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Week by week pregnancy

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Week by week pregnancy
Written by Kate Morrison   

Week By Week Pregnancy: What To Expect

A week-by-week pregnancy education will help you to know what to expect throughout your pregnancy. For the first time mother, giving birth is an exciting time filled with a range of emotions. From happiness to anxiety and even feelings of being unattractive, it helps to know why you are feeling the way that you are. Realizing what is happening inside of you can help to make that happen.

In this basic week by week pregnancy guide to the way that you feel, you can see what exactly to expect. Here, instead of looking at what is happening with your baby, the week by week pregnancy look will focus on you and your body. The First Month During your first month of pregnancy, you may not feel as if you are pregnant at all. You likely will not gain weight. You may begin to see the first signs of pregnancy : morning sickness. It is likely, though, that your body is already beginning the transition of developing the fetus.

During these first weeks, the baby has started to grow from just a few small cells into layers of cells, building up to what amounts to a living being. During this time, your body is preparing for the baby. The sac in which your baby will grow is developing even as the child itself is. During this first month, perhaps by the third week, you may notice some spotting and cramping, but this is not your period coming on. Rather, it is caused by the implantation of the embryo. The first four weeks of pregnancy are times for development within your body including the development of the amniotic cavity, which fills with fluid to protect the baby and the placenta, which works to bring the baby oxygen and the nutrients it needs are forming within your body.

Month Two

During month two, your body may still not be showing any real symptoms of pregnancy, but some women are already in the throws of morning sickness. What's more, you may feel your breasts tingling, fatigue setting in and you may feel that you need to urinate more often. Your baby is less than .05 inches long but already is developing many of its main organs including the heart, his brain, muscles and bones. Over this month, you may find that you are losing weight, which is normal especially if you are facing morning sickness vomiting or loss of appetite. Make sure your diet is healthy as much as possible. By your eighth week, your uterus is the size of a grapefruit and you may experience some cramping here.

Month Three

During the third month, your body is in full swing pregnancy and you should be gaining weight. You are likely to developing symptoms such as mood swings and just an overall aversion to eating specific foods, or craving others. At week ten, the baby is officially called a fetus and is about 1.25 to 1.68 inches long. At this point, the more tender time of the beginnings of life are behind you. During those first few weeks, the largest risk for defects or problems happens. Your doctor has probably allowed you to hear y our baby's heart beat at this stage, too. He has the beginnings of fingernails growing! Some women begin to experience changes in the way their hair looks or the touch of their skin. By the end of this period, you are feeling better because morning sickness has likely past. You are gaining weight, but remember that a healthy diet is crucial!

The Second Trimester

During the second trimester, many things happen to baby, including substantial growth, organ formation, and your doctor may even be able to tell you if it is a girl or a boy at this point. By the end of your fourth month, the baby will be about six inches long and weighs just a small four ounces! As for what's happening to you, during this period, you are gaining additional size around your middle and you can start to feel your uterus growing outward, filling your pelvis area. Your pregnancy hormones may cause some constipation. Your skin is stretching to accommodate baby. This is also the time for doctors to do many of their tests on you to be sure that your health is strong. During the final weeks of this trimester, you will feel your baby moving, which is an amazing feeling especially that fist time.

The Third Trimester

At this stage in pregnancy , most baby's are growing and will be about 14 inches long by the end of the seventh month and weigh about four pounds at that time. He has a lot of growing left to do, but he's ready to do it.

As for you, you may be feeling uncomfortable mainly because you are getting larger around the middle. Most mothers are putting on about a pound per week at this point. You can feel the baby moving and sometimes it may feel like he's grabbing at your ribs and kicking through your stomach. Many women begin to experience the pain and consequences of gaining weight now, which may include feeling clumsy, feeling short of breath and having problems with sleeping. Baby is likely to be making it uncomfortable for you to do anything. Some will even feel pain in their lower abdominal areas. Braxton Hicks are happening. This trimester is likely to be the most trying because of how uncomfortable it is but the baby is on his way!

This week to week pregnancy guide is meant to help you to see what is happening with your own body throughout the process. Yet, realize that each and every woman goes through their own experiences and your situation may be different than someone else's. The good news is that the experience is usually a good one and your body is well capable of taking care of each of the various situations that do arise. Consider what your mother went through during her experience as her stages of pregnancy advice is likely what you'll go through.
 
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