3rd Week of Pregnancy
Here we are at Week 3 of your pregnancy, and you still may not know for certain that you’re pregnant. Remember, your pregnancy is calculated from the day you started your last menstrual period, not from the date of ovulation or when you think you might have conceived during your fertile period.
You may not yet have missed a period, and you may not yet feel the pregnancy symptoms outlined in the Week 2 article, such as nausea, breast tenderness and frequent urination. Your hormones may not yet have built up to a level where body changes are detectable.
While your body may not be visibly reacting, the embryo that will become your baby is busy multiplying and expanding, even though it’s still invisible to the human eye. In fact, at this stage the embryo doesn’t even look human – it’s just a group of cells about size of a pinhead.
The big event during Week 3 is what happens after fertilization, when the sperm and egg combine in conception. Each reproductive cell contributes half of a human’s 46 chromosomes in their genetic make-up. Three days after the sperm and egg unite, a 9-cell embryo forms.
During Week 3, the ball of cells that makes up the embryo is located inside a cavity that will become the amniotic sac. The fetus floats in the amniotic sac, cushioned from outside shocks, as it develops over the next 9 months. So by Week 3, amniotic fluid is beginning to gather around the ball of cells that comprises the embryo. A primitive circulation system of tunnels connects the embryo to the uterine wall so that the little ball of cells is getting nourishment from the mother’s body. The placenta that nourishes the fetus won’t develop for another week or so.
One pregnancy symptom you might notice at this point is a small amount of vaginal bleeding. This bleeding, often called “implantation spotting,” is thought to occur when the fertilized egg burrows into the lining of the uterus. Remember, the uterine lining, rich with blood and tissues, is what your body discharges each month as your menstrual period when you don’t conceive. If this bleeding occurs, it typically happens about 6 days after fertilization, or close to the end of Week 3.
If you have attempted to conceive during this time, it’s vital to prepare yourself for pregnancy whether or not you’re sure of your condition. Adopt a healthy lifestyle with good nutrition and exercise, but get your doctor’s clearance before starting any exercise regimen. Even if your health habits haven’t been too good before pregnancy, you can adopt better habits during pregnancy if you proceed gradually. This means don’t try to run a marathon if you’re just getting into speed walking. If you’ve been active, however, you can keep to your existing routine, realizing that you’ll have to modify your workouts as your pregnancy proceeds.
Even as you finish up Week 3, you still won’t know for sure whether you’re pregnant. Even the most sensitive pregnancy tests can’t verify your condition until at least three days after the expected date for your next period. So keep anticipating, and behave as if you were already pregnant, because you just might be in Pregnancy Week 3!
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