| Course | NR 327 Maternal-Child Nursing |
|---|---|
| Week | 1 |
| Paper type | Discussion post with one reply |
| Length | About 560 words |
| Format | Discussion post with APA 7 citations |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | BSN (pre-licensure) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NR 327 Week 1
Week 1 Discussion: One Normal Change of Pregnancy
Short of Breath at Ten Weeks With a Normal Breathing Rate: The Pregnant Body Breathing Deeper on Purpose
Initial Post
The adaptation I chose is the breathlessness many women notice early in pregnancy, well before the uterus is large enough to push on anything. In a physiology review, LoMauro and Aliverti (2015) report that about 70% of healthy pregnant women describe breathlessness during ordinary daily activity, starting as early as the first trimester. That timing matters. At ten weeks, the uterus is still inside the pelvis, so the feeling cannot be explained by crowding of the lungs. It comes from the brain's breathing centers, which become more sensitive to carbon dioxide under the influence of rising progesterone.
What changes is the depth of breathing, not its speed. The same review describes minute ventilation rising by up to 48% in the first trimester through a larger tidal volume, with the breathing rate unchanged, and the arterial carbon dioxide settling at about 30 mmHg instead of the usual 40. The kidneys excrete more bicarbonate to keep the blood pH in a slightly alkaline range. So a woman at ten weeks may say she cannot get a satisfying breath, while her respiratory rate is 16 and her oxygen saturation is 98%.
What the change buys is on the baby's side of the placenta. Carbon dioxide moves from higher concentration to lower. By keeping her own carbon dioxide low, the mother makes it easier for the fetus to pass its carbon dioxide across the placenta to her. Her breathlessness is part of how the baby breathes out.
The version that gets reported is the one that does not fit that pattern. Breathlessness that comes on suddenly rather than gradually, breathlessness at rest with a breathing rate above about 20, a saturation below 95%, chest pain, coughing up blood, or breathlessness that wakes her at night or stops her lying flat, especially later in pregnancy or in the weeks after birth, is not the adaptation. Pregnancy raises the risk of clots in the lungs, and late pregnancy and the postpartum months are also when heart failure from peripartum cardiomyopathy can appear. I would not name either from one reading; I would tell the provider the same day, or send her to be seen at once if she were breathless at rest. For the baby, a mother who is actually short of oxygen passes that shortage directly across the placenta.
My question for the class: if a patient at 34 weeks tells you her breathlessness is worse than it was at 20 weeks, is that the adaptation or something to report? What would you ask her before you decided?
Reply to a Classmate
Marcus, your post on the lower blood pressure of the second trimester made me think about how often the two adaptations get confused at the bedside. A woman at 20 weeks with a pressure of 98/60 who feels lightheaded when she stands up quickly is describing your adaptation, not mine, and the answer is to rise slowly, not to count her breaths. You said the pressure usually returns toward her baseline by the third trimester. Would you then report a pressure of 98/60 at 36 weeks that was 118/74 at her first visit, or would you want a second reading first?
References
LoMauro, A., & Aliverti, A. (2015). Respiratory physiology of pregnancy: Physiology masterclass. Breathe, 11(4), 297-301. https://doi.org/10.1183/20734735.008615
Reading the NR 327 Week 1 instructions
The first NR 327 discussion asks you to choose one normal physiological adaptation of pregnancy, explain it and describe its nursing implications. Expect the prompt to want the change described accurately, the reason the body makes it, how a nurse would tell it apart from a problem, one cited source and a response to a classmate. Pick one adaptation and fix it to a point in pregnancy, since timing changes what is normal. Explain what the change gains for the mother or the baby, not only what it feels like. Give the warning signs that would make the same symptom reportable. Close with a question that has a right and a wrong answer, so classmates have to think.
