Pregnancy Week by Week

Since so many changes take place with your pregnancy week by week, it is important to know how far along you are and what is happening within your body.

Each week, your pregnancy adds exciting changes for both you and your baby. But, since the idea of being pregnant for 40 weeks seems intimidating, pregnancy is broken up into trimesters.

The first trimester lasts from week 1 to week 13. In your pregnancy week by week, your baby going through dramatic growth and change, but so is your body.

The weeks of the first trimester are the worst for many women. Not only are you adjusting to the idea of a new life growing inside of you, but the pregnancy hormone hCG is causing noticeable pregnancy symptoms. In this trimester, you may experience:

• Morning sickness
• Exhaustion
• Sensitivity to smells
• Breast tenderness
• Mood swings
• Frequent urination

Your baby also changes during the first trimester. At week 3, your baby is only a small cluster of cells implanting into the uterus. Before week 4, your baby’s heart is beating. However, you won’t be able to hear it in your doctor’s office until week 10 or week 12.

Your baby has sex organs by the seventh week and by the eighth week your baby is actually moving. You won’t feel any of these movements until the second trimester, though.

By the end of week 12, the end of your first trimester, your baby has fingers, toes, fingernails, toenails, and fingerprints. He/she has the beginnings of ears, eyes, and a mouth. At this point, he/she actually looks like a tiny baby.

In the second trimester, your hormones have stabilized. Many women experience a relief from the early pregnancy symptoms that bothered them through the first trimester. The second trimester lasts from week 13 to week 26. During this trimester, your breasts grow larger and you develop a pregnancy bump. Now, your friends and family know you are pregnant. At some point in this trimester, you will begin wearing maternity clothes.

Your baby is also going through huge changes in this trimester. By week 20, you should feel your baby move. It will feel like tiny bubbles in the beginning and progress to kicks and punches as your baby grows.

Around the 19th week, your baby’s hearing starts developing. During this trimester and the next you will notice your baby jerking to loud sounds. In addition, your baby is learning people’s voices and the sounds around him/her. At birth your baby will know your voice, your partner’s voice, sibling’s voices, and familiar noises such as your family dog’s barking or your favorite song.

By week 24, if your baby is born prematurely, he/she has an excellent chance for survival thanks to medical technology.

By the end of the 26th week, your baby has will head hair, eyelashes, and eyebrows. Your baby will develop lanugo (fine body hair) and it will darken enough to be seen on an ultrasound. Your baby now weighs about a pound and a half.

In the third trimester, many women just want their pregnancy to be over. They are tired and feel awkward as their body grows. Women and their partners should be discussing plans for the birth as well as newborn care techniques.

In this trimester, you baby is going through rapid growth and weight gain. He/she is gaining half a pound to a pound per week until week 37. During this trimester, your baby’s organs have fully formed and become functional.

Around week 27, your baby is covered in vernix, a creamy white substance that protects your baby from the amniotic fluid. By birth, vernix has almost disappeared, though you may see some in your baby’s skin creases.

By week 29, your baby can now hear, see, taste, and smell. Amniotic fluid is sweet and ultrasounds have observed babies drinking the fluid.

By week 36, most of your baby’s growth is done and your baby’s organs are functional. If your baby is delivered during this week, your baby will be small, but will probably be able to go home when you leave the birthing facility.

Many changes happen during your pregnancy week by week, so early prenatal care is very important. You should also quit smoking, and drinking alcohol while continuing to eat nutritiously and exercise regularly.

• Winter Maternity Clothing
• Maternity Polo Shirts
• Summer Maternity Fashion
• Gender Selection and Conception
• Conception Myths

• How Soon Can I Take a Pregnancy Test
• Natural Ways to Induce Labor
• How to Conceive a Boy
• How to Conceive a Girl
• Early Pregnancy Symptoms

• Pregnancy Calendar Week 10
• Pregnancy Calendar Week 23
• Pregnancy Calendar Week 27
• Pregnancy Calendar Week 26
• Pregnancy Calendar Week 20