue with a thoracic one and conclude with another abdominal one.
Active phase:
The intensity and the frequency increase. They last between 40 and 60 seconds.
When the contraction begins carry out an abdominal breathing. During the duration you do blow breathing or panting and accompany it with a sigh.
Transition phase:
The contractions usually appear every 2 minutes and last between 60 and 90 seconds.
Take a panting breathing to eliminate the pressure in the pelvis and combine it with abdominal and thoracic breathings.
Expulsion phase:
The contractions happen almost in a continuous way.
In this phase you won't need any specific type of breathing because you should "push." Between pushes you can do abdominal breathings to oxygenate the body.
Take some panting breathings to eliminate the pressure in the pelvis and combine it with the abdominal and thoracic breathing.

LIGHT GYMNASTICS

Continue with the sessions of the previous months, the warm up, stretching and invigoration of the muscular groups of the body help you to feel in shape now that the increase of weight is more spectacular.

Also, this month we suggest a chart of exercises in company that you will find more interesting. It is also a fantastic occasion for your couple to be a little more involved in the pregnancy and feel useful watching over and correcting your movements and postures.

This session is suitable to exercise and strengthen the upper part of the body: waist, back, pectorals and arms.

• Seated, one in front of the other, with the legs bent, keep the back straight or support it on the wall. Your partner takes your forearms by the internal face and you by the external one. Maintaining the arms straight, try to join your hands for a few seconds while your couple tries to impede it. Repeat 10 times resting between each try.
• In the same position, change the position of the hands while the arms remain straight. Have him take your forearm by the external side and you by the internal side while you try to separate the arms for a few seconds. Make 10 repetitions resting after each try.
• Sit down on the floor with the legs crossed, the back straight and your couple placed behind you, on his knees. Flex the separate arms before the thorax so that the fists are located in front of the cheeks. Your partner places the arms below your armpits and the back of the hands on the internal face of the wrists. Take air in through the nose and let it go through the mouth while you try to bring near the elbows and your partner opposes resistance. Your effort and his resistance should be moderate, standardize and without tugs. Repeat the exercise 10 times stopping to rest.
• In the same position. This time flex your arms so that the elbows form a right angle. Your partner passes his arms over yours holding your wrists. Inhale through the nose, expel the air through the mouth and try to lift the elbows so that they are located parallel to the floor while your partner makes soft resistance to avoid the movement. Make 10 repetitions resting each time.
• Standing and with your backs turned on one another, with the feet separate and the legs a little flexed. Take a ball in the hands and give it to your partner rotating the body towards a side for the waist. The legs and the hip should remain immobile while you rotate the upper part of the body. When your partner takes the ball, both rotate towards the other side so that he can give it back. Make 10 deliveries on each side.

MOVE, AFFECTIONS AND MATERNAL FEELINGS

After doing the relaxation exercise, during some minutes, close your eyes and try to visualize your baby. Place your hands on the abdomen and imagines his body while you caress him with your hands. Imagine his head and caress it. Observe the delicate features of his face and how he moves the lids trying to see inside the lukewarm amniotic fluid. Notice his mouth, how he opens and closes it. Visualize how you caress the fingers of his hands and feet.

Does the baby move at this time? Are his movements, slow and soft? He is communicating with you through his movements; he tells you how happy he is to feel loved and wanted.

Inhale slowly and deeply and expel the air. Imagine how the movements of your breathing rock his body. Feel your heartbeat and imagine that the baby's heart beats at the same rhythm. Caress him through the wall of the abdomen and speak to him of your feelings.

LULLABIES

Choose a sweet and melodious song to sing often for your baby. It can be a love song, a lullaby, a children's song, etc. If you want to, choose a cheerful, but not strident song. If you choose a soothing melody make sure it doesn't put the baby to sleep. The father can use the same song or another that he prefers.

Each one of you should sing a song with the upper part of the body in contact to transmit the vibrations or sing both in unison. You can also sing to the baby at the same time that you follow the rhythm with soft taps on the abdomen.

CARESSES OF LOVE

Just as you feel the baby's movements, he feels the caresses of the hand on the abdominal wall. When you feel the baby moving and have a few minutes, sit down comfortably and caress with both hands the area that goes from the navel to the breasts. Make long and slow touches. You can also make wide circles that cover that whole area.

While you caress the baby you can speak to him fondly, sing him some lullabies or, if you prefer it, listen to some relaxing melody.

The father's participation in this, as in all the activities, will help to establish an emotional bond and make you feel a bit spoiled.

If you do the previous activity after the relaxation exercise, when you caress the abdomen close your eyes and imagine the body of the baby. Create a mental image as if your hands were a scanner and feel how you caress his head, face, chest, arms, hands... Imagine that he smiles with sweetness to your caresses while you touch his back, legs...Let all the love that you feel reach the baby through your hands. Enjoy that moment of special communication fully and later, little by little, continue the movements of the hands over a couple of centimeters of the skin. Lastly, open your eyes and be aware of the reality of the environment and of the feelings and emotions that you have experienced.

Did you know that many anthropological studies confirm that the societies where massages are given frequently and the babies are held in arms are more cooperative, peaceful and solidary, and life in them is more cordial and less violent?.

An extra tactile stimulation, in the form of a soft and affectionate massage, favors the capacity to respond and relax of the baby, makes him feel loved and develops the tactile area of its cerebral cortex.

