This is PART 1 of our series. PART 2 and PART 3 can be found here.
The experience and feeling of developing a new life inside your body is just so wonderful, even if you don’t feel better all the time. It’s a long journey of around 40 weeks. Your pregnancy is calculated from the first day of your last menstrual period, which is called as gestational age. Gestational age is considered to determine the growth of the developing baby, which also helps to calculate your baby’s due date. During these 9 months, your baby and your body go through a lots of changes in terms of weeks. These weeks are divided into three trimesters, which are considered as the stages of pregnancy. In PART 1 of our article, we are going to talk about the FIRST TRIMESTER –
FIRST TRIMESTER (1st week to 12th week)
The first three months of pregnancy, starting from conception to 12th week is considered as the first trimester. Your developing baby will change from embryo to fetus i.e. starting to develop features during this trimester. In early weeks of pregnancy, your body goes through a lot of internal changes even if it’s not shown much outside.
1st Month (1st week to 4th week) –
Development of baby: As the pregnancy starts from the first day of your last menstrual period, so first week is of your menstrual cycle. Second week is of conception i.e. your ovaries release an egg which is ready to be fertilized by your partner’s sperm. In the third week after conception, cell moves towards womb through fallopian tubes. In the fourth week, implantation takes place and now called a blastocyst which is very tiny of about 0.2mm i.e. smaller than a grain of rice.
Changes in your body: After conceiving, your body started producing more hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) hormone, which is called as pregnancy hormone. This is used to detect your pregnancy. You may hardly feel any symptom at this time. Your first sign is when you miss your period at the end of this month.
It is advised to quit drinking/smoking even before you plan your pregnancy to reduce complications. If you are healthy and quit drinking/smoking before pregnancy, then you may get happy pregnancy experience.
2nd Month (5th week to 8th week) –
Development of baby: In the 5th week, the growing baby is about 2mm and is now called an embryo. Now the parts of the developing baby started growing i.e. brain, face, spinal cord starts to form. In the 6th week, now embryo becomes 4mm and jaws and eyes are forming. You can also listen to baby’s heartbeat in the 6th week through ultrasound. In 7th week, your baby is growing so rapidly as nostrils, forehead, lips, stomach, kidney, and lungs start to form. In the 8th week, the embryo is now 1.3cm long with developed arms, legs, ears, and tongue. A placenta also develops inside the womb to provide nutrients and oxygen to your developing baby through your blood stream.
Changes in your body: During this month, you’ll feel many symptoms and changes in your body. By now you have missed your period, and your pregnancy test will confirm your pregnancy. Then you (most of the women) may start feeling nauseous and your breasts become tender, larger, and sore. Your areola (area around your nipple) becomes darker. You may also feel tired, moody, constipated, feel more urge to go to the washroom and experience teeth issues. Some women also experience pregnancy glow at this time. That sudden change in your hormone levels during pregnancy is the main reason for all these symptoms, which will fade away within few weeks as your body adjusts. Just have a healthy diet, a lot of rest, regularly exercise and drink plenty of water to deal with all those changes.
3rd Month (9th week to 12th week) –
Development of baby: In the 9th week, the shape of your growing baby’s body is recognizable and now becomes 2cm long. In the 10th week, your baby becomes 3.5cm in length and now called as fetus and weighs around) 0.02lb (i.e. 8g). At this time, almost all the organs have formed including fingers, toes, elbows, wrists, ankles, and internal sex organs (not external). In the 11th week, after developing all the organs, now muscles start working and fingernails and teeth inside the gum start growing. At the last week of this month i.e. 12th week, your fetus becomes 6cm long and some of the organs like the digestive system and kidneys start functioning. You’ll also feel a little movement of your baby.
Changes in your body: By 3rd month, you start to gain some weight with little visibility of your baby bump. You don’t need to eat too much i.e. for you and your baby, all you need is healthy and well-balanced diet. You (some women) experience change in their skin texture i.e. some get oily skin than usual, some get dry, some get pregnancy glow while others get pimples. In general, till the end of this month, morning sickness subsides but some may experience it for longer. You may also feel cramps around your legs.
Just adopt a healthy lifestyle for a happier and healthier pregnancy.