Do you remember when you received the news of the pregnancy? Without a doubt you found that the moment to have the baby in arms was very far away. However, time has gone by very quickly! You have reached the seventh month of your pregnancy! If the baby was born now, he would have many chances to evolve normally.

Throughout these months you have been learning a lot from each other. You know enough about his temperament and his likes. Through movement he communicates with you and every time he is more receptive to your voice, your contact and your emotional state.

Your baby continues to grow and, although it seems incredible to you, your abdomen will continue to grow to hold him. It is possible that you feel a bit of indigestion or acidity from time to time and it is also probable that, with the size increase and weight, it is more difficult for you to move with agility.

Other significant changes are the increase of the blood flow that, besides other more important functions, provokes the shine and the blush on your face. You also perspire more than normal because the body fluids have increased.

Sleep

In this last trimester, it is normal that future moms go to bed at night completely drained and, however, begin to turn without finding the ideal posture to relax and fall asleep. If you are doing the exercises of the program it is very probable that you don't suffer this type of transitory insomnia because you are doing physical and mental activities that predispose you for a night's rest.

If at any time you have problems to sleep, review your customs and modify those that can be inadequate:

• Follow a routine of habits always going to bed at the same time.

• Dinner should be light and you should go to bed when you have completed digestion. Do not go to bed with an empty stomach.

• Salads, mainly of lettuce, vegetables, fruit and milk by products are appropriate foods for dinner. Also, of course, a good glass of warm milk.

• We take for granted that you are not taking alcohol or tobacco, but also stimulating drinks and sodas can prevent you from sleeping.

• The temperature of the room should be approximately between 15º and 20º.

• Try to sleep without light and without noise. If you have a TV set in the room and you usually fall asleep with it on, program it so that turns off, or go without it.

• Use the bed to sleep. Use another place to read, watch television or rest during the day.

• A hot shower before going to bed, letting the water run on the nape, shoulders, back, etc., besides improving blood circulation, relaxes the muscles and gets you ready to rest.

• Lastly, if you take short naps during the day, you will find it more difficult to sleep the eight hours that you need to rest well.

Calcium

Calcium, folic acid and iron are some of the substances that the doctors watch over more in the diet of a pregnant woman.

Taking the appropriate quantities of calcium during the pregnancy is vital for your health and the baby's; mainly in this third trimester when his bone calcification takes place.

Besides being indispensable for the formation of the baby's bones, calcium collaborates in the nervous transmission, in the correct operation of the muscular fibers and in the clotting of the blood.

Most of the doctors recommend taking supplements when they consider that the diet doesn't cover the needs of the organism during the pregnancy. Nevertheless, the placenta stores nourishment as indispensable as calcium, iron or glucose to use them if the baby needs them.

In this last part of the pregnancy, the baby needs between 200 and 300 daily grams of calcium, so your diet should contain 1.500 grams approximately.

For the body to obtain the maximum of calcium from food, it is necessary that it has the appropriate quantity of vitamin D that is in charge of the metabolism and the intestinal absorption of calcium. Keep in mind that the sun transforms the provitamin of foods into vitamin D. Remember also that calcium of animal origin is absorbed better than that of vegetable origin. On the contrary, an excess of proteins, salt and coffee, hinders the absorption of calcium, increasing the quantity that is eliminated through urine.

RELAXATION AND HARMONIZATION

This is a short exercise to do between daily tasks: when you drive or you go by bus, while you wait for the washing machine to stop, etc.

If you can, listen to calm music (for example: "Barcarola" by Offenbach, “Unfinished Symphony” by Schubert, "Fuer Elise" by Beethoven, etc.). Breathe deeply through the nose and expel the air through the mouth, slowly, with cadence, several times. Continue breathing while you close one of the nose holes with your finger. Continue this way breathing slowly and deeply. Change sides of the nose breathing in the same way during a couple of minutes.

This activity is relaxing but it doesn't substitute the conscious relaxation that you have been doing because its effects are not as deep and durable.

