Your baby at week one of pregnancy
Welcome to your first week of pregnancy! Although you have entered your first trimester of pregnancy, you are not really considered pregnant until conception has occurred. Conception is when a sperm fuses with your egg.
It is difficult to know when conception has occurred, because sperm can live in your body for up to seven days, and how long it will take them to reach your eggs will depend on how active they are.
Even though conception may not have occurred yet, you are considered pregnant because your due date will be calculated from the first day of your last menstrual period. Once conception has taken place, your baby will grow faster than at any other stage in your pregnancy! Although you will feel no evidence of these changes, your little one’s spine, brain and heart will start to develop rapidly.
Your body at week one of pregnancy
Even before conception it is vitally important to look after your body.
In order to increase your chances of conceiving, you can take it upon yourself to ensure that you are in the best health possible! A primary concern to ensure the healthy development of you and your unborn child, is to immediately stop smoking and drinking alcohol if you do so.
Smoking hinders your blood from carrying enough oxygen to you and your baby, inhibiting the development of your offspring and possibly inducing early labor as well as putting your baby at higher risk of sickness or even death.
Alcohol gets carried to your unborn baby through your blood and can cause fetal alcohol syndrome, which would potentially affect your child throughout life, making them uncoordinated, hyperactive and suffer disfigured facial features and below average height and weight.
It is wise to seek medical advice about whether to stop taking any prescription or over the counter drugs before you do so. Some drugs may reduce your chance of conceiving, others may harm your baby.
A daily prenatal multivitamin is good sense. Taking folic acid every day at the recommended dose is important and can contribute to the prevention of birth defects which affect your baby’s heart, spinal cord and brain. This is particularly effective if you start taking these multivitamins before conception and in the earliest stages of pregnancy.
What you may be feeling at week one of pregnancy
The reality of being one week pregnant is really not very exciting as you have yet to conceive a baby; however you may be feeling full on anticipation and anxiousness if you have been trying for a baby, wondering if this month is the month you will conceive! The more relaxed you are the better so try to distract yourself and focus on your own health and wellbeing.
Tips for week one of pregnancy
- Follow the advice above and focus on good nutrition, a good exercise regime which you should be able to continue with some modification into your pregnancy, and taking care of your health and wellbeing.
- The best thing you can do for your future child is to be in good shape yourself.
- Speak to your doctor and advise them of your plan to conceive so that they can change or cease any medication you are on which may not be suitable for pregnancy.
If you have any symptoms that concern you it is important to consult your doctor as soon as you can.