Maternity Nursing Q 33

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What event occurring in the second trimester helps the expectant mother to accept the pregnancy?

  

     A. Lightening

     B. Ballotment

     C. Pseudocyesis

     D. Quickening

    

    

Correct Answer: D. Quickening

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Quickening is the first fetal movement felt by the mother that makes the woman realize that she is truly pregnant. In early pregnancy, the fetus is moving but too weak to be felt by the mother. In the 18th-20th week of gestation, the fetal movements become stronger thus the mother already feels the movements.

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Option A: Lightening is one of the major signs that labor is approaching. It happens when the baby’s head literally “drops” lower into the pelvis, becoming engaged within the pubic bones. This starts the baby’s descent down and out into the world. Lightening can start as early as a few weeks before labor actually begins.

Option B: Ballottement is a sharp upward push against the uterine wall with a finger inserted into the vagina for diagnosing pregnancy by feeling the return impact of the displaced fetus also.

Option C: Pseudocyesis is defined by the DSM-5 as a false belief of being pregnant that is associated with objective signs and reported symptoms of pregnancy, which may include abdominal enlargement, reduced menstrual flow, amenorrhea, subjective sensation of fetal movement, nausea, breast engorgement and secretions, and labor pains at the expected date of delivery.

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