By the time the 3rd week of your pregnancy begins, fertilization might have already taken place. But as the sperm can stay in the fallopian tube for up to 6 days, there is also a possibility that it hasn’t. But if the baby is conceived, or in other words, the fertilization has occurred, the blastocyte will then start moving towards the uterine lining for implantation which would occur in the 4th week.
In terms of your menstrual cycle which generally lasts for 28 days, the 3rd week of pregnancy is the period between 14th and 21st day of the cycle as the first week of pregnancy is counted from the day when your menstrual cycle began. If you’ve read the previous 1st and 2nd-week pregnancy posts, you might know that ovulation occurs on the 14th day of the cycle and the period between the two days before the ovulation and until the ovulation day is considered the best phase to have unprotected sex if you want to get pregnant.
If you want to get pregnant and have had unprotected sex in this phase but have not started experiencing the symptoms or believe that you have not been pregnant yet, a couple days after ovulation are also ideal to have unprotected sex. And if you’ve started experiencing the symptoms already, you’d surely like to know what might happen in the 3rd week of pregnancy. So, let us begin-
Baby’s Development in the 3rd Week
Last week, a few eggs in your ovaries matured due to menstrual cycle hormones and one of the eggs moved to the fallopian tube to meet the sperm. In technical terms, it is only after fertilization occurs that a woman is officially pregnant. So, while this might already be the 3rd week of your pregnancy, in reality, this is just the 1st week when there is a blastocyte in you which will turn into a full-fledged baby in about 40 weeks.
The blastocyte which is created from fertilization will now start moving towards your uterine wall for implantation. If the sperm has a Y chromosome, you’ll give birth to a boy and if it had an X chromosome, it’ll be a girl.
This journey from the fallopian tube to the uterine wall is generally completed within 3-4 days. On the way, the blastocyte gets divided into 16 cells. Once it gets implanted on the uterine wall in the 4th week, it is known as a “morula”. With the the next 24-48 hours after implantation, the “morula” starts burrowing into your uterus lining and will continue the transformation and growth.
In simple words, around the 3rd week of pregnancy, your baby is a tiny little ball of cells. The inner mass of the cell will become the baby (embryo) while the outer mass will turn into the placenta which will be responsible for delivering nutrients and oxygen to the baby throughout the pregnancy. There is also a cavity around the ball of cell that is filled with fluid which will become the amniotic sac in which your baby will spend the remaining pregnancy months.
Physical Changes in Women in 3rd Week of Pregnancy
If you know that you are pregnant, you might be very eager to witness the much-talked-about changes in your body. But as the hormone production is yet to begin, apart from a few symptoms you won’t really feel or see any changes in your physical body.
If it is a singleton pregnancy, meaning if you are pregnant with a single baby, you’ll only start showing around the 10th-12th week. However, if this is not your first pregnancy or if you are pregnant with twins, you’ll start showing earlier but not as soon as the 3rd week.
Signs of 3rd Week Pregnancy
While you can’t really expect any physical changes this week, there can be some noteworthy symptoms. The hormones are yet to reach to an extent when they’ll start showing any major symptoms. However, a lot of women do experience these symptoms-
- Implantation bleeding
- Nausea
- You might miss your period if you have a shorter cycle
- Breast tenderness
- Food aversions
- Frequent urination
- Higher basal temperature of the body
- Spotting
Women who are pregnant with twins generally start experiencing these symptoms sooner than women with singleton pregnancies. This is because the rate and the amount of hormone in a woman with twin pregnancy are significantly higher than singleton pregnancies. Due to this, women pregnant with twins are generally known to experience more intense symptoms as compared to a woman who is pregnant with a single baby.
Tips for 3rd Week Pregnancy
This 3rd week of pregnancy is very different than the first two weeks. While the baby was not even in existence in the 1st and 2nd week, there is now a blastocyte. Some tips that can help you this week are as follows-
- Stop consuming alcohol and smoking
- Consume nutrient-rich home cooked food
- Talk to your doctor or obstetrician about prenatal vitamins and start taking them
- If you are starting any new exercise regime, ensure that you first consult your doctor
- Avoid doing any exercise that is too physically challenging
Conclusion
The 3rd week of pregnancy is an important milestone as the baby has taken its first step to become a human being. If you still don’t know that you are pregnant yet (most of the women don’t), wait for the next week when the implantation would occur and the body would start producing pregnancy hormones in large quantities. Read the next post on the 4th week of pregnancy to understand the role of these hormones in confirming the pregnancy.
While this is a big week for your baby, you won’t really see a lot of changes this week. Apart from a few symptoms, everything would probably be completely normal. If you know that you are pregnant, this can be the right time to share the news with your partner or you can wait for the 4th week to confirm the pregnancy before informing anyone.
Select an obstetrician and start consulting him/her about the food you should eat, pre-natal vitamins, exercises, and get answers to all your general queries. You can also get this done once a pregnancy test confirms your pregnancy in the next week.
Pregnancy Checklist at 3 Weeks Pregnant
- Try to know more about the first trimester and how women generally cope up with the symptoms
- Know how pregnancy test kits work
- Buy a few home pregnancy test kits if you’ve missed your period already
- See if your symptoms match with the symptoms mentioned in this post
