How Far Along in a Pregnancy Can You Feel Yhr Baby Kick
What Is Happening to My Body?
Pregnancy—it'south one of the near glorious and deadening rollercoaster rides of emotions a woman will feel in her unabridged life!
Chances are, you are here because you are pregnant or think you may be significant. Here, I volition get over many of the symptoms, both pleasant and not-so-pleasant, that a woman may feel during her pregnancy.
How Did I Become a Positive Result on My Pregnancy Test?
If you got a positive result on your pregnancy examination, that ways your placenta is producing human being chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)—that's what the test looks for. Information technology simply happens when pregnancy occurs.
- If you take hCG levels less than v mIU/ml, then you are considered a non-meaning adult female. That'due south because you don't produce it if you're not pregnant.
- When the levels are 25 mIU/ml or higher, you will exist considered pregnant. If you know yous are significant and and then observe that your levels are low, there are 3 possibilities: miscalculation of your pregnancy dating, miscarriage, and an ectopic pregnancy.
When Is My Due Date?
The best mode to determine how far forth you are is to make up one's mind when your due engagement is. Your due date is your infant's approximate day of inflow! To calculate your due date manually, take the kickoff appointment of your last menstrual period (LMP) and add 40 weeks, or 280 days.
Don't experience like doing the math? Here'due south an easy Due Date Calculator yous can use to effigy out when your baby volition arrive.
Early Pregnancy: Formulation to 12 Weeks
The beginning trimester, weeks one to 12, is usually the hardest and most miserable for many expecting mothers. All the same, don't panic simply exhale! This too shall laissez passer, and yous are more probable than not to experience like superwoman once yous conquer this hill!
Are Yous "Pregnant" Before Yous're Actually Pregnant?
Have you been wondering how far along you are in your pregnancy? First, endeavour to think back to the very commencement day of your concluding menstrual catamenia—a full menstrual catamenia, non just spotting.
It seems weird, only when doctors speak in terms of "weeks along," their number includes two weeks that yous weren't even pregnant yet. This is because the "weeks forth" thing starts at the commencement of your terminal menstrual bicycle, the cycle during which you got pregnant.
If someone tells y'all that y'all are 12 weeks along, you've technically only been actually significant for ten weeks.
What Does Gestational Age Mean?
Gestation is considered to exist the period of time between a infant's formulation and nascency. This is the developmental menstruum inside the mother's womb. Gestational age is a term used to depict how far along a pregnancy is. The measurement gauge is in weeks, and information technology starts from the showtime day of your last menstrual cycle to the appointment it'southward being calculated.
Commonly, the fourth dimension of pregnancy ranges from 38 to 42 weeks.
- Babies built-in before 37 weeks are considered to be premature.
- Babies born after 42 weeks are considered to exist postmature.
How to Summate Gestational Age
- Pinpoint the appointment of the first day of your terminal period on a calendar. Using a monthly calendar volition be very helpful in helping you keep track.
- Count the number of full weeks from that date to the date you're calculating it.
- The number yous get is the gestational age.
For case, if your last period started on January 15th and today'southward date is February 15th, the gestational age would be four weeks.
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- Crown-rump length is the measurement of embryos and fetuses from the superlative of the head (the crown) to the lesser of the, well, bottom (rump). It's typically calculated from ultrasound images and can be used to estimate gestational age.
What is the difference betwixt gestational age and fetal age?
- Gestational age is what the majority of doctors use to calculate your due date.
- Fetal age refers to the bodily age of the baby that started at the time of conception.
Month 1: Weeks 1 to 4
During the offset month of pregnancy, most women don't even know that they are pregnant! Some are lucky to get a positive pregnancy test during this fourth dimension, but many times, it goes undetected.
Information technology is important to note that early pregnancy symptoms are like to those of PMS. The best fashion to tell if y'all have actually conceived is through a positive pregnancy examination (typically done at home) or a blood test (washed at the doctor'due south office).
Every woman's trunk is different, meaning that what i woman experiences is not guaranteed to be what another woman goes through. Some women are plagued with symptoms throughout their pregnancy while others experience very few. Each pregnancy is different, person to person, pregnancy to pregnancy. Y'all might feel cracking during the starting time month, or you may begin to feel the very earliest pregnancy symptoms.
What to Look During the First Month of Pregnancy
- Spotting can happen when the fertilized egg implants, and is often mistaken for a period. It Is typically a little earlier than the expected menses, much lighter, and lasts only a few hours to a couple of days. Information technology's a sign that the fertilized egg fastened itself to your uterus wall.
- Cramps in the front or lower back can also accompany spotting.