MUSICAL SESSION

This month, besides the musical sessions for you, we suggest that the baby receives discriminatory contrasts through the auditory system. To do this activity, select music with clear contrasts: slow tempo / quick, rhythmic / arrhythmic, Baroque / contemporary tempo, etc. Don't mix the music of different characteristics; the idea is to relate a type of music with the activity that we want to imprint on the brain of the baby using the audition.

During one week as a minimum, every day and always at the same hour, choose an active, quick music, with or without words but let it play while you do your gymnastics or the house chores. The baby should associate the structured sounds with the motor activity.

Also daily, at another time of the day but always at the same hour, play a soft, slow and calm music while you breathe rhythmically, sitting or lying down and relaxed. This way the baby associates the soft and rhythmic sound sensations with your state of rest and inactivity.

The objective of this exercise is not to turn the baby into an expert (something desirable of course) musician, but rather that every day auditory sensations differentiated strongly by the contrasts reach his brain. The harmonized sounds activate his brain and they stimulate the auditory and language areas.

In classical music you can find active melodies that will be good for special experiences, for example "Allegro" of Vivaldi. For the relaxed experiences you can use the Adagio that are tranquil and slow, for example the "Adagio" by Albinoni

MUSICAL STIMULATION PROGRAM RECOMMENDED BY DR. AKERMAN	MUSICAL STIMULATION PROGRAM RECOMMENDED BY DON CAMPBELL (“THE MOZART EFFECT FOR CHILDREN”).
• BACH: “BRADEMBURG CONCERT Nº 4” • TCHAIKOVSKY: “SIXTH SYMPHONY” • BEETHOVEN: “HEROIC SYMPHONY” • BEETHOVEN: “SONATA CLAIRE DE LUNE” • SAINT-SUENS: “THE ANIMAL CARNIVAL” • WAGNER: “PRELUDE FROM PARSIFAL”	MOZART: “VARIATIONS IN DO MAJOR ON THE SONG Ah! Vous dirai-je, maman”. • MOZART: “THE ANDANTINO OF THE FLUTE QUARTET IN DO MAJOR”. • MOZART: “THE ANDANTE OF SYMPHONY Nª 25 IN SOL MINOR”.

 

WRITING IN YOUR EMOTIONS NOTEBOOK

The date of the baby's birth is getting near, in these months you have been preparing his clothes, room and all the necessary things to care for him appropriately. Have you stopped to think how you want the education for him to be? Have you talked it over with your couple? We advise you that you meditate deeply on the topic and write in your emotions notebook on the conclusions. Equally, it is very important that you do the same activity with your couple. Then, agree on the most outstanding points and converse to reach agreements in those aspects that you think in different ways.

A PORTION OF LOVE

In this last phase of the gestation, besides the nuisances already described, you will feel intense emotions. A natural good remedy to feel better can be the Bach flowers.

At the beginning of the XX century, an English doctor and homoeopath, Edward Bach, stated that illnesses are a reflection of the conflict that arises between emotions and the body. Dr. Bach studied the human being's negative emotions and, focusing in treating the cause that provokes the conflict and not the symptoms, he investigated the way to overcome the emotional crises or tensions, convinced that the person's attitude largely determines his state of health.

Edward Bach observed the effects that flowers had in the psychic state of people and selected 38 floral essences, one for each emotional state that help to maintain or to recover the person's balance.

Bach's flowers distill their energy when placing them in a bowl with spring water in the sun during some time. You can find in any herbalist the 38 essences, they are administered as drops and they don't have any counter indications. Nevertheless, we advise that you discuss with a doctor or another specialist so that he indicates the dose of the flower or appropriate flowers according to the emotions you want to deal with.

In this time of emotional changes that you are going through, the Bach flowers can be a good help to prevent imbalances. Uncertainty, hypersensitivity, physical or mental fatigue, concerns, etc., can be treated with these natural remedies. Consult with your doctor or with a floral therapist.

