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3 Weeks Pregnant (Counting from the first day of your last menstrual period)
 The Baby For a short while after the impregnation, nothing happens. But after 24 hours the egg starts to divide, divide, divide and while doing so that small ball of cells finds itself a suitable spot in the wall of the uterus. Normally, the uterus expels everything foreign that comes in. But this time something extraordinary happens: instead of resisting, the uterus relaxes, allowing the small egg to dig itself into its wall. This digging in usually takes place at the upper side of the uterus, but it can also happen in the endometrium at the front or side wall. Wherever the embryo nestles, the placenta will later develop.When the lump of cells attaches itself to the wall of the uterus, it measures less than a millimeter. In the meantime, three different groups of cells originate at the core of the cell mass. The entire baby will be formed from these 3 layers. The mesoderm, or middle layer, will form the muscles, the circulatory system, the skeleton, the kidneys and the reproductive organs. The inner layer, the endoderm, will form the respiratory tract and the gastrointestinal tract. The nervous system, senses and skin develop from the ectoderm, the outer layer. From the moment the fertilized egg has implanted itself, it's called an embryo.
Three or four days before you would normally have your period, the embryo has attached itself in your uterus. At that point, hCG is released. This means that around the fourth week of your pregnancy, or 28th day of your current cycle, a really sensitive pregnancy test - which measures for hCG -- will already show a positive result.
 MotherWhy would you do a pregnancy test? You probably wouldn't realize you are pregnant because you haven't missed your period yet. You won't miss your period until week 4 or 5, but in the meantime, various hormones get to work.
Progesterone, for instance, ensures that your endometrium becomes impermeable again after the ovulation. It also makes your body temperature rise 0.5 to 0.9 °F (0.3 to 0.5 °C). During the entire course of your pregnancy it will remain at that elevated level. Don't be scared if you lose a little blood at the end of this week. That could be implantation bleeding; as the name indicates, this means that a blood vessel has become damaged during the implantation. This can happen about a week after the impregnation. The bleeding is minimal and there's nothing to worry about. If you were charting your cervical mucous and temperature, you will notice this permanent little rise in temperature which is a reliable indicator of pregnancy! Your cervical mucous will also change.
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From the moment that you suspect a little life is growing inside you, because you missed your period, harmful substances can reach your baby through the blood plasma. Now that the little embryo is attaching itself, anything you are exposed to, your baby is exposed to as well. So, if you can avoid things like paint fumes, cleaning solutions, a closed room with new carpets, and of course, alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes - please do so! |
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 FatherYour orgasm was more than just a good feeling; the two of you were making a baby and by now one of your sperm cells has fertilized her egg.  You can never know exactly when the fertilization took place. But in your mind, you can follow the journey your sperm took. At each ejaculation, millions of sperm cells are ejected from the testicles through the 'vas deferens' (spermaduct). It's a journey of about a foot (more than 30 centimeters): from the storage depot over the pubic bone and bladder, back down via the abdomen and finally through the penis. The result is not even half an egg-cup of white sticky fluid: your contribution to the baby. The only thing that you can do is squirt your seed as far as possible into the vagina and hope that of all these sperm cells at least one manages to overcome all the barriers it finds on its way. It has to go through the mucus that lines the opening of the cervix, through the cervix itself, up the uterus, and through part of the Fallopian tube, find the egg cell, and finally, convince the egg it's the right guy for the job. And that one chosen sperm cell still has quite a job to penetrate the egg. With the help of chemicals that are released by the cap over its head, it bores its way through the thick protective layers. The other sperm cells are left empty-handed, so to speak, because the merging of the egg and sperm cell leads to the creation of an impenetrable shield. The fertilization is a fact; a new life has begun. |
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