Week 3 Of Pregnancy
Pregnancy is one of the most precious times of a woman’s life and most women don’t know they are pregnant until 3 weeks or after. So, if you are feeling uneasy and have missed your menstrual cycle the last month then its time you consulted your gynaecologist, or do a home pregnancy test because there is a chance you could be pregnant!
Body Signs in Week 3 of Pregnancy
At this time, there are physical changes like a big belly or swollen feet but there is a production of hormones estrogen and progesterone, the increase in which helps to detect pregnancy
The HCG levels
Human Chorionic Gonadotropin or popularly known as HCG is produced by the placenta cells after implantation. The HCG level is high at this point of time and continues to increase till the first 8-12 weeks or the first trimester of pregnancy. After that period it stops increasing or drops.
Development of the baby during 3rd week of pregnancy
The well formed eggs produced by the female ovary travels towards the fallopian tube where it gets fertilized by a single sperm from millions of them, which has to travel around successfully for 6-8 inches before it can meet the egg for fertilization. It takes the sperm around twenty minutes to get in through the hard outer cover of the egg and another eleven hours for the nuclei of the sperm and egg to merge thus completing the process of fertilization. Both these contain 23 chromosomes each, which when combined form a zygote containing 46 chromosomes. The gender of the baby is decided the moment the egg gets fertilized. The gender is decided on the basis whether the sperm carries X chromosome or Y chromosome. The foetus’ hair color, eye color and body type is also decided at this stage.
Now, the new zygote travels up the fallopian tube to the uterus and attaches itself to the uterine wall for implantation. The implantation process is complete within 6-12 days from ovulation and fertilization. Here the zygote continues dividing to form a group of cells known as blastocyst. Sometimes this blastocyst attaches itself to the fallopian tube, ovary, abdomen or cervix which could lead to an ectopic pregnancy.
3 week pregnancy symptoms
Many women have had implantation bleeding or spotting due to it within 1-2 days of this. Some of the other signs which women may experience during this period are:
- Rise in basal body temperature
- Cramps in the lower abdomen
- Headache
- Decreased vaginal discharge or cervix mucus
- Some other very common and early signs of pregnancy which may be experienced during this stage are nausea or morning sickness, soreness or tenderness of breasts, fatigue, gas, bloated feeling, food cravings, diarrhea, back pain and mood swings.
Tests and screening in pregnancy 3 week
Pregnancies are often detected with the help of change in HCG levels in the urine. The home pregnancy test kits can detect pregnancy by this method within 5-6 days of implantation. Blood pregnancy tests can detect conception within 3-4 days of implantation. At three weeks one cannot do a scan to detect a pregnancy because at this stage the foetus is just a cluster of cells.
Read more about tests :
Tips to take care during 3rd week of pregnancy
Often women are unaware of pregnancies until the third week, but once they know they should make all the changes required for a healthy pregnancy. Some tips for a healthy pregnancy are:
- Stop consuming alcohol and quit smoking
- Decrease caffeine consumption
- Talk with your physician before taking any X-rays as they can be harmful for the foetus at the early stages of the pregnancy.
- Avoid proximity to any hazardous substance as they hamper cell division and may hamper the growth of the foetus.
- Take the pre natal vitamins prescribed by your doctor like the folic acid tablets which can prevent any birth defect in the baby in the first few weeks and help in the proper growth of the brain and spinal cord of the baby.
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