You can carry out the proposed exercises or substitute them for those learned in the preparation classes for childbirth.

TO FEEL BETTER

Reflexology has its roots in the ancient Egyptian, Hindu and Chinese civilizations. Reflexologists tell us that all the parts of the body are connected by an energy that flows through the whole body throughout ten areas called "channels" or "vessels." When a nuisance appears, the channels are blocked and the energy doesn't flow. Working on a concrete point of the hands and/or feet, the channels are unblocked allowing the energy to flow and recover the balance relaxing the body, improving circulation and alleviating nuisances.

Reflexotherapy offers some maps with the areas of the hands and the feet that, when stimulated, obtain a reflective action in a muscle, organ, viscera or articulation.

The feet have more than 7.200 nervous endings, 26 bones and 107 ligaments, they support the weight of the whole body and they develop a great force but, however, they are sensitive areas of our body.

Besides taking loving care of your feet, we suggest that you massage them, mainly before going to bed; you will notice great relief and a sensation of well-being. Your couple can help you but you alone one can also do the massage.

Sit down comfortably. Cross the right leg on the left knee. If you want to, use a cream or a natural oil. Caress the foot smoothly, on the back and the sole. Press with the fingertips, making circles, on the entire sole of the foot. With the tip of the thumb press in a circular way on the tips of the toes. Massage the base of the toes and continue on the entire sole until you reach the heel. Manipulate also the area of the back of the foot. Change foot by crossing the left leg on the right knee and massage the left foot in the same way.

Rub the palms of the hands, against each other, feeling the pleasant warmth that the friction generates. Lower the hands and shake them in different ways and positions. Open and close your hands with force. Cross the fingers of one hand over the other hand and rotate them. Place the left hand on the knee of the same side and with the palm of the right hand comb the hand up and down making soft pressures with the fingertips. Change hand and do the same movements. Shake both hands again.

LIGHT GYMNASTICS

The following chart of exercises is to be done with your couple strengthening the muscles of the abdomen and the legs.

• Lie down in the floor on some cushions, with the legs flexed. Your partner kneels down in front of you so your legs are between his thighs. Holding his arms, raise the head taking the chin toward the breastbone and also the upper part of the back. Keep the posture for a few seconds and lie down again. Do 10 repetitions resting every time.

• In the same position, flex the legs and lift the feet. Your partner places his hands on your knees and opposes a moderate resistance while you try to join your legs. Do 10 repetitions resting.

• Repeat the previous exercise but this time use moderate forces to try to separate the knees with your partner's opposition.

• With both of you sitting down on the floor, one in front of the other, with the knees flexed. Place the soles of the feet on the floor while your partner places his feet on your insteps. Take a ball with the hands and toss the upper part of the body a little back, rounding your back, until the ball is at the height of the knees. Raise later and pass the ball to your partner that will do the same movement. Repeat 10 times resting.

• In the same position, with the legs stretched and a little apart. Your couple's legs are on the outside and they oppose resistance while you try to separate yours. Repeat 10 times.

• Do the same exercise but this time your legs are on the outside. Try to join the legs while he opposes resistance. Repeat 10 times.

• Standing, with the backs against each other, the feet a little apart and the knees flexed. Place a light ball between your backs, in the lumbar area and press it with your backs straight. Go down, flexing the knees, until you notice the tension in the legs. Go up slowly until you reach the original position. When doing this movement the back should stay straight and the abdomen somewhat pulled. Repeat 10 times.

• Do the previous exercise without a ball, and back to back with your partner. Take the same cautions when going up and down. Repeat 10 times.

EMOTIONS, AFFECTIONS AND MATERNAL FEELINGS

In this last trimester it is quite habitual that some concerns come up from time to time about the baby's health, the changes in your body, the possibility that the childbirth comes sooner, etc. To attempt to control the anxiety that these concerns generate, after the relaxation exercise and before going to bed, you will write in a paper your more intense concern, but in positive terms. For example, if you are worried about the baby's health, you can write: "I eat properly so that my baby is healthy, I don't take alcohol, I don't smoke and I don't take drugs." Put the paper in an envelope.

