How Big Is Your Baby at 2 Weeks

It's the second week of your 40-week pregnancy journey. Just like week one, you still aren't technically pregnant, but you're closer than ever to that goal. During week 2, your body is getting ready to ovulate.

To maximize your chances of creating a new life, now is the time to pay attention to your body's subtle fertility signals and spend some quality intimate time with your partner.

Remember, your health care provider calculates your due date and the 40-week countdown from the first day of your last period. So, if you just had a positive pregnancy test and think you've been pregnant for two weeks, then you'd actually be at week 4.

Which Trimester? First trimester

How Many Weeks to Go? 38 weeks

Your Baby's Development at 2 Weeks

While there is no fetal development at this time, it's coming, and your body is preparing for it. In your ovary, an egg is maturing and getting ready to break free.

Meanwhile, the lining of your uterus is growing and getting thicker to accept and nourish a new life. At the end of the week, ovulation will occur as your ovary releases the egg into your fallopian tubes.

An egg can survive for 12 to 24 hours after ovulation. But, you don't have to have sex on the exact day of ovulation. Since sperm can live up to five days in fertile cervical mucus, you can have intercourse every other day during week 2, or time intercourse a day or two before ovulation, to get the sperm in place, ready, and waiting for the egg when is released.

Of the millions of sperm that start the journey to the egg, only a fraction of the healthiest and strongest will make it to the fallopian tube. Once there, only one will enter the egg. When the sperm and egg join together, it's called fertilization.

Am I Pregnant? Real Women Share Their Early Signs

Your Common Symptoms This Week

With your period in the rear-view mirror, you may be feeling pretty good this week. You may not have any symptoms at all, or you may notice a few changes in your body. Week 2 symptoms aren't pregnancy-related, but they may be signs of ovulation.

If your regular cycle is 28 days or shorter, you're likely to ovulate by the end of the week. If your cycle tends to be a little longer, you may ovulate a bit later. Keep an eye out for the symptoms below.

Cervical Changes

As you approach ovulation, the cervix becomes high, soft, and slightly open. Cervical mucus that was thick, sticky, or creamy, begins to thin out. It becomes clear and watery or very stretchy like a raw egg-white. Watery and egg-white cervical mucus allows sperm to survive and swim to the egg that will soon be released.

What Experts Say

"Before you ovulate, your estrogen levels go up, which thins the cervical mucus. The mucus looks almost like fresh egg whites—like a clear white gel. This is a big clue that ovulation is about to happen within the next few days."

—Allison Hill, MD, OB/GYN

Increased Sex Drive

Nature always seems to have a way of knowing what to do. Hormone changes leading up to ovulation can give a boost to sexual desire during the most fertile time in a woman's cycle.

If you feel a little more passionate than usual, you're probably approaching ovulation. Take the hint, and do what feels natural.

Fertile Saliva

As ovulation approaches, the hormone estrogen increases. Rising estrogen causes changes in saliva. When you look at it under a microscope, dried up non-fertile saliva looks like dots and lines whereas dry fertile saliva has a ferning pattern that looks like branches of a fern plant or a palm leaf. Research shows a connection between ferning saliva and ovulation.

Mittelschmerz

Mittelschmerz, or middle pain, is a dull and achy or sudden, sharp pain on one side of the lower abdomen that happens in the middle of the menstrual cycle. It typically doesn't last long and is associated with ovulation.

The problem is, not all women experience ovulation pain, and those who do may not feel it every month. Plus, other conditions can cause abdominal aches and pains such as gas or an upset stomach. So, while mittelschmerz could be a sign that an egg has just burst out of the ovary, it's not necessarily reliable.

Self-Care Tips

Trying to conceive can be exciting, but it can also get stressful, especially if it's been a few months. Be sure to care for your physical and mental health this week.

Care for Yourself

Eating well, engaging in regular exercise, and getting enough sleep can help you feel good and fight off stress. It can also put you on the right path to maintain a healthy weight and stay within the recommended guidelines for weight gain during your future pregnancy.

Take Your Vitamins

Start or continue taking folic acid or a prenatal vitamin to get all the nutrients you need to stay healthy during pregnancy and help prevent health issues for you and your child-to-be.

Try to Reduce Stress

Typical everyday stress isn't likely to interfere with getting or staying pregnant. But, high levels of stress and the pressure of trying to conceive may negatively affect fertility.

What Experts Say

"We do know that stress can lower sex drive and lead to difficulty sleeping, which can hinder the 'getting-pregnant process,' but normal everyday stressors rarely cause any long-term fertility problems or impact pregnancy."