Inside the NR 327 Week 1 example
The post opens by naming the adaptation and citing the figure that about 70% of healthy pregnant women report breathlessness. The second paragraph explains that tidal volume rises while the breathing rate stays the same, lifting minute ventilation by up to 48% in the first trimester and lowering arterial carbon dioxide. The third paragraph explains why that helps the fetus pass its carbon dioxide across the placenta. The fourth lists the signs that move breathlessness from expected to reportable: sudden onset, breathlessness at rest with a rate above about 20, saturation under 95%, chest pain or coughing blood. The question for classmates concerns a woman at 34 weeks. The reply to Marcus contrasts low blood pressure with breathlessness.
Where the points sit in the NR 327 Week 1 rubric
Chamberlain discussion rubrics generally award points for answering every element of the prompt, accurate content supported by evidence, application to nursing practice, a substantive reply to a peer, and clear writing with APA citations, along with posting on time. Accurate content earns the most when the physiology is specific, as with tidal volume rising while rate stays steady. Application is credited when the post explains how a nurse would separate the normal change from a warning sign, which the fourth paragraph does with numbers. Evidence counts because LoMauro and Aliverti's review supports each figure. The reply row is met when the response to Marcus adds a distinction rather than agreeing. A correct reference with a DOI covers the APA row.
NR 327 Week 1 help: mistakes that cost points
Many Week 1 posts lose points by describing the adaptation as a problem, reporting a pulse, a blood result or swollen ankles as abnormal by nonpregnant reference ranges. Another is listing several adaptations in a paragraph each, so none is explained well enough to earn the content points. Posts that describe what the change feels like without saying why the body makes it also fall short. Leaving out warning signs removes the nursing application. Replies that only agree with the classmate rarely earn full credit. Keep figures tied to the source you cite. If you have chosen a different adaptation, such as the rise in plasma volume, tell us and we can show how an NR 327 Week 1 post would frame it.
Get a NR 327 Week 1 example written to your instructions
Send the Week 1 prompt from your classroom and the adaptation you want the post built on, and a custom example is written to it and returned inside 24 to 48 hours. The first one is free. Which classmates you respond to, and what you say to them, remains entirely your own work.
More NR 327 papers and pre-licensure samples
- NR 327 Week 2: Antenatal Assessment Write-up
- NR 327 Week 3: Patient Teaching Plan
- NR 327 Week 4: Labor Case Response
- NR 327 Week 5: Postpartum Assessment Write-up
- NR 327 Week 6: Newborn Transition Write-up
- NR 327 Week 7: Concept Map
- NR 327 Week 8: Family Care Plan
- NR 328 Week 1: Discussion Post
- NR 326 Week 1: Psychiatric Unit Expectations Post
- NR 341 Week 1: Discussion Post
- NR 325 Week 1: Vital Sign Trend Discussion Post
NR 327 Week 1 questions, answered
Does it have to be a physical change?
Most prompts leave it open, and an emotional or a social change works as well as a bodily one provided the same shape holds: name it, fix it to a stage, and say what would make it worth reporting. The version that reads thin is the change with no limit on the far side of it, because then there is nothing left for a classmate to disagree with.
How many responses, and what should they do?
Classrooms differ on the count and the deadline, so take both from your own. What separates a response that scores is that it does work on the other person's adaptation rather than on yours: take the change they picked, propose a week where it would look different, and ask what they would do then. Praise with a restatement attached is the commonest thing posted and the least rewarded.
What counts as a source here?
A current text or a national body's guidance, placed against the claim that needs it. The physiology of pregnancy is stable enough that an obstetric text carries most of what a first post wants, while anything about when to act is worth checking against something published recently, since those limits move. One well placed reference does more than four listed at the bottom.
Where can I find a free NR 327 Week 1 sample paper?
The full Week 1 post on breathlessness in early pregnancy, with the physiology, the warning signs, the question for classmates, the reply to Marcus and the LoMauro and Aliverti reference, is on this page.
When does breathlessness stop being normal in the NR 327 Week 1 post?
When it starts suddenly, occurs at rest with a breathing rate above about 20, comes with saturation below 95%, chest pain or coughing blood, or otherwise breaks the gradual pattern of the normal change.