When you are in bed, with your eyes closed, imagine the envelope that contains the message. Try to visualize it in detail. Observe how the image of the envelope goes away, little by little, until transforming into a distant point that ends up disappearing. Then, imagine in the distance your baby's body that is coming closer and observes how healthy he is. Try to sleep with that gratifying image.

When you wake up in the morning try to remember what you have dreamt during the night and write it down in your emotions notebook.

Repeat this activity with the same sentence until you are aware that the concern has fallen notably. From that moment on, use another sentence, expressed in positive terms, about any another concern that affects you.

LULLABIES

If you have the chance, sit down comfortably in a rocker, close your eyes, relax and sing s a lullaby or a children's song to the baby. Caress your abdomen and imagine that you sing holding the baby in your lap. Enjoy the relaxing sway of the motion.

After the relationship exercise, sitting or lying down, close your eyes and places the two hands on the abdomen. Imagine there is a door in your stomach and see how you introduce your hand smoothly while you call your baby, by his name. Perceive the sensations of humidity, heat and softness of the amniotic liquid on your skin. Slip your hand until to reach your baby, caress him fondly, following the curves of his body. Imagine that the humidity of your hand is a lotion that can pass on your love. Spread the lotion on his gut, buttocks, arms, legs, face... Visualize how his skin absorbs the lotion with your love and how the baby irradiates energy when he receives your feelings. Observe the smile in his face; he is happy because he feels wanted and loved.

CARESSES OF LOVE

Enjoy the experience for a while. Visualize how the baby's lids close and how he falls asleep happy with your caresses. Little by little, slip your hand to leave though the door. Now, caress the abdomen that protects the sleep of your baby. Separate your hand a few centimeters of the skin and, little by little, return to the reality of your environment. Breathe rhythmically and take some time before carrying out any other activity.

AFFECTIVE CONVERSATION

Continue with the reading or the daily story telling. Try not to use a monotonous tone just because it is the same story, the repetition of the same linguistic rules sensitizes the area of language in your baby's brain.

The baby listens mainly to you. For that reason talk to him at any time as you would do if he was already born and in his first year. When you read a book or the newspaper, do it aloud, if you hear a song, sing it for him, if you eat a cake tell him how wonderful it is! Live intensely and fully for both and make him part of all your activities.

Imagine that the baby is your confidant, but does not know the environment where you move around. Speak to him about your work, relatives and friends, about the actions that you are doing, etc. Use an affective voice tone, but don't use baby language. The audition of the sounds of language is the precursory element of the appearance of spoken language.

If there are occasions when it is not you appropriate to speak to him aloud, do it through your thoughts.

BALL ROOM DANCING

In the preparation sessions for childbirth it is very frequent to use large sized inflatable balls on which the mothers can do gymnastics exercises. Get one, it will be very comfortable for some exercises that we suggest and it will be very useful for many of the stimulation activities that you will do after the baby is born.

Your couple can help giving you support in your movements and manipulating the music that, we suggest comes from different angles and positions of the room. You should fill the ball so that you feel comfortable. Do the exercises to the music's beat. Repeat each movement as many times as you feel like but no less than 5 repetitions for each position.

Sit down on the ball, with your hands on the thighs. Holding on, balances your body pressing the pelvis lightly against the ball. Try to follow with your movements the rhythm of the music and breathe rhythmically. Move making turns on the waist, first towards the right, then towards the left. With the hands in the waist, slowly lower and raise the left stretched leg, then the right leg. Breathe rhythmically. While you stretch and raise each leg, move the toes towards the front and back, shrink and stretch them. Balance towards the front and back. Stretch the arms towards the front, to the height of the shoulders, then, cross and finally lower them.

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