Last week, we talked about what you’ll be experiencing during your first week of pregnancy and really, not much is different in your second week. Week two pregnancy symptoms aren’t much different from week one pregnancy symptoms but that doesn’t mean a whole lot isn’t happening inside your belly. Let’s take a look at what you can expect during your second week of pregnancy.
source: parentingclan.com
What’s Happening with Your Body
Now is when the magic really starts to happen. While in week one, your body was starting to prepare for pregnancy – the lining of your uterus is thickening and things of that nature – but in week two, the actual conception will happen. Your period is coming to an end and you’re beginning to ovulate. What does that mean? It’s not really as complicated as it may sound.
Your menstrual cycle is a twenty-eight day cycle. Ovulation starts around fourteen days into that cycle. In other words, if you want to know the best time to have sex if you want to get pregnant, this would be the time. If you are trying to conceive, charting your cycle carefully is a great way to keep track of when you’ll be ovulating. Try not to stress yourself about it too much. You may find you have an easier time conceiving if you’re relaxed.
When you ovulate, your ovaries release an egg into your fallopian tube. Sometime over the next twelve to twenty-four hours, one of your partner’s sperm will find its way from your vagina, through your cervix and right on up to your fallopian tube where it will meet its egg. That sperm will spend roughly twenty minutes trying to break through the outer membrane of the egg and if it is successful, your egg is officially fertilized and the real miracle begins.
Once the egg is fertilized, the nucleus of your partner’s sperm will merge with the nucleus of your egg. To put it another way, your partner’s sperm and your egg will become one, combining their genetic material and forming the very first stages of what will become your baby. This is also when your baby will take on either an X chromosome from the sperm or a Y chromosome from the sperm. If it’s an X, your baby will be a girl. If it’s a Y, your baby will be a boy. This whole process will take place over the ten to thirty hours that follow fertilization.
As the fertilized egg, or zygote, travels from your fallopian tube to your uterus, it will divide into sixteen identical cells. Upon reaching your uterus, the egg will no longer be a zygote, instead becoming a morula. The trip from your fallopian tube to your uterus takes roughly three or four days. Once inside the uterus, the morula will begin attaching itself to your uterine lining where it will continue to grow and develop from the tiny ball of cells (sometimes referred to as a blastocyst) it is when it reached the uterus to an embryo and eventually to your baby.
source: naturalremediesforpms.com
How You’re Feeling
Most women really don’t feel much different at all during the second week of pregnancy. Some women may actually feel a small pain in their side when they begin ovulation but that isn’t always the case. As with the first week of pregnancy, most of what you’re feeling during the second week will be emotional rather than physical. Heavens knows you’ll be feeling enough physical symptoms before long. It’s only fair that your body takes it a little easy on you at the start.
What you should expect to feel emotionally will really depend on you as a woman and what kind of experience you’ve had with trying to conceive. If you’ve been trying for a while but haven’t been able to conceive, the second week of pregnancy is probably going to be filled with a lot of nervousness, anxiety, fear and even doubt. That isn’t at all uncommon. Not being able to conceive is incredible hard on a woman’s emotions. Alternatively, those negative feelings may be replaced with joy if you’re one of the lucky women who just knows something has changed. There are women out there who just “feel pregnant”. That can definitely alleviate a lot of the worry but remember, not all women get this feeling. Try to tame thoughts doubts as much as you can.
If this is your first time attempting to conceive, you’re probably going to be feeling a lot of anxiety and excitement during this second week. You’ve already planted the seed, so to speak, so now it’s just a matter of waiting to see if that seed sprouted. Even if it’s your first time trying though, doubts are normal as well. Try not to worry, as hard as that can be. Only time will tell whether or not your attempts to conceive were successful and worrying won’t increase your chances.
source: stopsmokinglobby.com
What You Should Be Focusing On
As with week one, you really just want to focus on getting ready for the rigors of pregnancy. While it is a beautiful experience, it is also a very hard one on the human body. Get used to eating healthy, make sure the cigarettes and alcoholic beverages are a thing of the past and get as much rest as you can. If you’re taking prescription medications, talk to your doctor about getting off of them. Many long term medications can have addictive properties and going through withdrawal can definitely put your body under a lot of stress. Some medications are safe for pregnant women but make sure you check with your doctor beforehand to make sure. All of this can be a change in your life, if you find your self needing a little or a lot of help quitting any of your proscription drugs, smocking or alcohol, make sure you let someone know about your struggles. Many states for treatment facilities that can help also. Florida rehab centers are not hard to find and neither are the one’s in your area.
Now is also a great time to start reading about all of the things you can do while you’re pregnant to help relax and to stay healthy. Read about pregnancy safe foods, exercises and try to find a few new books to read, new movies or television shows to watch or a new hobby to do. You’re going to be spending a lot more time off your feet so you’re really going to want to have something to pass the time with. The second week of pregnancy is a great time to do that.
Without telling anyone you’re pregnant since you just won’t know, now is also a good time to start looking into your family’s medical history. Many tests are done at the beginning of your pregnancy to look for possible complications. If you have your family’s medical history ready to offer your doctor, he or she may want to run additional tests or may be able to spot something they may have missed otherwise and have time to prepare for anything that may come up during your pregnancy as a result. The earlier you know about any potential problems, the better your chances are of being able to do something about them.
Come back next week to find out what you can expect from Pregnancy: Week Three. Missed Week One? Click here to check it out.
