Pregnancy Pictures Week by Week

The first week of pregnancy actually begins with the start of your last menstrual period. Why? It's hard to pinpoint exactly when your egg becomes fertilized, but the date of your last cycle is a more accurate starting point. Your doctor will calculate your due date by counting 40 weeks from the start of your last menstrual period.

There's no baby yet, but your body is preparing for ovulation and, ultimately, conception. Wondering how you can be 2 weeks pregnant before your baby is conceived?

The uterus lining starts to building up in preparation for the fertilized egg to implant itself once your period ends, and assuming you have succeeded in your mission to conceive.

Conception typically occurs when you are two weeks pregnant, or two weeks after your period starts. Even while you're menstruating, your body is getting ready for pregnancy.

* An egg, maturing within one of your ovaries, releases.
* This process, called ovulation, usually occurs approximately 11 to 14 days after your period.
* After ovulation, the egg moves into your fallopian tube, which connects your ovary and uterus, and waits to be fertilized.
* If you have intercourse during ovulation, you might become pregnant!
* Sperm can live in your body for up to six days, but your egg, once released during ovulation, must be fertilized within 12 to 24 hours.
* At this point, your egg is 1/200 of an inch - too small to see with the naked eye.

If this is a planned pregnancy, you may be suspicious of being pregnant even before the pregnancy test comes back positive.

Most women don't experience the classic symptoms of pregnancy - morning sickness, fatigue until after they miss their first missed period. If you were not planning to get pregnant, milder symptoms or changes will go unnoticed or be confused with menstrual symptoms.

You would probably dismiss feelings of fatigue, breast tenderness and nausea and blame these symptoms on other factors such as being overworked, premenstrual hormones and your last night dinner respectively. You may be very well into your third month before you decide to do a home pregnancy test to confirm.

If luck is on your side, the sperm and egg will hook up as planned.
The zygote (fertilized egg) goes on a 3 day journey from the fallopian tube to the uterus; a further 3 days of development before the zygote makes the uterus its temporal home for the next 9 months or so.

This is it - the week you'll likely miss your period and find out you're pregnant!

By the middle or end of this week, you should be able to get a reasonably accurate result from a home pregnancy test. (This is assuming that you have a 28-day cycle and you have ovulated on schedule.)

By the time the pregnancy test comes positive, the baby will have completed the first two weeks of gestational development. At this stage, your baby is between 0.36 and 1 millimeter long. The ectoderm layer of cells will evolve into your baby's nervous system (including the brain); the endoderm layer will become the gastrointestinal tract, liver, pancreas and thyroid; and the mesoderm will become the skeleton, connective tissues, blood system, urogenital system and baby's muscles. Your baby's umbilical cord forms around this time; it will function as a food pantry, oxygen tank and waste disposal system in the months to come.

This week is all about settling into pregnancy - getting used to the idea that there is a tiny being growing inside of you, as well as adjusting to the pregnancy-related symptoms that begin to crop around this time.

After weeks of rapid cell development, your baby takes on a more distinct form. During the fifth week of pregnancy.

If you were to get a prenatal ultrasound this week, it may show the first signs of a beating heart. The circulatory system is the first system to develop and your embryo is beginning to show the signs of looking like a baby. Arms and leg buds are continuing to grow and fingers are beginning to develop, during this week of pregnancy.

You may be starting to experience the early symptoms of pregnancy - nausea, breast tenderness, a need to urinate frequently. If you do not feel any of the pregnancy symptoms, consider yourself lucky instead of worrying. It is perfectly normal to feel perfectly normal.

This week 6 of pregnancy marks the beginning of the embryonic period which spans from the 6th to 10th weeks of pregnancy or the 4th or 8th weeks of fetal development.

During your 6th week of pregnancy, your baby grows at a phenomenal rate and his systems develop significantly.

Your uterus has already expanded from the size of a plum to the size of an apple.

f you could see her, she would look a bit like a seahorse. Her spine is still curved and she has grown a long tail, and there are tiny bumps where arms and legs will soon start to appear. Her head, which is very large in proportion to the rest of her body, already has folds that will soon develop into eyes and nose.