- Inside your body, a fluid-filled absorber that's known every bit the amniotic sac is developing. The yolk sac is fastened to information technology and will feed your baby during these early on weeks.
- Your babe is smaller than a grain of rice!
Basically during the offset month, if yous take any symptoms, they are likely very similar to what you'd experience before a normal period.
What to Practice During the First Month of Your Pregnancy
- Start taking a prenatal vitamin daily. Make sure it has 400 micrograms of folic acid, as it has been shown to help prevent neural-tube defects.
- Quit any unhealthy habits similar smoking or drinking.
Month 2: Weeks v to 8
This is the fourth dimension when the majority of women will receive their positive pregnancy test. As soon every bit this happens, you need to become on the phone with your OBGYN or midwife to schedule an engagement. How exciting!
How Long Does Forenoon Sickness Final?
What might not exist so exciting is that around half-dozen or seven weeks along, you lot'll probable start to experience morning sickness at full force. The good news nigh this is that it most likely won't last the entire pregnancy! The majority of women who feel morning sickness in early pregnancy report that they feel relief after the first trimester. If yous are feeling sick, hang in there!
Symptoms You May Experience:
- Increased appetite
- Increased thirst
- Frequent restroom breaks
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Headaches
- Lack of energy
- Sore breasts
- Mood swings/heightened emotions
- Changing of food preferences
You're growing a footling person, subsequently all!
What to Do During Your Second Month
- Look to tell people most your pregnancy until the stop of the first trimester.
- How is your diet? Yous should be eating healthy, wholesome foods, whole grains, and lots of protein.
- Invest in a supportive bra, every bit your breasts may be getting larger.
- Perform some light exercise.
- Get a influenza shot if you oasis't already.
- Avoid cleaning the true cat'south litter.
- Enquire someone to put the gas in your car.
As exciting as it is to be pregnant, it's best to incorporate that excitement until y'all make it through the "critical catamenia" known equally the first trimester. It'due south a very, very tough matter to have to tell people you've lost your baby afterward sharing the joyous news with them merely days before. As much every bit yous want to shout information technology to the world, but await a trivial while.
Month 3: Weeks ix to 13
By this time, you are in the home stretch of the kickoff trimester. While some women are still not experiencing whatsoever negative furnishings, others will begin to feel some relief from their symptoms. Whew!
What to Await During Your Third Month of Pregnancy
- Although you won't be able to feel your babe moving but withal, this is the time that y'all might be able to hear that precious little heartbeat for the first time! If you cannot nevertheless hear the heartbeat, don't be alarmed! Sometimes, you simply need to look a niggling scrap longer—information technology'due south well worth the wait.
- Don't exist surprised to footstep on the calibration and find you've gained two to five pounds.
- If you're concerned about having a miscarriage, know that y'all're likely not going to crusade one from your beliefs unless you lot're engaging in farthermost things like doing drugs. Just attempt to cut dorsum on your caffeine intake, as a few studies have establish that loftier doses of caffeine (300mg or more than) were linked to early pregnancy losses.
- The pressure of your growing uterus on the bladder may lead to unintentional urine leaks. To combat this, kickoff doing Kegels: clasp the muscles around your vagina as if you're trying to stop the urine flow. Do a few reps of this a few times a 24-hour interval over the next few months. This activity will strengthen your pelvic-floor muscles, which will assist with controlling your urine while also preparing your torso for delivery.
- Be conscientious! Avoid activities that leave y'all prone to falling. Likewise, stay away from exercises where you need to prevarication flat on your back. Your growing fetus can add together a lot of weight on a major vein, which can reduce the blood flow to the uterus.
- You lot may encounter a nighttime line that goes from your umbilicus to your pubic pilus. Known as the "linea nigra," it is acquired by increased pigmentation in your skin and volition fade after childbirth. Your nipples also might become darker due to the increased peel pigmentation.
You've been waiting patiently. Now that y'all've passed the 12-week milestone, it's time to shout the news to the world: You're pregnant!
Second Trimester: Weeks 14 to 26
Welcome to the second trimester of your pregnancy! Chances are, yous are starting to feel slap-up later on many weeks of not existence able to swallow much because you're not able to concord anything down. The 2d trimester is often the time when women feel the all-time during their pregnancy.
What to Do During the Second Trimester
- Make sure you lot are non skipping out on your prenatal vitamins and folic acid!
- Don't skimp on the fiber considering yous really will demand it to keep things moving in at that place, and I'thou not talking about the babe!
