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Weeks 1 and 2 -- Congratulations!
In The Beginning
Weeks one and two are
an extremely exciting and mystifying time for most women. Most women eagerly
start calculating their pregnancy week by week as soon as they decide to
conceive. During pregnancy week 1 and beyond you will experience the joy of
creating life, which is a life-changing event for most women! This guide will
walk you step by step through each week of pregnancy. You’ll find informative
information about the changes occurring in your body and in your baby. We’ll
walk you through each of the stages of pregnancy, and help you understand what
you should expect as your body changes and your baby grows from week to week.
During pregnancy week 1 and pregnancy week 2, you may not even be
certain that you are pregnant yet! Many women experience few if any symptoms at
all. Weeks one and two are mostly consumed with the process of ovulation and
fertilization. During pregnancy week 1 and 2 your body will produce estrogen and
progesterone in varying amounts to prepare the body for ovulation, when the
ovaries release an egg. If you are lucky, this egg will be fertilized and will
travel up the fallopian tubes to the uterus, where it will reside for the next
40 or so weeks.
Early Signs and
Symptoms
There are some signs and symptoms that most women
experience during the first weeks of pregnancy. Though you may not experience
all or any of these the first week, you will probably start to experience many
of them in the weeks to come. The most common symptoms that women experience
during ovulation include some mild cramping, which may occur on one or both
sides of the body.
It is not uncommon to feel some ovarian discomfort
during ovulation. You may also realize an increased amount of clear discharge
during your most fertile time. When your discharge is most abundant, clear,
slippery and stretchy, you are at your fertile peak when you have the greatest
chance of conceiving. Fertile cervical mucous is often stretchy. You can usually
stretch it one inch or more between your fingers.
Other ways to tell you
are fertile 1 and 2 weeks after your last menstrual cycle includes basal
temperature monitoring. If you are trying to conceive, this can be an effective
and natural way to determine your most fertile days. During the first two weeks
of your menstrual cycle, your body temperature should be lower than normal,
typically between 97.0 and 97.5 degrees Fahrenheit. During ovulation however,
your body temperature increases, a change caused by increasing levels of
progesterone. A rise of .4 to .6 degrees is common among ovulating women. If you
successfully conceive during pregnancy at 2 weeks, your body temperature will
actually remain slightly elevated for the duration of your pregnancy.
To
take your basal temperature, you must use a basal thermometer. Try to take your
temperature first thing in the morning before you get out of bed, as physical
activity will increase your temperature and can skew the results.
Did you
know a woman’s most fertile time is actually the few days preceding ovulation
during the second week after your menses? If you are regularly charting your
cycle you should be able to pinpoint a two to four day window of peak
fertilization.
Once you have ovulated, you may become pregnant. You may
be wondering what the early signs of pregnancy are during the days following
ovulation. Most women will not start experiencing true pregnancy signs until
10-14 days after ovulation, though some women have reported symptoms as early as
a couple days post conception.
Here are some signs to look for if you think
you might be pregnant:
- Increased fatigue
- Missed period
- Nausea
- Breast tenderness
- Frequent need to urinate
- Metallic taste in mouth
- Sleep disturbances
- Increased temperature that remains elevated after ovulation
Determining Your Baby's
Due Date
The question that most often follows is "Am I pregnant?"
"When is my baby due?" Guessing your baby's due date is one of the more fun
aspects of the first couple of weeks of pregnancy. You can work together with
your practitioner to determine the estimated due date of your baby.
Most
healthcare providers calculate pregnancy from the beginning of the last
menstrual cycle. Using this method, you are actually considered pregnant in the
two weeks preceding actual conception. This results in a calculation of 40 weeks
for the entire pregnancy, even though pregnancy generally lasts about 38 weeks
from the time of conception.
It is very difficult to determine the exact
date of conception however, which is why most healthcare providers prefer to
consider pregnancy as starting from the onset of the last menstrual period. Most
women will actually deliver on a date other than their due date. In fact,
typically only 1 in 20 women will actually deliver on their due date. Many moms
can actually go up to week 42 before they begin active labor on their own. It
helps if you consider your due date a rough estimation of the range of time your
baby might be born, rather than the day your baby will definitively make an
appearance into the world.
What Is
Happening With Your Baby
During weeks
one and two an incredible number of changes are occurring in your body. Your
hormone levels have changed significantly to ensure the uterus creates a rich
lining of tissue, which will support your fertilized egg after conception.
During weeks one and two your ovaries produced ripe eggs in vessels
called follicles. During ovulation, which typically occurs around the 14th day
of a menstrual cycle that is 28 days long, one or more of your eggs will burst
out of your follicles. Your eggs will then wait patiently in the Fallopian tubes
where sperm can fertilize them. Did you know it takes roughly about ten hours
for sperm to reach the egg?
In the early weeks the sperm's nucleus
commingles with the egg, and your baby's gender is determined. Sperm carrying a
Y chromosome generally results in a baby boy, while sperm carrying an X
chromosome generally results in a bouncing baby girl.
During weeks one
and two your fertilized egg, otherwise known as a zygote, will divide into
multiple cells and starts burrowing into the rich lining of your uterus.
Your precious baby is simply a ball of cells that transforms at this
point into a blastocyst. The blastocyst consists of an inner cell mass that
eventually transforms into the embryo, another cavity that becomes the amniotic
sac, and an outer cell body that will become the placenta. It is absolutely
amazing how your baby develops from this seemingly primitive ball of cells!
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