Chapter 1 YOUR PREGNANCY W EEK BY W EEK Just the Facts: Y our Due Date and the T iming of Your Pregnancy St ra ng e as it ma y seem, your doctor or mi dwif e ca lc ul ates yo ur pr eg nanc y starting from the fi rst da y of yo ur las t menstr ual perio d (L MP). Pregn ancy lasts about 38 weeks from conception to birt h, bu t because it’s of ten ha rd to pin down exactly when the egg and sperm did their mating dance, practi- tione rs count 40 weeks (280 days) of pr eg na nc y , beginning with th esta rt of your LMP. That’s why you’re al ready considered “two weeks pregnant” when you conceive. Here’s how the timing breaks down in your first trimester. Y our Pregnan cy: 0 through 3 Weeks Your Changing Body During the first two weeks or so of your cycle, your body’s like an anxious host an- ticipating the arrival of an important houseguest: First, your uterus sheds its old, unneeded lining when your period starts. Then, prompted by a surge in the 3 HOT TOPICS • The first signs of pregnancy (page 5) • Symptoms you should never ignore (page 21) • Ti ps for tende r breas ts (page 4 7) • Copin g wi th fati gue (page 52 ) • Why you have to pee so much now (page 52) • Getting enough folic acid (page 64)
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Just the Facts: Your Due Date and the Timingof Your PregnancyStrange as it may seem, your doctor or midwife calculates your pregnancy
starting from the first day of your last menstrual period (LMP). Pregnancylasts about 38 weeks from conception to birth, but because it’s often hard to
pin down exactly when the egg and sperm did their mating dance, practi-
tioners count 40 weeks (280 days) of pregnancy, beginning with the start of
your LMP. That’s why you’re already considered “two weeks pregnant”
when you conceive.
Here’s how the timing breaks down in your first trimester.
Your Pregnancy:0 through 3 WeeksYour Changing Body
During the first two weeks or so of your
cycle, your body’s like an anxious host an-
ticipating the arrival of an importanthouseguest: First, your uterus sheds its
pregnancy: fatigue, frequent urina-tion, and tender, swollen breasts.
You may also have a little spotting a
few days before your period is due.
Some women confuse this implanta-
tion bleeding with menstruation—
but only a small portion notice it at
all. Even though you’re still waiting
to find out for sure if you’re preg-nant, don’t forget to take your folic
acid!
Your Growing Baby
Just after ovulation, a momentous
meeting takes place: A microscopic
sperm cell breaks through the pro-
tective barrier surrounding your egg
and fertilizes it. A baby is in the
making! Over the next day or so,
you and your mate’s DNA will do
the tango within the fertilized egg,
merging their genetic material into
the blueprint for your baby-to-be.
All the while, the fertilized egg istraveling down your fallopian tube
toward your uterus, dividing and
multiplying into a ball of 16 iden-
tical cells. By the time it reaches
your uterus, three or four days later,
and begins burrowing into the
lining there a day or two after that,
this ball will be stretched like adouble-layered water balloon. The
outer layer of cells will form the
Several hours or even days after you and yourmate make love, nearly 250 million sperm havefallen by the wayside, leaving just a few hun-dred battling it out to gain entrance into youregg. Only one will succeed.
Within a few weeks, small clues will starthinting at the miraculous events unfolding in-side your body. Among the first: painfullytender breasts, exhaustion, and a seeminglyconstant need to pee.
will give rise to his lungs has appeared. His pituitary gland is forming, as are
the rest of his brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, your baby is a quarter-inch long and about the size of a lentil.
Your Pregnancy: 7 WeeksYour Changing Body
Your uterus has almost doubled in size inthe last five weeks, and keeping food down
may be next to impossible, thanks to
morning sickness. (If you’re feeling fine,
don’t worry—you’re lucky!) You probably
need to use the bathroom a lot more than
usual, too, thanks to your increased blood
volume and the extra fluid being processed
through your kidneys. (By the end of yourpregnancy, you’ll have 40 to 45 percent
more blood running through your veins to
meet the demands of your growing baby.)
10 T H E F I R S T T R I M E S T E R : 0 T O 1 3 W E E K S
What Other Women Say at 6 Weeks
“My husband thinks I’m totally nuts. I think I’m totally nuts. I’ve never been so
bitchy in my life. It’s horrible!” —Cindy
“Everything bothers me about a hundred times more than it should. When I lose my
cool around my partner, I always have to remind him that I can’t help it!” —Amy
“My acne’s really flared up.” —Lisa
“Week 6 hit, and with it came morning sickness. Healthy eating went out the
window. I’ve been eating a lot of carbohydrates and mozzarella cheese anddrinking a lot of milk. I’m definitely getting enough calcium, but my vitamins are
coming from a pill.” —Anonymous
“Grilled cheese sandwiches are all I can stomach, and I know that can’t be good.”
