Pregnancy Symptoms By Week – Weeks 1 thru 13

During early pregnancy the symptoms can almost be identical to those during PMS making it hard to determine whether you are going to start your period or if you actually have a bun in the oven. We can take a look at pregnancy symptoms by week to break it down and you can figure out if anything is different from your normal period symptoms.

When trying to conceive it is amazing how in tune we become with our bodies in noticing every little change and detail. It can be fun, but it can also drive you crazy until you know for sure! It is important to remember that if you are feeling true pregnancy symptoms, a pregnancy test will likely be positive (depending on test sensitivity).

Weeks One and Two

During weeks one and two, you actually haven’t conceived. Since it is hard to pinpoint the exact date of conception, the first day of week one is the first day of your last menstrual period. Assuming you have a 28 to 30 day cycle and ovulate right in the middle of the month, you are gearing up to ovulate in week two.

In week two the lining of your uterus is thickening in preparation and the ovarian follicles are beginning to mature in order to release an egg (or more) for fertilization. The most mature follicle, the dominant follicle, will release the egg. The thickening of the uterus is necessary for implantation to take place. Since you aren’t technically pregnant yet, there are obviously no symptoms other than the normal period symptoms going on right now.

Week Three

You have ovulated and actually conceived sometime this week, but this is a busy time for the fertilized egg. Within days it will make a transformation from a single cell, to fertilized egg (zygote), to a blastocysts traveling from your fallopian tube to your uterus.

If you are actively trying to get pregnant, you may notice certain symptoms that you otherwise wouldn’t be paying attention to. However, these are not pregnancy symptoms. What you may be experiencing are the symptoms from increased progesterone that can be similar to pregnancy symptoms.

Progesterone production happens after ovulation and is produced by the corpus luteum (what is left over from the follicle the egg was released). Progesterone is produced by the corpus luteum up until about seven weeks and then the placenta will take over production. The main purpose of progesterone is to maintain and support a developing embryo. Symptoms such as: fatigue, headache, nausea are all common as progesterone is produced. However, you might not have noticed before when you weren’t trying to conceive.

Week Four

This week implantation takes place! The blastocyst has finally made its way to its new home in your nice thickened uterus. It will undergo several divides in order to become an embryo. If you are in the 20 to 30 percent of women that experience implantation bleeding, this will be one of the earliest signs of pregnancy. However, if you aren’t paying attention you may mistake this bleeding for your period as it might come close to the time of your expected cycle.

If you experience implantation bleeding, it will likely be lighter in color (pink or brown) and will likely last anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days. Implantation bleeding can be accompanied by cramps, headaches, and mood swings. You also may experience:

• Breast tenderness
• Gasiness
• Frequent urination
• Increased sense of smell
• Bloating
• Sleepiness

So yes! It is confusing because the pregnancy symptoms by week four are just like PMS symptoms you also get around this time! The good news is that during this week, you should be able to get a positive pregnancy test to clear up the confusion (phew!).

Week Five

By week five, your little embryo is the size of an apple seed and can be seen on an ultrasound. At this point, you might be able to see your baby’s heartbeat on the ultrasound as well! However, unless you are high risk or have any issues, you might not have your first appointment until around eight weeks. While you may not look pregnant, you may be experiencing some of those very real pregnancy symptoms at this time. The pregnancy symptoms you may or may not be feeling at this time are (the same as week four):

• Breast tenderness
• Gasiness
• Frequent urination
• Increased sense of smell
• Bloating
• Sleepiness
• Increased saliva

The only difference is the increased saliva which you may or may not have yet or ever get. With one of my pregnancies, I didn’t experience this because I really didn’t get nauseous. When you are nauseated, you might produce more saliva. Also, hormones! Yes, hormones can cause you to produce more saliva when you are pregnant as well. So if you feel the need to spit all the time, you aren’t going crazy!

Weeks Six through Eight

At six weeks you should definitely be receiving a positive pregnancy test if you were suspecting you might be pregnant. You might also begin experiencing morning sickness at this point. However, morning sickness can really occur at any time of the day. In addition to all the symptoms mention above, you might start noticing a few more changes such as:

• Heartburn
• Food cravings or aversions
• Constipation
• Increased discharge
• Breast changes
• Light headed/dizziness
• Morning sickness
• Breast tenderness
• Gasiness
• Frequent urination
• Increased sense of smell
• Bloating
• Sleepiness
• Increased saliva

You can checkout my page on Pregnancy Lifestyle for medications that are okay to take for heartburn and remember to visit safefetus.com for any medications you might have questions about or are considering to take.

Weeks Nine through Thirteen

By week nine, your embryo is now a fetus and is the size of a cherry and will reach the size of a peach by week thirteen! These weeks will conclude the first trimester. While you still may be experiencing pregnancy symptoms, some of them might be starting to fade during these weeks. If you haven’t noticed already, you may be hungrier than usual (if you aren’t puking up everything). You may also notice that your stomach is starting to pop out from baby and not bloat or gas! Even though most literature on pregnancysay you might notice those big blue veins on your abdomen and legs during this time, those veins in my breast happened way earlier than nine weeks. However, they could start appearing in other places where there is an increased blood supply (abdomen and legs) now if they haven’t already. So the pregnancy symptoms by week nine through week thirteen may include:

• Heartburn
• Food cravings or aversions
• Constipation
• Increased discharge
• Breast changes
• Light headed/dizziness
• Morning sickness
• Breast tenderness
• Gasiness
• Frequent urination
• Increased sense of smell
• Bloating
• Sleepiness
• Increased saliva
• Prominent veins
• Baby bump

The First Trimester

Even though early pregnancy symptoms are pretty much the same as your PMS symptoms, as the weeks progress you will be able to determine if you are in fact pregnant. The problem is that when we are symptom spotting we are hoping we are pregnant at that time. When in reality, we aren’t even pregnant just yet. What we think we may be experiencing could be caused by the increase in progesterone that occurs after we ovulate.

The good news is that it is ONLY a two week wait (if that), before we know for sure! If you remember, you can keep a journal of all the symptoms you feel after ovulation and compare them to those you experienced when you get your positive pregnancy test to see if there is anything different. Like I said, we become so in tune with our bodies while trying to conceive, even the slightest change can make a difference! As always, good luck and baby dust to you!

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