Pregnancy Guide: 1 week pregnant symptoms and your baby's development

Counting a pregnancy begins on the first day of your most recent menstruation. The reason why doctors do this is that it’s incredibly challenging to determine the precise day of conception.

This indicates that even if you weren’t pregnant during week 1, your body was getting ready for conception. So now, you may be wondering what are 1 week pregnant symptoms?

1 week pregnant symptoms: How big is your baby?

At Weeks 1-2, your baby is just a twinkle in your eye because you aren’t actually pregnant yet. During your first week of pregnancy, there isn’t a baby yet. The egg that will be discharged and hopefully fertilized is beginning to grow inside your ovaries in the early days of pregnancy. By Week 3, your embryo is finally there, but really tiny—about the size of a pinhead!

Your body is getting ready to get pregnant even if there isn’t a baby to measure just yet. The largest single cell in the human body, a woman’s egg, starts to mature as early as the first week of pregnancy.

According to flo.health, the follicular phase of this cycle, which is known as the ovarian cycle, will begin when you become pregnant. This phase starts at the same time as your menstruation does. Many immature follicles initially start preparing for ovulation as a result of a hormone called FSH, or follicle-stimulating hormone.

 Your baby’s development

• There is still no fetal development during the first week of pregnancy because fertilization hasn’t occurred. During Weeks 1-2, you aren’t pregnant but your body is preparing for ovulation and your uterus is getting ready for the arrival of a fertilized egg.
• Developing healthy living habits and taking prenatal vitamins before pregnancy will increase your chances of conceiving a healthy child, even if there isn’t one yet.
• By week 3, things are starting to happen! Your fertilized egg is now moving toward your womb, along the fallopian tube.
• By the time your egg reaches the womb, it will become a mass of over 100 cells and now called an embryo.
• Once in your womb, your little embryo burrows into the lining of your uterus in a process known as implantation.

Pregnant symptoms 1 week

Pregnant symptoms 1 week: As your body is preparing for conception, you may be wondering what are the symptoms of 1 week pregnant. Are there any symptoms of 1 week pregnant even though you you are not officially pregnant?

1 week pregnant symptoms

• You’re not officially pregnant during weeks 1-2, and you’ve started your last period. During these weeks, you’re shedding the lining of your uterus along with last month’s unfertilized egg and you are getting ready for the starting point of your pregnancy.
• Once your period is over, you may notice your cervical mucous changes in consistency and color—it goes from thick, sticky and creamy, to thin, gooey, and increased in volume as the right time for conception approaches.
• Towards the end of week 3 as your embryo implants in your uterine lining, you may notice a tiny bit of spotting, known as “implantation bleeding.”
• You may notice your breasts are tender and swollen, slightly more exaggerated than how they felt before your period.
• You may feel more tired than usual.
• Your sense of smell may be heightened—don’t be surprised if your favorite perfume suddenly doesn’t smell so good!
• If you’ve been charting your basal body temperature (your temperature at full-rest) you may notice that it stays high.
• Some very sensitive home pregnancy tests may show up as positive if you test during this time.

1 week pregnant belly

1 week pregnant belly: The first week of your pregnancy, as well as the following few weeks, won’t actually have a baby bump. This week you’ll be menstruating, so it’s conceivable that hormonal fluctuations could cause you to feel a little bloated from fluid retention.

1 week pregnant spotting and stomach pain

Again, on your 1^st week of pregnancy, you aren’t officially pregnant and you are menstruating during this time. Your 1 week pregnant spotting is actually a menstrual period. While if you experience 1 week pregnant stomach pain, it’s probably because of dysmenorrhea.

You won’t start to feel pregnant from day one because conception hasn’t yet taken place. A month later, when they don’t get their period, many women have their first true pregnancy symptom. However, you can have menstruation symptoms in the early stages of your pregnancy. Menstrual symptoms that are frequently experienced include:

• Stomach pain or uterine cramps
• Back pain
• Headaches
• Acne or pimples
• Breast tenderness
• Diarrhea or constipation
• Fatigue

Lifestyle changes

If you are really trying to conceive, a few lifestyle changes are important to increase the likelihood of you getting pregnant.

Starting a healthy diet can help you become pregnant more quickly even though there isn’t a special fertility diet. To help your body get ready for a healthy pregnancy, include foods like leafy greens, mercury-free fish, seeds, nuts, complex carbs, fruits, and lots of water in your diet.

Once you’ve made the decision to have a baby, it’s never too late to start living a healthy lifestyle. Getting in shape before having a baby is easy with exercise. In addition, get enough sleep; studies have shown that women who don’t can experience more difficulty conceiving.

Moreover, avoiding certain substances will increase your chances of having a healthy baby, even if you aren’t officially pregnant. These substances include alcohol, tobacco, excessive coffee, simple carbohydrates, trans fats, and environmental toxins.

Furthermore, tracking your menstrual cycle can help you determine when to have sex for more chances of conceiving. Track your cycle by using a menstrual calendar to trace the start, length, and estimated date of your ovulation of each cycle.

Lastly, according to Web MD, be sure to schedule a preconception appointment with your OB-GYN to assess your risk for genetic disorders and environmental dangers, learn about essential lifestyle adjustments, and guarantee a healthy pregnancy and birth. The most crucial thing to do is to start taking 400 micrograms, or 0.4 milligrams, of folic acid daily. It has been demonstrated that taking folic acid a few months before conception significantly lowers neural tube abnormalities such spina bifida.

Pregnancy care

• If you haven’t started on a prenatal vitamin already, now is a good time to begin.
• Also, give up smoking and alcohol, eat a healthy diet, and drink at least six to eight glasses of water daily.
• To ensure the healthy development of your yet-to-be-conceived baby’s brain and spinal cord, start taking 400 micrograms of folic acid daily.
• You may want to cut down on your coffee intake, as caffeine can have a negative impact on fertility.

Your Checklist

• Check that your chickenpox and rubella vaccinations are up-to-date well in advance. If not, your doctor may advise you to get these vaccinations before you become pregnant.
• If you haven’t scheduled a preconception doctor’s appointment yet, now’s the time to do it. You will learn about the lifestyle, genetic, and environmental hazards that may have an impact on your fertility and baby.
• At this appointment, you can discuss matters such as exercise, diet, and suitable prenatal vitamins with your doctor.
• Whether you are taking herbal, prescription, or over-the-counter medications, check with your doctor that they are safe to take during this period of trying to conceive and very early pregnancy.

Your next week: 4 weeks pregnant

Republished with permission from theAsianparent Singapore

Additional information written by Jobelle Macayan

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