Pregnancy Week 3

What’s happening to your baby?

After long hours of travel and crossing-over of hurdles, the Mr. Right sperm managed to penetrate through your ovum. Once inside, the sperm’s genetic material fuses with that of your ovum. Hurray! Here’s a unique single cell carrying a unique set of genes and ready to kick start your pregnancy.

Your baby begins his or her journey as this single cell called a zygote. The all-excited little cell begins to divide itself to multiply exponentially. In 3-4 days, it grows from one cell to two; from two cells to four; four to eight and then to sixteen cells which makes a spherical ball called a morula. In the next 6 days, your tiny baby ball bounces and rolls through the fallopian tube on its way to uterus. In the due course of its ride, it grows to a hundred cells clustered together to make a blastocyst.

What’s happening to your body?

The blastocyst has an outer layer of cells which will develop into placenta and an inner cell mass that will grow into your baby. The outer cell layer begins to produce a pregnancy hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). hCG is a critical early pregnancy hormone which announces to your entire system that you are now pregnant.

On the arrival of hCG in your body, ovaries stop releasing ova. hCG also signals the empty follicle (corpus luteum) from which your ovum was released, to produce increased amounts of progesterone and estrogen. The two hormones continue to nourish and support your uterine wall as your baby blastocyst is supplied with nutrients through tiny blood vessels in the wall. This will be the mode of nourishment for your developing early embryo until the placenta is formed in the coming weeks.

While all this is happening in your body, you might have no clue that you are pregnant. Your body is just beginning to undergo changes due to pregnancy and it could take another couple of weeks before it displays the typical symptoms of pregnancy.

Tips and advice for Pregnancy Week 3

There isn’t much you are expected to do now other than eating healthy and sleeping well in order to support your pregnant body. You may want to check on these early pregnancy signs but remember that you may not experience all of it, or even worse any of it.

Nasal Congestion (Pregnancy Rhinitis): About 30% of women experience pregnancy rhinitis in the early weeks of pregnancy. The sudden surge in the levels of pregnancy hormones causes the nasal passages to swell up, increasing the production of mucus, as a result.

Breast Tenderness: Soon after conception, your body begins to prepare for your coming phase of motherhood, and as a first sign, you can find your breasts become tender and sore and the dark area around the areola may start to get wider and darker.

Spotting: Commonly called as spotting, a light to mild vaginal discharge, usually brownish in color, can be spotted in some women around the expected period date. Be aware that not all women experience spotting while some may miss to notice it.

Food Aversions: As the pregnancy hormones continue to shoot up, some pregnant women become sensitive to food tastes and smells. Don’t be surprised if you detest the sight of your ever-favorite Sushi or, strangely you crave for chocolate fudge like never before.

Lightheadedness: Lightheadedness is frequently associated among very early signs of pregnancy. You body is actively producing progesterone, a pregnancy hormone, which nurtures the growing baby with increased blood flow. As a result, blood supply to your brain may drop down at times, giving you a lightheaded feeling.

Frequent Urination: When one day you find it unstoppable from going to the restroom every now and then, feel glad that nature alerts you with one of the telltale signs that you are pregnant. Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG), the early pregnancy hormone, causes frequent urination in pregnant women.