Pregnancy week by week

Pregnancy week by week

Pregnancy is a one-of-its kind experience. As you step into this new beginning, learn what awaits you and your baby in the next 40-42 weeks.          

In weeks 1 to 13, that is, the first trimester, form a single cell to tiny body and limbs, your baby begins to grow rapidly in your womb during the first trimester. Strangely, in the first few weeks of your first trimester, you might not be aware that you are pregnant. Yet, there is much adventure happening inside you. If you want to know what’s happening to your baby inside in the first two weeks of your pregnancy, you’ll be surprised to hear that your baby isn’t even formed yet. Yes, your pregnancy theoretically begins on the first day of your last period even though you are not physiologically pregnant. You’ll ovulate in the second week and hurray, you’ll get pregnant in the third week. By week 4, the tiny embryo which is just a ball of cells runs down through your fallopian tube to get implanted into the uterus lining. From week 5, the implanted embryo begins to trigger your pregnancy hormones causing the early symptoms of pregnancy. By week 7, your uterus becomes double of how it was at week 3. At week 9, the embryo promotes to a fetus and by week 13, viola, you already have a bump!

With the start of the second trimester, that is, from weeks 14 to 27, you begin to sync well with your pregnancy. As the morning sickness eases away, you are energetic more than ever, you are hungry more than ever and you eat, more than ever now. This phase is often referred to as the ‘honey moon’ period of pregnancy as you aren’t as sick as you were in your first trimester and you wouldn’t be as heavier as you are going to be in the next trimester. By week 15, your baby is more like a baby, wriggling and squirming inside all day. Between 15 to 20 weeks, your OB might schedule diagnostic tests. A multiple marker screening, popularly called as Triple screen test, is to check for any neural tube defects. By week 17, you should be able to feel your baby kicking and moving inside. An ultrasound scan by week 19 can reveal if you are having a boy or a girl. By week 22, your baby’s features are getting closer to how he or she would appear at birth. At week 27, your baby’s brain and eyes are undergoing active development.

In the third trimester, from weeks 28 to 40/42, you’ve already undergone a huge metamorphosis and all that you want to happen is hold your baby in your arms. The good news is that you are not too far as you have just one-third of your pregnancy left. By week 29, you will be asked to make kick counts. By week 30, you will experience Braxton Hicks contractions which will continue to increase in intensity until labor begins.