Understanding Week 4 of Pregnancy
It’s this week that you might actually discover that you might be pregnant, it’s about now that you would be expecting your menstrual cycle to start but nothing is happening, instead you might start to experience the early signs of pregnancy like tender breast, slight nausea, extra tiredness, the need use the toilet more often to name but a few.
At this stage you won’t notice the pregnancy showing as it’s to soon to be gaining weight or for your figure to change in anyway. You might have already done a pregnancy test or possibly be thinking about doing one, most over the counter test are 99.9% reliable.
If you have done a test and its positive you need to visit your GP and make an appointment to see the midwife, there will be plenty to discuss like scans, check how far along in the pregnancy you are and advise you on what to expect and answer any questions you might have. Also at this stage you will need to start taking a folic acid supplement if you haven’t been taking it already. Folic acid needs to be taken daily from the time you start trying for a baby or as soon as you discover you are pregnant up to the week twelve of your pregnancy. Folic acid is one of the B vitamins which will help with the development of the baby’s spine, so it also helps to eat foods rich in folic acid.
This is also a good time to quit drinking, smoking and drugs if you haven’t already done so, if you need any help or advise in giving up speak to your GP or midwife who will point you in the right direction. Remember the sooner you quit the better the benefits to you and your baby.
Your Baby
Your baby (the fertilized egg) is around two weeks old and is growing rapidly at this stage of the pregnancy, it is embedding itself deep into the lining of your uterus here the egg will continue to divide and is called an embryo. At this stage your baby is roughly 1mm, but its the early weeks where growth is at its fastest. Enjoy these early weeks if you can.
Look out for future articles on week 5 and beyond.
