Pregnancy Week By Week

The first two weeks of your baby's "life" are spent as an unripened egg inside one of your ovaries and a sperm inside your partner's testicles. But there's plenty going on, as your body prepares itself for the beginning of your next monthly cycle.

The lining of your womb (uterus), which is called the endometrium, has been shed (in the form of your last period) alongside last month's unfertilized egg. Now your womb begins to prepare once again. Your body releases estrogen, which encourages the endometrium to thicken so a fertilized egg can implant into it. Your body also produces follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), which triggers about 15 of the eggs inside one of your ovaries to begin growing. Each egg is inside a sac called a follicle.

The sperm is produced in your partner's testicles, where it takes around 10 weeks to mature. It is then stored in the epididymis, which runs across the top of each testicle, ready for ejaculation.

Make sure you're taking folic acid supplements. This B vitamin reduces the risk of your baby being born with a neural tube defect (NTD), such as spina bifida or anencephaly, abnormal development of the brain and skull. Ideally you should take it before conception so your body has high reserves of it when the neural and spine development of your baby occurs in the first few weeks. But it should definitely be taken throughout the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Folic acid is also found in citrus juices; dark, leafy vegetables; peas; beans; and fortified cereals.

You were born with all your eggs already in your ovaries, all 2 million of them! Most die off during childhood, leaving you with around 400,000 at puberty. These are then released (usually one at a time) once a month at ovulation.

Keep in mind that everyone's pregnancy is different and this is just a guide to what you can expect. If you have any worries, pain or discomfort, talk to your doctor.

Next: Pregnancy Week By Week Pregnancy Week By Week - Week 2

12  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  ...41