This pregnancy week by week guide will walk you step-by-step through each week of pregnancy. You'll find fascinating information about the changes occurring in your body and to your developing 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 of your pregnancy.
The moment of conception is technically when you first became pregnant, but doctors don't calculate pregnancy this way. Using the date of conception is too inaccurate; since a majority of women don't know the time and day they conceived. Most women, however, can recall when they had their last period. So doctors use the first day of your last menstrual period (LMP) to calculate the length of pregnancy.
At 1 week pregnant, you aren't actually pregnant. You're having your regular menstrual period this week. Most women will ovulate (the release of a mature egg from your ovary) at the end of pregnancy 2 weeks. Conception often takes place at 3 weeks pregnant.
Weeks one and two are an extremely exciting and mystifying time for most women. Many 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!
During pregnancy week 1 and pregnancy week 2, you aren't technically pregnant yet! Although no pregnancy symptoms will bother you during weeks 1 and 2 of pregnancy, you have already started your 9 month journey without even realizing it. 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 weeks.
Though you may not experience any pregnancy signs and symptoms the first week, you will probably start to experience many of them in the weeks to come. The most common symptom that women experience during ovulation includes some mild cramping, which may occur on one or both sides of the body. It is not uncommon to feel some ovarian cramping 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 and 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.
Taking Your Basal Body Temperature
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
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 a few days before ovulation or during the second week after your last period? If you are regularly charting your cycle you should be able to pinpoint a two to four day window of peak fertilization.
If you have unprotected sex around the time you ovulate, there's a good chance that you could become pregnant. For this reason, it's important that you pay attention to the early signs of pregnancy in the first week. A majority of women will not start experiencing true pregnancy signs until 10 to 14 days after ovulation (when you're considered to be 4 weeks pregnant), though some women can experience symptoms as early as a few days after conception.
Early signs of pregnancy in the first week may include the following:
Increased fatigue
Breast tenderness
Frequent need to urinate
Sleep disturbances
Increased basal body temperature that remains elevated
Slight spotting or brownish staining (implantation bleeding)
For most women, they won't realize that they are pregnant until they miss their period in a few weeks. By the time you miss your period, you are considered to be 4 weeks pregnant.
After you miss your period, you may experience morning sickness (nausea and/or vomiting), a metallic taste in your mouth, food aversions, and increased sensitivity to odors.
The question that most often follows "Am I pregnant?" is "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 with your healthcare 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.
As mentioned earlier, most healthcare providers prefer to consider pregnancy as starting from the onset of the last menstrual period, which is a more concrete date than they day you actually conceive. 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 as 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.
When you are "1 week pregnant," you're actually having your menstrual period. (Do you remember reading above in "How the Length of Pregnancy is Calculated" that doctors don't use the date of conception to pinpoint the length of pregnancy? They start counting your pregnancy as beginning with the date of your last menstrual period.)
Your pregnancy officially begins (from the medical standpoint) roughly two weeks prior to conception. At 1 week pregnant, you are probably experiencing a variety of emotions. You have probably made the decision to become a parent this week, and you're thinking about all the responsibilities that come with parenting.
A common pregnancy symptom at 1 week is stress and anxiety. It is perfectly normal for you to feel a little anxious and stressed with the idea that you're going to bring a new baby into your life. Tears of joy as well as tears of angst are not uncommon in the early weeks of pregnancy, and even throughout your pregnancy.
While it is hard not to feel some stress at 1 week pregnant and 2 weeks pregnant, it is essential that you work to reduce your stress as much as possible in the early weeks of pregnancy. Carrying too much stress can actually reduce your chances of conceiving successfully. Take some time to meditate and reflect on all the joyous aspects of your life during the early weeks. This will not only help you feel better, but will also improve your chances of conceiving successfully.
Immediately after your period at 1 week pregnant, you'll notice a change in your vaginal discharge. You will be dry with no mucus secretions until you reach your fertile phase (in the middle of week 2).
By the end of 2 weeks pregnant, your last period probably started between 12 and 16 days ago. You may be ovulating by the end of this week. To successfully conceive, make sure that you keep track of your fertility. Charting can help you predict which days you are most likely to be fertile. To help you out, you might consider purchasing an ovulation predictor kit that allows you to pinpoint the day that you're most likely to conceive.
At 2 weeks, if you're paying attention to your body, you'll notice that there's an increase in how much discharge you're producing. If you're actively trying to conceive, you should know that the consistency of your cervical mucus changes week to week throughout your menstrual cycle.
