If you are newly pregnant, or trying to conceive, you have many questions about what to expect. How will your body change? What's happening inside you? WebMD has teamed up with experts from The Cleveland Clinic to guide you, week by week, through the nine months of pregnancy. Each week offers information about your body and baby's, as well as invaluable tips. Let's start with a peek inside the womb.
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What's Happening
Inside You?
As the fertilized egg grows, a water-tight sac forms around it, gradually filling with fluid. This is called the amniotic sac, and it helps cushion the growing embryo.
The placenta also develops. The placenta is a round, flat organ that transfers nutrients from the mother to the baby, and transfers wastes from the baby.
A primitive face takes form with large dark circles for eyes. The mouth, lower jaw, and throat are developing. Blood cells are taking shape, and circulation will begin.
By the end of the first month, your baby is about 1/4 inch long - smaller than a grain of rice!
Weeks 1 and 2
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Your baby is still just a glimmer in your eye. Although it's confusing to think about a pregnancy starting before your child is even conceived, doctors calculate your due date from the beginning of your last cycle since it's hard to know exactly when conception occurred.
At the beginning of a cycle, about 20 eggs called ova begin to ripen and occupy fluid-filled sacs called follicles. One of these follicles matures and ruptures, releasing an egg that will travel down the fallopian tube, where it awaits fertilization. This all takes place about 14 days before the end of your cycle. This is the time you're most fertile, so light some candles, take the phone off the hook, and set aside some intimate time. An egg can be fertilized for only about 12 to 24 hours once the ovum is released. Don't be disappointed if it doesn't work the first time. You have only about a 20% chance of getting pregnant each month.
Tip for the Week:
Make sure you've scheduled a preconception visit with your OB-Gyn to determine risks of genetic diseases, environmental hazards and lifestyle changes necessary to ensure a healthy pregnancy and baby. Most important, make sure you've started taking 0.4 milligrams, or 400 micrograms, of folic acid a day. Folic acid taken a few months before conception has been shown to dramatically reduce the likelihood of neural tube defects, such as spina bifida.
Week 3
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Congratulations! If your egg and your partner's sperm have joined successfully, your embryo is really there, although it's very small -- about the size of the head of a pin. It doesn't look like a fetus or baby; it's just a group of about 100 cells multiplying and growing rapidly. The outer layer of cells will become the placenta, and the inner layer will become the embryo.
You won't notice any changes. It's too soon. Remember, you haven't even missed your period yet.
Tip for the Week:
Home pregnancy tests are about as reliable as a urine test or blood test done in the doctor's office and can give you more immediate results than waiting for a doctor's visit. To ensure accuracy, make sure you've read the directions carefully and that all equipment being used is clean.
Week 4
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Your baby is still very small, only about 0.014 inches to 0.04 inches in length. The embryo, probably in about its second week of development, has multiplied to about 150 cells. Your baby is being nourished by secretions from the uterine lining. Layers of cells already are specialized according to functions. The outer layer will become the nervous system, skin and hair; the inner layer will be the breathing and digestive organs; and the middle layer will become the skeleton, bones, cartilage, muscles, circulatory system, kidneys and sex organs.
You're probably expecting your period this week, and if it doesn't occur it might be one of the first signs that you're pregnant. You may also notice light spotting as the embryo implants itself in your uterus. You might not feel any different yet, but the amniotic cavity, which will be filled with fluid, and the placenta, which will bring oxygen and nutrients to nourish your baby, are forming in your uterus.
Tip for the Week:
Try to eat healthfully, which means choosing a variety of foods from the recommended food groups and drinking at least six to eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. But you don't really need to "eat for two." You need only an extra 300 calories per day during pregnancy. And don't worry if your food intake drops a little in the beginning because of morning sickness. If you've been eating right already, your baby will get what it needs.
Next: Weeks 5-8
Reviewed by The Cleveland Clinic Birthing Services and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
SOURCES: Mayo Clinic.com: "Fetal development: What happens during the first trimester?"
Copyright 2003 content, The Cleveland Clinic. The information provided by The Cleveland Clinic is not intended to replace the medical advice of your doctor or health-care provider. Please consult your health-care provider for advice about a specific medical condition. For additional health information, please contact the Health Information Center at The Cleveland Clinic, (216) 444-3771 or toll-free (800) 223-2273, Ext. 43
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