—Allison Hill, MD, OB/GYN

You can try to keep stress under control by practicing relaxation techniques, meditating, taking a walk, or spending time with friends. If you find yourself overly stressed or anxious, you can talk to your doctor or a mental health specialist.

Connect With Your Partner

Try to keep sex an enjoyable experience between you and your partner. Sometimes when too much focus is placed on the goal rather than each other, it can seem more like a job.

Advice for Partners

Partners should participate in all aspects of pregnancy. They should provide support, encouragement, and, well, partnership. The two of you are in this together, after all.

But, week 2 brings a partner's most important role. It takes an egg and a sperm for this production to continue, so this week, your partner is on.

Trying to conceive can be an exciting time, at first. But, when it doesn't happen in the first few months, it can turn stressful. When sexual encounters that were once spontaneous, romantic, and fun are replaced with fertility charts, ovulation kits, and on-demand sex to make a baby, it can be difficult and strain your relationship.

As you make your way through baby-making sex this week, try to take some time to connect and focus on each other rather than the task at hand.

Many couples use a lubricant during intercourse for both comfort and pleasure. It may be especially helpful for those having sex more frequently than usual while trying to conceive.

If you use one, keep in mind that commercial lubricants can affect sperm and their mobility. When trying to conceive, it's a good idea to use fertility-friendly lubricants.

Recommended Products

You may be thinking about using ovulation predictor tests and strips to help you identify your most fertile days. Other products to help maximize your fertility and fertile window may also be on your mind this week.

Ovulation Tests

A day or so before ovulation, the luteinizing hormone (LH) rises in your body. Ovulation predicting strips, tests, and kits detect the surge of LH to alert you that you'll ovulate soon. Timing intercourse with a positive ovulation test can help maximize your chances of pregnancy.

Fertility Products

You may be looking for a fertility-friendly lubricant to aid sperm in moving toward the egg rather than kill them. Or perhaps, you'd like a fertility calendar that can track everything from ovulation, implantation, and when to take a pregnancy test through the milestones of the next nine months. While you don't need all the fertility-related products out there to conceive, finding what works for you can make the process a little easier.

Special Considerations

With ovulation on the way this week, the main goals are having sex and getting that egg fertilized. A few things to consider are timing sex and the actual chances of getting pregnant this cycle.

Timing Sex

It's best to assume that you can get pregnant at any time during your cycle if you have unprotected sex, especially if you have irregular periods. However, when you're trying to conceive, you're more likely to achieve your goal if you time sex when you're most fertile.

Healthy sperm can remain in your cervical mucus for up to five days, so your fertile window is approximately six days long—the day of ovulation and the five days leading up to it. However, your peak fertility window is probably the two days before you ovulate, as well as the actual day of ovulation.

For those with a regular 28-day cycle, your most fertile time is likely day 12 through day 14. If you tend to have longer cycles, you may ovulate later in the cycle. With shorter cycles, you could ovulate earlier.

How Long It Takes to Get Pregnant

Some couples conceive the first month they try. But, for many others, it can take longer.

It's disappointing when you're ready and make the plan to start your family only to find that it doesn't happen right away. However, it's important to remember that for healthy couples under 35, it can take up to a year to get pregnant.

What Experts Say

"Under normal circumstances, the odds of a couple getting pregnant during any given month is only 20%. It's so important to remember that getting pregnant takes time."

—Allison Hill, MD, OB/GYN

In each cycle, healthy couples under age 35 have about a 20% chance of pregnancy. That means about 80% of couples will have to try again in the next month.

After a year of unsuccessful trying, discuss possible issues with your doctor or midwife. If you are older than 35, it's best to seek the guidance of your healthcare provider after six months of trying.

A Word From Verywell

During week 2, you'll want to pay attention to your fertility signs as your body gears up to ovulate. Engaging in regular sexual activity with your partner this week will give you the best opportunity to conceive.

You can also start or continue to work on healthy lifestyle choices such as adding more nutritious foods and folate-rich foods to your everyday meal plan and trying to keep stress under control.

Get ready for a big milestone next week—conception! Many people believe that pregnancy officially begins with the fertilization of the egg. Others believe it starts with implantation or a positive pregnancy test.

Any way you think of it, conception is a major event because that tiny fertilized egg is going to grow and develop into your child.

How Big Is Your Baby at 2 Weeks

Source: https://www.verywellfamily.com/2-weeks-pregnant-4158819

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