Friday, November 30, 2012
2 Weeks Pregnant
It is still not time to get too excited about your pregnancy just yet. Although being 2 weeks pregnant may sound like you are on your way, there is still a little time to go before it is possible for your baby to be conceived. But, with a couple of well timed interventions and a little luck, you and your partner will be able to make the most of your chances of successful conception.
In the 2nd week of pregnancy, some essential and complex processes are happening within your brain and reproductive organs. Although you can’t see what’s going on and may only feel the slightest twinge, being 2 weeks pregnant is the start of what could be a series of events which lead to your baby becoming a reality.
Ovulation
Each month one of your two ovaries will release an egg. This is alternated from side to side and in some women, more than one egg is released in each monthly cycle. The egg sits in a “bed” of fluid, known as a follicle. The follicle is influenced by a specific hormone which tells it when to rupture so the egg can be picked up by the fallopian tube. Although many follicles start the process of maturing an egg each month, only one dominant one, from a field of about 20 will make it out.
At the same time as your follicles are busy maturing an egg, the lining of your uterus is building up. Oestrogen is released by unique cells in the follicles and this helps to switch on the process of preparing your uterus, ready to receive a fertilised egg. If fertilisation of your egg with your partner’s sperm doesn’t occur, the blood thickened lining inside your uterus will not be needed and it is shed in the next period. This usually happens two weeks after ovulation.
Fertilisation
Fertilisation of the egg with a single sperm usually occurs in the fallopian tube and this occurs in the 3rd week of pregnancy. It is important that the zygote (single cell) continues to move down towards the uterus, because it starts to divide quickly and the cells to multiply. If it doesn’t keep migrating, and implants itself in the fallopian tube, an ectopic pregnancy occurs where there is no room in the microscopic tubes to accommodate it.
Ovulation
Each month one of your two ovaries will release an egg. This is alternated from side to side and in some women, more than one egg is released in each monthly cycle. The egg sits in a “bed” of fluid, known as a follicle. The follicle is influenced by a specific hormone which tells it when to rupture so the egg can be picked up by the fallopian tube. Although many follicles start the process of maturing an egg each month, only one dominant one, from a field of about 20 will make it out.
At the same time as your follicles are busy maturing an egg, the lining of your uterus is building up. Oestrogen is released by unique cells in the follicles and this helps to switch on the process of preparing your uterus, ready to receive a fertilised egg. If fertilisation of your egg with your partner’s sperm doesn’t occur, the blood thickened lining inside your uterus will not be needed and it is shed in the next period. This usually happens two weeks after ovulation.
Fertilisation
Fertilisation of the egg with a single sperm usually occurs in the fallopian tube and this occurs in the 3rd week of pregnancy. It is important that the zygote (single cell) continues to move down towards the uterus, because it starts to divide quickly and the cells to multiply. If it doesn’t keep migrating, and implants itself in the fallopian tube, an ectopic pregnancy occurs where there is no room in the microscopic tubes to accommodate it.
Fascinating and complex as it all is, ovulation is only one half of the story when it comes to making a baby and getting to 2 weeks pregnant. When your partner ejaculates, around 100-300 million sperm are present in his seminal fluid. But it only takes one sperm to fertilise your egg and from that precise moment, all of the other sperm give up trying.
Don’t worry if you don’t conceive in the first month or more that you start trying. It can take a while to get to know your cycles and when your most fertile time is likely to be. There is only around a 20 percent chance of falling pregnant each month and it takes many couples up to 12 months or more to conceive.
Your baby’s changes this week
Your baby has still not been conceived in this week, even though you are officially two weeks pregnant. However, there is potential for it to be when you have ovulated. All of your baby’s genetic information is contained in the single cell you will release from one of your ovaries midway between your cycles.
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