In the few days before ovulation (day 10 or 11 after your menstrual period), when you're in your fertile phase of your cycle, you will notice that your cervical mucus is sticky, moist, and cloudy in color. By the end of 2 weeks pregnant (day 14 of your cycle), you will be ovulating. Your discharge (cervical mucus) will become clearer, slippery and stretchy.
If you have unprotected sex around the time that you ovulate (the day or two prior to day 14), there's a good chance you'll get pregnant and conceive.
After you conceive, you may experience mild cramping and light spotting. This is a sign of implantation (the fertilized egg furrowing itself into the lining of your uterus, where it will grow and develop into a baby for the next 9 months).
Early symptoms of pregnancy at 2 weeks might include fatigue (you're more tired than normal), tender breasts, difficulty sleeping, and your elevated body temperature makes you feel feverish occasionally.
Your Baby at 1 and 2 Weeks Pregnant
top During 1 week pregnant and two weeks of pregnancy, 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 pregnancy 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?
When your partner's sperm and your egg meet, life begins! In the early weeks of pregnancy, 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 pregnancy 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.
By the end of 2 weeks pregnant, your precious baby is simply a ball of cells that transforms into a blastocyst. The blastocyst consists of an inner cell mass that will eventually transform 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!
During 1 week pregnant and 2 weeks pregnant, you can improve your chances of conceiving by taking good care of your body. If you haven't already, you need to start eating a healthy and balanced diet, and you'll want to stop smoking and drinking any alcohol. Start an exercise regiment, as this will help you feel better and strengthen your body for fertilization and implantation.
If you are planning to get pregnant in the near future, you'll want to start taking prenatal vitamins right away. Make sure that your prenatal multivitamin contains folic acid – an essential nutrient that may help prevent neutral tube defects (a type of birth defect that forms in the first trimester).
During the early weeks of pregnancy, it is absolutely essential that you adopt healthy lifestyle habits. Proper nutrition and exercise as well as minimizing stress are all essential components that help promote a happy and healthy pregnancy.
If you haven't started already, you should begin taking a prenatal supplement during this time that contains at least 400 micrograms of folic acid. This will help reduce your baby's risk of developing neural tube defects. Most prenatal vitamins contain an adequate amount of folic acid.
It is also important during the early weeks of pregnancy that you discontinue any harmful habits that may affect the well being of your unborn child. Cigarette smoking and alcohol abuse are both harmful on a pregnancy. Smoking during pregnancy can increase your baby's risk of being small for gestational age.
Smoking also interferes with your body's ability to absorb folic acid, which is essential for helping prevent neural tube defects. Smoking can also increase the risk of miscarriage and low birth weight babies. Other risk factors among smokers include pulmonary diseases and an increased risk for placenta previa, a potentially life threatening condition in which your placenta grows in the lowest part of your uterus, near the opening of the cervix.
Alcohol abuse during pregnancy is equally damaging. Alcohol abuse has been associated with an increased risk of miscarriage and development of fetal abnormalities. Chronic alcohol abuse has been linked with a birth defect called 'fetal alcohol syndrome' or FAS, which is characterized by a variety of symptoms including growth retardation both before and after birth, physical defects, and abnormal facial characteristics.
Children born to parents who drink during pregnancy are also at risk for speech impairments and motor development disabilities. Even drinking small amounts of alcohol during pregnancy can result in fetal abnormalities, thus it is best that you avoid alcohol during pregnancy as a precaution.
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Though you may not experience any pregnancy signs and symptoms the first week, you will probably start to experience many of them in the weeks to come. The most common symptom that women experience during ovulation includes some mild cramping, which may occur on one or both sides of the body. It is not uncommon to feel some ovarian cramping during ovulation. 
The question that most often follows "Am I pregnant?" is "When is my baby due?" Guessing your 
Your pregnancy officially begins (from the medical standpoint) roughly two weeks prior to conception. At 1 week pregnant, you are probably experiencing a variety of emotions. You have probably made the decision to become a parent this week, and you're thinking about all the responsibilities that come with parenting. 
During 1 week pregnant and 2 weeks pregnant, you can improve your chances of conceiving by taking good care of your body. If you haven't already, you need to start eating a healthy and balanced diet, and you'll want to stop smoking and drinking any alcohol. Start an exercise regiment, as this will help you feel better and strengthen your body for fertilization and implantation. 
It is also important during the early weeks of pregnancy that you discontinue any harmful habits that may affect the well being of your unborn child. Cigarette smoking and alcohol abuse are both harmful on a pregnancy. 