- Exercise and drinking lots of water is besides important. Women often retain a lot of water during pregnancy as a result of non drinking enough water. Sounds weird, but that'south how the body works! If y'all're non drinking plenty water, the body will retain it because information technology needs it. You volition still gain water weight, but keeping yourself hydrated can actually help with non getting and then puffy effectually the edges.
- If yous look in the mirror, you may notice that your breasts have gotten larger. They are growing to prepare to feed your baby. Get comfy with a breathable top!
- Acquire nigh how to have care of a newborn. It's best to start early and be prepared rather than procrastinate and fumble effectually with your child once they're here!
Month 4: Weeks 14 to 17
Although the unpleasant symptoms of early pregnancy might exist tapering off, other symptoms may be setting in.
What to Expect During Your Quaternary Month of Pregnancy
- Around calendar week 15, inquire your doctor virtually a quad screening test to check for Down syndrome or other chromosome problems.
- By calendar week sixteen, you may be noticing a lovely pregnancy glow nigh you. That'due south because your blood book increased to supply your growing baby! Your flushed cheeks may likewise be accompanied by bug such as nosebleeds and larger leg veins due to the boosted claret flow.
- This is right effectually the time that women begin to actually start eating for two! Yous may put on some weight, but this is not a time to get on a diet. Did you lot know the boilerplate weight gain during pregnancy is 25 to 35 pounds? Chances are, you might be starting to show that weight gain too. If you're seeing an actress five pounds on the scale, who cares? You've got 20 to 30 more pounds to get! Recall, it's all for the baby.
If you need fifty-fifty more affirmation, listen to that precious piddling heartbeat at your next checkup—you volition almost certainly hear it at this point.
Calendar month 5: Weeks eighteen to 21
If this is not your first rodeo with pregnancy, so you've most probable been able to feel the infant's first kicks! If this is your first pregnancy, you lot might even so accept a few weeks before you'll feel anything. The starting time movements are often described as a "fluttery" feeling, like gas bubbles. Practise annotation that it could very well exist gas and not the babe!
What to Expect During Your Fifth Calendar month of Pregnancy
- Backaches
- Heightened levels of exhaustion
- Breathlessness
- Indigestion
Am I Having a Boy or a Girl?
Want to know if you're having a male child or a girl? If you haven't had an ultrasound still, yous'll demand one around this time to make sure the baby is growing nice and good for you. You e'er have the option of finding out your baby's gender during this scan!
Month half dozen: Weeks 22 to 26
By at present, you should experience your baby moving. If y'all still don't know, wait a few more weeks. As long as there is a healthy heartbeat during your checkups, the movements volition come in good time.
What to Do During Your Sixth Month of Pregnancy
- This is a great fourth dimension to first taking birthing classes, especially if you are planning on a natural and unmedicated nascency or home birth.
- It'southward important to larn how to manage your labor and decide what you want for your labor and demand it. It's your body, your labor, and your baby—you're in charge!
- Gear up yourself for stretch marks. Every bit your baby grows, your belly will expand. Stretch marks may start forming across your abdomen. Although they should fade after you deliver, help your skin to adapt to the changes as best y'all tin by staying hydrated, eating well, and getting some vitamin D.
- By the seventh calendar month, you should take a glucose screening test to check and come across if you have gestational diabetes.
Third Trimester: Weeks 27 to twoscore
How far along am I? Ah, the home stretch that is known as the 3rd trimester! This menstruum of pregnancy is filled with a whole different host of surprises such as seeing your baby motility in your tummy, getting stretch marks, and giving up wearing pants entirely.
Yous might also exist surprised with a infant shower from your friends and family unit. What a smashing way to get your mind off those 3rd-trimester discomforts!
Calendar month seven: Weeks 27 to 30
Congratulations, y'all've fabricated it to the third trimester! Right about now, eating has get a sport, your anxiety are swollen across recognition, and you want to strangle the side by side person who says, "Enjoy this time! It goes by and so fast!"
What to Expect During Your Seventh Month of Pregnancy
- By your seventh month of pregnancy, yous're looking undeniably significant to strangers! Mentally prepare yourself for this considering you'll probably hear a lot from strangers. The continual comments may get abrasive, and it's normal to feel irritated. Try to maintain a smile and a positive mental attitude because the strangers usually mean well!
- Become prepare to showtime losing a footling bit of deep sleep at this bespeak. Your babe at present has a schedule of its ain—good luck!
- Your feet may start expanding as your joints loosen up to get gear up for the labor process. Endeavour to wear shoes without a heel that will help you stay balanced and comfortable!
- You'll probably observe it increasingly difficult to fall asleep. Try to encourage your trunk to remainder by using a body pillow to position yourself comfortably.