AFFECTIVE CONVERSATION

You can continue the communication with the baby by means of touch, as we suggested last month by means of "Morse" messages. Now, with the objective of promoting the development of audition and language, we recommend that you tell stories to the baby.

The intra-uterine brain in this month of the pregnancy is completely receptive to stimuli. Through audition it perceives the difference of tone of the voices, music and multitude of sounds inside and outside of the uterus. To optimize the auditory development we intend to use stories.

Choose a moment of alert receptivity of the baby and a story that you like. Establish a routine for this activity, reading the same story, or different ones, every day, at the same hour. For example, if after the meal you play for a few minutes to "Morse communication", after dinner dedicates a few minutes to tell him a story.

When you tell a story you establish a special connection with the boy or the girl that listens to it. This special union can be established in the prenatal stage and remain after birth. Of course, the baby won't understand the message of the story, but the physical and emotional nuances of your voice. The father can also participate telling stories to the baby, but we have explained, his voice will arrive through your auditory channel, so that you should be attentive to his story so that it reaches the baby. This beautiful habit can continue after the birth and throughout all his childhood.

In the activity of telling a story there is something magic because we don't do the reading in a mechanical way but rather we use expressive resources that transmit enthusiasm and emotion. The vibrations of these feelings reach the baby through the emphasis of the words that will only be possible if you get fully into the storyline as if you were children. As if you were telling the story to a baby a few months old, choose a short story, with simple language, exaggerate the intonation and make pauses at the right moments.

BALL ROOM DANCING

The baby has perceived the movements of your body almost from the moment of his conception and now he lives them deeply, therefore, they leave important impressions on his brain. When you stand up, walk, travel by car, etc., the baby perceives the changes in rhythm, position and speed. By means of your movements you also communicate with him.

This month we recommend that you to dance with the baby for some time and that both of you do it with the father. Dance is one of the most pleasant ways of moving. Also, to dance can be a therapy because many of the emotions that we feel sometimes remain in our subconscious until they find a means of expression through the muscles of the face, shoulders, arms and legs. There is a deep connection between emotions and movements, for that reason dance is a good means to communicate your feelings to the baby.

You can record a selection of melodies. Waltzes such as the Blue Danube or the Emperor's Waltz by Strauss are stimulating, rhythmic, cheerful and fluid. Let the sound travel all over your body and move in as spontaneous way to the rhythm letting your muscles fill with energy and letting the emotions flow. If you prefer it, try with music by Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Vivaldi or Schubert. Observe how the baby reacts to the music and your soft and rhythmic movements.

For other calmer moments, record tender melodies such as ballads or boleros and dance with your couple. Feel the music and enjoy the experience as a hug of love for the baby. Observe his reactions. When he doesn't like a melody he will react kicking or moving abruptly, for a time do not play that music and try it again a few days later to observe if his likes have changed.

HYDROESTIMULATION

Your corporal movements are projected inside the uterus and the baby, as a skilled receiver, learns how to distinguish between your own movements and those that belong to your activity.

Possibly, the baby develops his exploratory activity through the reception and elaboration of the movement sensations. This sensibility towards the world of movement stimulates the receptive, sensitive and perceptive capacities that prepare him for other more intense and more complex situations that he will live in the future.

The baby reacts before movements and thanks to them he learns things about the external world. He recognizes the cycles in your and his activity, which trains him to have, in a remote way, an awareness of himself and of the others. Every time that you walk, you run or you bend over, the baby also moves inside you. Even being still, your breathing rocks the baby while moving the amniotic liquid.

Inside the uterus, the baby experiences, in a remote manner, the perceptive concept of space and the knowledge of his surroundings. After being born the voluntary movements will come, first with regard to objects and later in the space with different displacements.

We recommend that you enjoy water, that you do movements in this means and offer the baby enriching experiences.

Water is a vital element for the human being and the most important source of energy in nature. Using water in an appropriate way, it can become a therapeutic and stimulation element for you and for the baby.

The swimming is the most complete and advisable physical activity at any time during the pregnancy.

You can enjoy the benefits of water in a swimming pool or at home, taking baths and showers. Depending on the pressure, temperature and type of water, you will get different results.

Effects according to temperature:

Cold water, below 37º, whenever you feel well with it:

• Increases blood pressure.
• Strengthens the nervous system.
• Sensitizes the dilations or constrictions of the blood vessels.
• Activate the metabolism.
• At first it reduces the heart activity and it increases it later.
• Stimulates blood circulation, mainly in the skin.
• Lukewarm water:
• The temperature is similar to the body's. There are not perceptible reactions.

Hot water, above 37º, whenever you feel well with it:

• Strengthens the nervous system, but in smaller measure than cold water.
• It is sedative and tonic.
• It is not exciting.

You can take advantage of the local effects of the water on certain areas of your body. If your state of health is good, use cold or hot water, so that you feel well and transmit the same sensations to the baby. Be especially careful when you direct the water to the area of the abdomen, and use very little pressure.

Program a daily session of baths in the pool or at home, using the bath or the shower.

If you have the chance, go to the swimming pool and enjoys the water with your baby.

• Float on your back in the water, while you caress your abdomen.
• Swim on your back.
• Swim on your front using different styles: butterfly, etc.
• Swim slowly, gently.
• Caress your baby while you are in the water; transmit your happiness and well-being