Pregnancy – What happens during Weeks 3?

Now you have entered into the third week of the pregnancy stage, it is during this week when conception takes place, and you are medically considered to be pregnant. Most women might still not feel any apparent symptoms, while some may feel different kinds of abnormalities due to the changes occurring in their hormone levels.

If you have been planning to get pregnant and feel abnormal, you should visit a doctor to confirm the pregnancy.

Confirmation of Pregnancy during Week 3 – Tests and Examination

If you have gotten pregnant, by the third week you will have high levels of HCG in your body; at this stage, most pregnancy detection kits will confirm your status by evaluating the amount of HCG content in your urine sample.

The urine kits will give a positive report after five to six days after implantation has taken place, however, a blood sample test can detect high HCG levels in just 2-3 days after conception. Don’t expect to get any kind of confirmation from an ultrasound test yet, as at this stage an ultrasound test will not be able to detect any kind of growth in the womb.

The growth of the baby at this stage is limited to a small group of cells that are multiplying at a fast pace.

What physical or other changes can a Pregnant Woman expect at Week 3?

Your baby is still too small at this stage; even an ultrasound won’t be able to detect it. So physically, don’t expect any physical changes like an increased belly size, etc.

But a lot of changes are happening on the hormonal level, the body is preparing itself to provide a favorable environment for proper growth of the baby inside the womb, during the third-week hormones such as progesterone and estrogen start getting produced by the body.

What about the higher levels of HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) and their effect on a pregnant woman?

As soon as implantation of the baby has taken place, the placental cells in a pregnant woman’s body start producing high levels of HCG hormones, some women may remain unaffected, while many will start experiencing different kinds of symptoms due to them.

But there is no need to worry too much, by the time the pregnancy reaches the eighth to twelfth week, the HCG levels will stabilize on their own, and so does the symptoms that were happening because of their higher levels.

What kind of development is taking place in the baby during Week 3 of Pregnancy?

This is the time for fertilization to take place, out of 1/3 billion sperm only one will make its journey from the uterus to the fallopian tube, to meet the sperm a woman’s matured egg will reach the fallopian team.

Now, the winning sperm will insert itself inside the egg by breaking the hard layer that surrounds the mature egg, the whole process of breaking and entering the egg will take approximately take twenty minutes time for the sperm.

Once the sperm is inside the egg, it will take another eleven hours for the egg and sperm to merge together, and with this, the fertilization process is now completed.

Both the sperm and egg are built up with a set of 23 chromosomes (46 in total), these 46 chromosomes will combine and form a zygote (the medical term we use for the baby at this stage).

In spite, of what people say it is the male sperm that decides the sex of the baby, the male contains XY type of chromosomes, while the mother contains XX type of chromosomes, how they interact during fertilization will decide the sex, and other features of the baby (body structure, eye and hair color, and other such things).

Now starts the implantation process, which takes approximately 9 days (6 minimum and 12 maximum). The zygote will travel upwards towards the fallopian tube (uterus), once there the zygote attaches itself to the walls of the uterus.

And now the implantation process is complete, from now on the zygote will be referred to as a blastocyst (a combination of 100 plus cells). This is a crucial stage, if instead of attaching to the uterus, somehow the blastocyst gets attached to the abdomen, fallopian tube, ovary, or cervix, it can result in ectopic pregnancy.

Ectopic pregnancy is a very dangerous situation; there are very few chances for the pregnancy (or fetus) to survive in such a case.

What kind of Signs and Symptoms a Pregnant woman feels at Week 3

A woman may feel many of the same issues she faced during the first and second week of pregnancy, and some new ones too.

1 – An increased body temperature and feeling Fatigued.

2 – Gas, Constipation, or Bloating is common during this stage.

3 – Nausea, mood swings, and the problem of diarrhea in a few cases.

4 – She may suffer from headaches, back pain, and abdominal cramps, especially in the lower region.

5 – Softness in their Breasts.

6 – Bleeding, spotting, problems with cervical mucus and abnormal vaginal may happen during this week of pregnancy.

7 – Many pregnant women also report cravings for foods that they would otherwise not prefer, or like to eat.

Healthy Pregnancy (Week 3) – What to keep in mind?

It is impossible to predict pregnancy during the first two weeks, but things change during the third week. Due to the symptoms, missing their next menstrual cycle, and taking urine or blood tests a lot of women will become aware of getting pregnant.

As you are now aware of being pregnant, now is the right time to make the necessary changes in your lifestyle and environment.

1 – Consult with a doctor, and get yourself properly screened for any kind of deficiencies or defects that can affect the pregnancy. Take all the prescribed medicines and vitamins without missing the schedule, especially folic acid, you need at least 0.4 mg of it daily.

Folic acid is very necessary for the proper development of a baby’s nervous system, and also saves from defects that can occur in the brain or spinal cord.

2 – Stay away from places that can prove fatal for the baby’s growth, like pesticide spread areas, a place that contains harmful chemicals in the air, and other places where you might catch some kind of other infections.

3 – We strongly advise you to give up on drugs, tobacco intake, and alcohol consumption. These substances are very dangerous for a growing child, and due to their side effects, your child may suffer from different disorders for his whole life.

4 – Control your caffeine intake, high levels of caffeine are not good for a growing fetus.

5 – Try not to have an X-ray unless very necessary, X-rays are considered harmful for a growing fetus; these can create growth complications in the baby.