Month 8: Weeks 31 to 35
The most enjoyable part of your pregnancy has likely ended, and y'all are probably starting to feel drawn again, but this should exist expected because this child inside of you is beginning to plump upwards into that chubby piffling baby you'll be greeting in a couple of months!
What to Expect During Your Eighth Month of Pregnancy
- Urinary Frequency: Too kick into high gear if it hasn't yet is urinary frequency. The baby needs to expand upward and down and wherever it can to make itself fit, so this will include squishing your bladder and pushing up into your sternum. At times and in certain positions, you might find it a little hard to breathe! Oh, the joys of pregnancy!
- Braxton-Hicks Contractions: If you oasis't felt the "exercise contractions" by now, you lot probably will soon. Don't be alarmed though, they are just Braxton-Hicks contractions. Although they might feel a little crampy, it's typically a painless tensing of the uterine muscles that is your body preparing your uterus for the real thing. They can sometimes begin in the second trimester, but they more than frequently testify up in the 3rd semester.
- Hemorrhoids: They're more likely due to the combination of your expanding uterus, constipation, and an increase in a hormone called progesterone.
What to Exercise During Your Third Trimester
- Go on to eat healthily.
- Drink plenty of water.
- Go some rest because you lot will really need it!
Month 9: Weeks 37 to xl
Every bit much as you'd love to meet your little bundle of joy correct now, at that place's still some more than growing and developing to be washed! It'southward yet a bit early to take the baby for information technology to exist healthy outside the womb. While you're making it through this long await, how is the nursery coming forth?
What to Practise During Week 37
By week 37, you lot should brand sure your hospital bag is packed so you're set up when the baby is!
Your hospital bag checklist:
- Important paperwork: moving picture ID, insurance, etc.
- Loose clothing and underwear
- Nightgown, robe, and socks
- Nursing bras
- Eyeglasses or contacts if needed
- Toiletries
- Camera and/or video camera
- Jail cell telephone
- Batteries, chargers, adapters
- Baby'south stuff: 'going home' outfit, socks, hats, onesies, mittens, etc.
What to Wait During Your Ninth Month of Pregnancy
- Your nesting stage is probably kicking in, and I bet everything is looking great! This is as well a nice style to break your boredom and yearning for the large twenty-four hours, for a picayune while at to the lowest degree!
- If yous haven't noticed already, it's probably quite axiomatic past now that you lot accept heartburn. If information technology's becoming too much, try eating smaller, more than frequent meals and sleeping in an upright position.
- You lot may begin to find water retention at this phase, so make certain you beverage lots of water. It'll both to help fight off memory and avoid preterm labor. Yes, aridity can crusade preterm labor, so I cannot stress the importance of drinking enough fluids!
Month 10: Most At that place, Mama!
By "ix months of pregnancy," they really meant 10, because you're not done yet!
You are surely feeling like you're almost to pop at this point—that's exactly what's going to happen soon! At 37 weeks and across, the baby's lungs are fully developed and then it is at present safe for him or her to meet the globe!
Past now, you've experienced aches and pains in places yous didn't even know y'all had. Unfortunately, that part is non over considering labor is imminent. Y'all'll just know when you're in labor—in that location is no mistaking it.
When asking yourself how far along you lot are, the best fashion to answer this question is to visit your OBGYN or midwife, who volition then make up one's mind that for you. Practiced luck, and pasty infant dust to you! Or rather, vernix caseosa, which is a waxy white substance that acts as a protective coating for your newborn's skin.
What to Expect at the End of Your Pregnancy
- Infirmary Bag Checklist for the Minimalist Mom
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Plant out you lot're expecting? Make sure you don't just plan the obvious in the months leading upwards to the arrival of your new child. - Choosing If and When to Return to Work after Motherhood Leave
Whether or non you return to work subsequently becoming a parent is a difficult claiming faced by modern women. Finances and the prospect of being parted from your newborn are central challenges to consider.
This content is accurate and truthful to the best of the author'south knowledge and does not substitute for diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, prescription, and/or dietary communication from a licensed health professional. Drugs, supplements, and natural remedies may accept dangerous side effects. If pregnant or nursing, consult with a qualified provider on an individual footing. Seek immediate help if you are experiencing a medical emergency.
bloggerghost on April 18, 2014:
Thanks for nice hub
Cynthia Zirkwitz from Vancouver Isle, Canada on April 08, 2014:
this is a very useful hub! I don't need it (Grandma hither) only I'g going to share it out with all the young women in my Twitter domain! Good work! ~Cynthia
Source: https://wehavekids.com/having-baby/how-far-along-am-I
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