Congratulations, you are now officially pregnant. Being 3 weeks
pregnant means that one of your partner's sperm and one of your
eggs have combined and you are in the earliest of stages of
pregnancy. If, by chance, you have released two eggs and they have
both been fertilised, you will be pregnant with non-identical
twins. You won't know it though; all of this activity is going on
deep within one of your fallopian tubes at a tiny, microscopic
level. At 3 weeks pregnant, you are still a few weeks away from
starting to feel the effects which pregnancy hormones will be going
to have on your body.
fertilisation
The process of fusion between your egg and a single sperm takes
around 24 hours. Only one sperm makes it through to the centre of
the egg, although a lot battle it out to be the one and only. At
the moment when one sperm is successful, the egg builds up a
protective wall around itself to stop others from entering.
Eventually, the other sperm give up trying. If one egg is
fertilised by a single sperm and divides separately, identical
twins are formed at this very early stage.
The newly fertilised egg is now officially called a zygote and
it starts dividing into more and more cells, until around the 3rd
day, when what was originally 2 cells, have now become 12. The
zygote is still in the fallopian tube at this stage, though it is
steadily finding its way down to the uterus where it will stay,
hopefully for another 37 weeks or so. Little finger like
projections of hair called cilia, line the fallopian tube and wave
the zygote along to discourage it from settling in where it
shouldn't. It takes around 60 hours for the fertilised egg to weave
its way down to the uterus, by which stage there are 60 cells, all
with a predetermined job and a specialised function. The outer
cells will form the placenta; the inner cells will form the
baby.
Around a week after the egg has been fertilised in the fallopian
tube, it embeds in the lining of the uterus. By now, there are 100
cells bunched together and it is called a blastocyst. At this early
point, the pregnancy hormone Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin is
produced and it is this hormone which can be detected in your urine
or blood when a pregnancy test is done. If the signals to keep
producing HCG aren't received, the lining
of the uterus isn't needed and is shed in your next period.
your physical changes this week
- It is still too early for you to know that you are pregnant.
Although you may be hoping you are and have stopped using
contraception, it will still be a couple of weeks before you will
know for certain that you could be 3 weeks pregnant.
- Some women are convinced that they are able to tell as soon as
they conceive. They report a strange taste in their mouth, just
feeling different or odd, or a sense that something has happened.
Being 3 weeks pregnant is still so early that hormonal changes
probably aren't responsible for symptoms at this stage, but we
cannot discount what a lot of women swear to be true.
- Nature is set up to succeed. You don't need to be extra careful
about physical activity or changing your usual routines. If one of
your eggs has been fertilised, it already knows where to go and
what it has to do.
your emotional changes this week
- You may be feeling slightly "on edge" because you want time to
go faster so you can tell if you've been successful. Sit tight, if
you are 3 weeks pregnant, this is an essential early stage of your
baby's development. It cannot be rushed.
your baby's changes this week
- So far your baby is barely the size of a pin head. It is still
a cluster of cells and doesn't look anything like what it will
become. But, it is rapidly dividing and multiplying over the full
24 hours of each day.
hint for the week
- If you're going to the dentist for a check-up, let them know
you may be pregnant. X-Rays in the early stages of pregnancy are
not recommended.
- Be aware of any hazards around you. There are risks with some
environmental factors such as pesticides and poisons which can have
an affect on early cell division in pregnancy.
- Try to avoid drinking any alcohol or taking any medication
unless it has been especially prescribed for you.
- Don't forget to start taking a pre-natal vitamin with a folic
acid supplement included.
Now, let's see what happens in week 4 when implantation of the
fertilised egg occurs.