Congratulations are in order…or are they?! If you’ve been trying to conceive, here’s what may surprise you: you’re not actually pregnant your first two weeks of pregnancy! No baby yet! That doesn’t mean, however, that your body isn’t gearing up or prepping for a baby. Here’s what you can expect of pregnancy and your baby at weeks 1 and 2.
Pregnancy Week 2: How to Calculate Your Due Date
While there is no baby or even an embryo at this stage of your pregnancy, everything in your body is waiting anxiously for the moment of conception. Yep, you guessed it: ovulation. In weeks one and two of pregnancy, which is the time frame immediately following your last menstrual period, your uterus is preparing to receive a fertilized egg. While you won’t know until next month if the egg was successfully matched with sperm, the big O, or ovulation is the end goal.
You may be wondering how it’s possible to calculate your due date when you’re not technically pregnant yet and the truth is, it’s hard to nail the exact day of ovulation. What’s more, the sperm and egg can do a dance around each other for up to 24 hours before they get together. Most practitioners will use the first day of your last menstrual period as the starting point for pregnancy. The easiest way to think about it is that you’re getting a two-week head start on pregnancy!
Body Changes to Expect for Week 1 and 2
Exciting news: you’ve just gotten your last period, for awhile anyway. This is the official start to your pregnancy. Your menstrual cycle orchestrates the necessary steps in order for a baby-in-the-making scenario to take place. First, your body will experience a flood of hormones, including FSH, designed to stimulate your follicles and estrogen, which causes your uterus lining to thicken and the egg to bust through the ovarian wall (best known as ovulation) to meet the lucky sperm waiting to mate with the egg and begin growing a bambino. Although you may not be pregnant just yet, the two-week waiting period is a great time for you to prepare yourself for a new tenant. Prenatal vitamins are great, as well as beginning a healthy diet and exercise routine.
While women have about a 25 percent chance of getting pregnant with each cycle, there is one thing you can do to upp your odds. Keep the heat down to boost fertility chances! Prolonged heat can adversely affect sperm production which is the opposite of what you want when trying to make a baby. Body heat and snuggling during sexy time? Yes, please! Two other things to avoid during this time? Oral sex (since saliva can slow down sperm activity) and lubricants. Time for a standard romp for the best possible odds of going from a party of two to three!
Pregnancy Symptoms to Watch For
Temperature spikes are the norm. When you ovulate, your basal body temperature dips low and then spikes up again during ovulation. The best way to know when ovulation occurs and you need to get busy is by tracking your basal body temperature. If you track for a few months, you’ll notice a pattern that can better equip you for go time.
During this time period you’ll also have an increase in cervical mucus. It already has a tendency to change from week to week, but once you’re near conception it will increase resulting in a thick, sticky and cloudy mess down below.
Week 1 and 2 To-Do List
Women who get 400 micrograms of folic acid daily early on in their pregnancy reduce the baby’s risk of neural defects by 70% so fill up! It can also reduce the risk of miscarriage, congenital heart defects, gestational diabetes and preterm labor. Speaking of things that may harm baby-to-be’s health, check with your doctor on any medications that you should avoid during pregnancy. A preconception visit can help you learn about genetic, environmental and lifestyle hazards that could put your fertility and unborn baby at risk. The most important thing during this time period? Remaining calm. Women who produce high levels of a stress-related enzyme in their saliva (alpha-amylase) are 29 percent less likely to conceive. Relax mama, and let the birds and the bees do their work!
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