Pregnancy Week by Week. Congratulations! You are pregnant. Wondering how baby is growing? Here's a way to find out what is happening inside you - as baby grows. Track your baby's development week by week - from the size of a cherry at 8 weeks to what's causing those kicks and punches at week 20. Week 1 This is when you had your last menstrual period. Since your expected date of delivery is usually calculated from the first day of your last menstrual period, this week too is part of your pregnancy, though baby was not conceived yet. Even as you get ready to conceive, you will have to avoid alcohol, drugs, and tobacco products. You may also need to discuss with your doctor about any prescription drugs that you are taking and if it is safe to continue them. A well-balanced diet with an adequate amount of vitamins and folic acid is essential during this phase. You could talk to your doctor about taking a folic acid supplement while trying to conceive, as it reduces the risk of neural tube defects. Week 2 You are not yet pregnant, but the fertilization of your egg by the sperm is about to take place soon. Your uterine lining, which will nourish the baby, is developing, and your body secretes follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), which stimulates an egg to mature. At the end of this week, you will be at the midpoint of your menstrual cycle (if you have a regular 28-day cycle), and ovulation will occur (your ovary will release an egg into the fallopian tube). This is when you're most likely to conceive. If you have sexual intercourse without protection around the time that you ovulate, you can become pregnant. After your partner ejaculates, millions of sperm travel through the vagina, and hundreds make it to the fallopian tube, where your egg is waiting. One sperm generally succeeds in penetrating the egg, and fertilization takes place. When that happens, you will be pregnant - although you will not be feeling any body changes just yet. Even though you may not feel that you're pregnant yet, you have a baby growing and developing inside you! Although your baby was just conceived, he or she is working overtime. The fertilized egg goes through a process of division. About 30 hours after fertilization, it divides into two cells, then four cells, then eight, and continues to divide as it moves from the fallopian tube to the uterus. By the time it gets to the uterus, this group of cells looks like a tiny ball and is called a morula. The morula becomes hollow and fills with fluid - it is then known as a blastocyst. Near the end of this week, the blastocyst will attach itself to the endometrium, the lining of the uterus. This is called implantation. The implantation in the uterus is an essential connection - the endometrium will provide the developing embryo with nutrients and will remove wastes. Over time, this implantation site will develop into the placenta. Week 3 Your baby (now called an embryo) consists of two layers of cells - the epiblast and the hypoblast - that will eventually develop into your baby's organs and body parts. Two other structures developing now are the amnion and the yolk sac. The amnion, filled with amniotic fluid, will surround and protect the growing embryo. The yolk sac will produce blood and help to nourish the embryo until the placenta takes over that role. Week 4 This week baby continues to implant in the uterus, burying itself deep into the endometrium and starts producing a hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), which helps to maintain the lining of the uterus. It also sends a signal to the ovary to stop releasing an egg each month, which stops your monthly periods. hCG is the hormone that is measured in pregnancy tests. So, a home pregnancy test taken now will probably be able to detect your pregnancy! Some women experience slight cramping and spotting of blood during this week while implantation is taking place, and they may mistake this for a period, as it often occurs around the time their monthly period was due. hCG also causes the symptoms of pregnancy, which can appear this week. Fatigue, tingling or aching breasts, or nausea might lead you to believe your period will be starting any day because the first pregnancy symptoms resemble premenstrual syndrome (PMS). But by the end of this week, your expected period will not take place. Your pregnancy is well on its way! Week 5 Your baby's brain and nervous system are now developing at a rapid pace. Optic vesicles, which later form the eyes, begin to develop this week on the side of the head, as do the passageways that will make up the inner ear. Your baby's heart will begin to beat around this time, and it may even be detected on ultrasound examination. And the beginnings of the digestive and respiratory systems are forming, too. Small buds that will grow into your baby's arms and legs also appear this week. Babies often are measured from the crown to rump rather than from head to toe because their legs are curled up against the torso for much of the pregnancy, making a full-length measurement difficult. This week, your baby only measures 0.08 to 0.2 inches (2 to 5 millimeters) from crown to rump! Week 6 Your baby is constantly adapting to life inside the uterus. By this week, the umbilical cord has formed. It will be your baby's connection to you throughout your pregnancy, providing oxygen and nourishment for your baby and disposing of your baby's wastes. In addition, your baby's digestive tract and lungs continue to form. Your baby's face is taking shape too. The mouth, nostrils, ears, and eyes are some of the facial features that become more defined this week. The arm bud that developed just last week has a hand on the end of it, which looks like a tiny paddle. Common pregnancy complaints may hit in full force this week. You may feel extreme fatigue as your body adjusts to the demands of pregnancy. And tender, aching breasts and nausea and vomiting (morning sickness) may leave you feeling less than great. Week 7 Baby's tiny fingers and toes are just beginning to form this week, and the arms can even flex at the elbows and wrists. The eyes are becoming more obvious because they've begun to develop pigment (color) in the retina (back of the eye). Also, the intestines are getting longer and there isn't enough room for them in the baby's abdomen, so they protrude into the umbilical cord until week 12. By now, the beginnings of the buds that will develop into your baby's genitals have made their appearance, although they've not yet developed enough to reveal whether your baby is a boy or a girl. Pregnancy causes many changes in your cervix. By this week you'll have developed a mucous plug, which forms in the opening of the cervical canal and seals off the uterus for protection. You will lose this plug later as your cervix dilates in preparation for labor. Week 8 The tail at the bottom of your baby's spinal cord has shrunk and almost disappeared by this week. In contrast, your baby's head has been growing - it's quite large compared with the rest of the body and it curves onto the chest. By this week, your baby measures about 0.6 to 0.7 inches (16 to 18 millimeters) from crown to rump and weighs around 0.1 ounces (3 grams). The tip of the nose has developed and can be seen in profile, and flaps of skin over the eyes have begun to shape into eyelids, which will become more noticeable in the next few weeks. Baby's digestive system continues to develop. The anus is forming, and the intestines are growing longer. In addition, internal reproductive features, such as testes and ovaries, start to form this week. Your baby may make some first movements this week as muscles develop. If you had an ultrasound now, those movements might even be visible, though you won't be able to feel them for several more weeks. Week 9 All your baby's vital organs have formed by now and are starting to work together. As external changes such as the separation of fingers and toes and the disappearance of the tail takes place, internal developments are taking place too. Tooth buds form inside the mouth, and if you're having a boy, his testes will begin producing the male hormone testosterone. Congenital abnormalities are unlikely to develop after week 10. This also marks the end of the embryonic period - in general, the embryo now has a distinctly human appearance and starting next week your baby will officially be considered a fetus. Week 10 From this week until week 20, your baby will be growing rapidly - increasing in size from about 2 inches (5 cm) to about 8 inches (20 cm) from crown to rump. To accommodate all this growth, the blood vessels in the placenta are increasing in both size and number to provide the baby with more nutrients. Facial development continues as the ears move toward their final position on the sides of the head. If you saw a picture of your baby now, you'd think you had a genius on your hands - the baby's head accounts for about half of the body length! Although your baby's reproductive organs are developing rapidly, the external genitals of boys and girls appear somewhat similar until the end of week 11- and can be clearly differentiated only by week 14. Week 11 Your baby's brain continues to develop, and tiny fingernails and toenails start to form. Vocal cords
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