You may gain a pound or two if you have been eating good. If you have been feeling queasy, you may have lost weight. But even if the scales don't show a difference, your clothes may be starting to fit you differently. If this is your first pregnancy, your abdomen may not have changed much. You may be gaining some weight in your legs or other places such as your breasts.

Chances are you are experiencing at least the odd symptom of early pregnancy, whether it is nausea, heartburn, frequent urination or food cravings, or all of the above (lucky you).

What is going on with You?
You may experience some mild cramping or pain as your uterus expands. Despite this, you are not showing yet. Changes will come soon, though.

What is going on with your Baby?
Your baby's head is the largest part of the body - indicative of the rapid brain growth that has been occurring. All four chambers of the heart are now in place. Intestines are also developing but they are not yet encased inside your baby's body as yet. They bulge out into the umbilical cord. The crown to rump length of your growing baby measures at 4 to 5 mm.

Congratulations! Your baby is now a fetus! At eight weeks, your baby is now officially classed as a foetus, meaning 'offspring'. Her facial features are continuing to develop, eyelids are forming, and her jaw is fusing to shape her mouth. The tip of her nose is visible, and her neck is starting to grow, separating her large head from her body.

In the heart, the valves are present and distinct. The body's trunk area is getting longer and straightening out. Elbows are present, and arms and legs extend forward. By the end of this week, your baby will be about 11 mm long - just under half an inch.

You probably won't look pregnant yet, but your clothes could start feeling a little tighter. Your breasts are also growing and over the next few weeks, you may need to buy bras in a bigger size.

When you're 9 weeks pregnant, your baby's body parts and proportions continue to develop and change quickly.

Your baby is probably about an inch long now and its tail has all but disappeared. During this week of pregnancy, some tiny fetuses have even been shown to suck their small thumbs, and they have begun to make facial grimaces and even swallowing motions.

This is a period of rapid growth for your baby. Over the next three weeks his body will double in length. He is now beginning to look more 'baby shaped'. He has shoulders and elbows, and his hands, feet and limbs are growing particularly quickly.

Regular exercise through your pregnancy will boost your mood, help you sleep, strengthen muscles to prepare you for the demands of pregnancy and labour and will help you regain your shape after the birth.

Things are going to get a whole lot more eventful from this point forward. You have already made it through the first quarter of your pregnancy.

She's able to swallow the amniotic fluid she floats in, and she may even suck her thumb. Her preferred hand at just 10 weeks could reveal whether she'll be left- or right-handed, according to researchers from Belfast University.

Changes are gradual, and you still may not show much. You may be browsing stores for maternity clothes, which you don't probably need yet. However a subtle change in your body shape which may be only obvious to you happens about now. A pair of pants that zipped up last week may not zip up this week. A blouse that has always fit you well may suddenly feel tight across the bustline. You may experience those classic symptoms of pregnancy or still not feel pregnant at all. (Don't worry: you do not have to experience a lot of symptoms in order to have a healthy pregnancy).

in week 11 of pregnancy You are starting to develop a pot belly. At times you may feel top of the world and at other times your moody or emotional self will surprise you. The pregnancy roller-coaster ride has begun.

While you probably haven't gained much weight so far, you may be a little concerned about weight gain during pregnancy. Most doctors say that you should gain approximately 1-2 lbs. a month in the first trimester, (a total of about 6 pounds).

While big changes are happening with your baby, things are going at a slower pace with you. You are almost at the end of the first trimester. Your uterus is almost big enough to fill your pelvis and may be felt in your lower abdomen, above the middle of your pubic bone. If you think you feel your baby move at this time, you either have gas or are further along in your pregnancy than you thought.

Your baby continues to grow and is now approximately the size of a large lime! The crown-to-rump length of your developing child is 1.75 to 2.4 inches. The weight of the fetus is approximately 8 grams at this point. The growth of your baby is phenomenal now and your baby's length will double in the next three weeks. The head is grossly out of proportion and is almost half of the baby's length.

Your baby will begin to get baby teeth, fingernails, toenails and hair follicles this week 11 of pregnancy, too.

Some women notice changes in their hair, fingernails or toenails. Some fortunately experience an increase in hair and nail growth while others find they lose hair during pregnancy.