—Vicki
BabyCenter Buzz
HOT TOPICS
• Shortness of breath (page 50)
• Why pregnancy can makeheadaches flare up (page 52)
While your nausea may diminish during your second trimester (in about
seven weeks), get used to making a beeline for the bathroom. Many women
report that the need to pee is a constant part of pregnancy.
Your Growing Baby
The big newsthisweek: Hands and feetare emerging fromdevelopingarmsand
legs—though they look more like paddles at this point than the tiny, pudgy ex-
tremitiesyou’redaydreaming aboutholdingandtickling.Technically, your baby
isstill consideredanembryoand has something ofa small tail, which isactuallyan extension of her tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but
that’s the only thing getting smaller. Your baby has doubled in size since last
week and now measures half an inch long, about the size of a raspberry. If you
could see inside your womb, you’d spot eyelid folds partially covering her
peepers—which already havesomecolor—aswell as the tip ofher noseand tiny
minute and weeping over a sentimental commercial the next. Try to cut your-
self (and him!) some slack—it’ll be good practice for the months to come.
Emotional flip-flopping can persist throughout your pregnancy and well after
your baby is born. On the physical front, you may find yourself sweating
while others around you are shivering (yet another side effect of all the extra
blood pumping through your veins). Some women also notice that they sali-
vate much more than normal now, though the cause is a bit of a mystery.
Your Growing Baby
This week’s big news: Your baby—just under an inch long and about the size
of a grape—looks practically human for the first time! All of the standardbody parts are accounted for—though they’ll go through plenty of fine-tuning
in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby’s heart finishes di-
viding into four chambers, and the valves start to form—as do her tiny teeth.
The embryonic “tail” is completely gone. All of your baby’s organs, muscles,
and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won’t
be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully
formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won’t open until week 27. She has
tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The pla-centa is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of pro-
ducing hormones. Though your baby still weighs just a fraction of an ounce,
she’s poised for rapid weight gain now that her basic biology is in place.
14 T H E F I R S T T R I M E S T E R : 0 T O 1 3 W E E K S
What Other Women Say at 9 Weeks
“I’m so congested that I sound like I’ve got a whopper of a cold. I have to keep a
humidifier going in my room at night and sleep propped up.” —Penny
“I just had an ultrasound, and there were not one but two babies! What am I
going do with two?” —Anonymous
“I’m always hot. I sleep naked, with a fan going and our window open. My hus-
band is freezing!” —Amy
“‘Morning sickness’ is a farce—it’s ‘all-day sickness’ for me. I wish someone had
hit me in the head when I told them I’d love every minute of pregnancy. That’s a
levels, and for even more women,morning sickness is finally becoming
a thing of the past. (Queasiness can
return periodically throughout preg-
nancy, though, and some unlucky
mothers-to-be never get a break
from it.)
Your Growing BabyThe most dramatic development this
week: Reflexes. Your baby’s fingers
will soon begin to open and close,
his toes will curl, his eye muscles will
clench, and his mouth will make
sucking movements. In fact, if you
prod your abdomen, your baby will
squirm in response (though you
won’t be able to feel it). His in-
testines, which have grown so fast
that they protrude into the umbilical
cord, will start to move into his ab-
dominal cavity about now, and his
kidneys will begin excreting urine
into his bladder. Meanwhile, nervecells are multiplying rapidly, and in
your baby’s brain, synapses are
forming furiously. His face also looks
unquestionably human: His eyes
have moved from the sides to the
front of his head, and his ears are
right where they should be. From
crown to rump, your baby-to-be is21 ⁄ 8 inches long (about the size of a
lime) and weighs half an ounce.
18 T H E F I R S T T R I M E S T E R : 0 T O 1 3 W E E K S
Finally, the beginning of a real “baby belly”as your uterus outgrows the confines of yourpelvis and rises into your abdominal cavity.
Maternity clothes, here you come!
At barely 2 inches long, your baby’s head isdisproportionately large compared with hisbody; his forehead bulges with his devel-oping brain, and his eyes are sealed shut.Still, there’s no question that his appearanceis now distinctly human.