Although it may seem strange to think about, the journey of your pregnancy actually begins before the baby has actually been conceived. The very first week of your pregnancy does not begin with conception, or with the growth of the fetus in your body, but rather it begins with the beginning of your very last menstrual period. Understanding how pregnancy fetal development works in the first weeks of your pregnancy is a great way to understand the changes that are happening in your body from week to week.

Why is this?

It is hard to pinpoint the period where your egg has actually become fertilized. The most accurate starting point that you can use for this particular purpose, then, is the date of your last menstrual cycle. Your doctor is going to take this date, and then he or she will calculate your estimated due date based on counting forty weeks away from this day.

What this is known as is gestational age, and it is the way that most doctors are now measuring all pregnancies. Because both our ovulation and our conception are taking place approximately two weeks following the beginning of our last period, the fetal age for our baby, which is what begins as soon as the egg has been fertilized, is generally going to be just two weeks less than the baby's gestational age. So in other words, when you are in your eighth week of pregnancy, your baby has a fetal age of 6 weeks.

Something else that you are going to want to put consideration into is how your own body is changing during this process. Many women focus on how the baby is growing and developing during this time without putting a lot of their focus on how their own body is changing in ways to accommodate the growth and development of the new baby.

During the first week, the preconception week, your body is already working to prepare for the new baby. In fact, your body has actually been preparing for this very important process during every single month ever since puberty. During every menstrual period that you have, your uterus is shedding its natural lining. By shedding this lining, your uterus is allowing for the creation of a brand new lining, which is going to be rich in blood vessels that are prepared to house your developing baby, nurturing and nourishing it during development.

Your menstrual periods are setting the stage for the growth of a baby, and the preconception phase of your pregnancy, which occurs just before the egg is fertilized is setting the stage for the upcoming nine months of growth, development and nourishment.

Photo Credits: Lorena Fernández-Fernández

Originally posted 2009-11-10 03:13:34. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Related Posts

• Baby Development Milestones at Week 4 The fourth week, when it comes to baby development milestones, is one of the biggest. Why? This is the week that you are likely going to miss your period, which means that it will be the week that you start wondering about whether or not you are pregnant. Here are......
• Baby Development Milestones at Week 5 After weeks' worth of rapid cell development, one of the biggest baby development milestones during this week is that your baby is taking on a much more distinct form. During your fifth week worth of pregnancy, here are some of the things that are happening inside of you: Your baby's......
• Causes of an Irregular Menstrual Period Most of the time, when a woman experiences a irregular menstrual period, the causes behind it are completely benign. There are a number of occasions where you may experience an irregular menstrual period, including missing a period, having periods too infrequently, experiencing spotting between periods or experiencing a bout of......
• Understanding Menstrual Period Symptoms In addition to understanding the phases of your menstrual cycle, and understanding the hormones that are involved in all of the myriad of changes that your body goes through on a monthly basis, it is also important for you to understand what symptoms are actually menstrual period symptoms so that......
• Understanding Back Pain in Pregnancy Approximately 3 out of every 4 women has some type of back pain in pregnancy. For some of these women, the symptoms will begin in the earlier stages of the pregnancy, and they may occur on an intermittent basis until after delivery. For more than 50 percent of women, the......

Related Websites

• Ways to Work Out from Home Face it, with today's hectic schedules; it is difficult enough to make time for the important stuff like laundry, meal making, grocery shopping and house cleaning. More and more common what little free time we have for exercise gets sidelined driving around getting our kids or our dry cleaning or......
• How to Reduce the Risk of Back Injuries During Exercise If you’re just getting started on an exercise program, or even if you are an old pro, your back is at risk for injury every time you go out there. We can’t really do much without our backs and it is very important to protect it while you are exercising.......
• Recap US Open Day 13 & 14 Rafael Nadal is going up against Juan Martin del Potro this Sunday. Playing against Juan Martin del Potro is sort of like swimming up the stream because no matter how quickly you're paddling, there is always a feeling of certain inevitability that is going in the opposite direction, and this......
• Review: YOU on a DIET: The Owner's Manual for Waist Management by Michael F Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet C. Oz, M.D Title - YOU on a DIET: The Owner's Manual for Waist Management Author - Michael F Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet C. Oz, M.D Format - Hardcover, 370 pages Publish Date - 2006 Publisher - Free Press, Simon & Schuster, Inc ISBN - 0743292542 and 9780743292542 From the authors behind YOU:......
• Andy Murray Already on Great Start Defending St Petersburg Title Andy Murray has already made an excellent start to defending his St Petersburg title and could be back on familiar territory with champagne as early as Sunday. However, some days you simply have to make do without the models ad the champagne. Murray, for example, celebrated his win back at......

Online Stores

• Two Stage Snow Blowers Outdoor Power Equipment Yard, Garden & Outdoor Living
• Yamaha Baby Grand, Baby Grand Piano Acoustic Musical Instruments
• Single Stage Snow Blowers Outdoor Power Equipment Yard, Garden & Outdoor Living
• Unspecified, Unknown Date Ephemera Paper Collectibles
• Gulbransen Baby Grand, Baby Grand Piano Acoustic Musical Instruments

If you liked this article, vote for it on del.icio.us and stumbleupon.


Categories:

Menstruation, Nutrition Fitness Life, Pregnancy/Motherhood

Tags:

doctors, egg, estimated due date, fetus, gestational age, growth and development, journey, last period, menstrual cycle, menstrual period, new baby, ovulation, pregnancies, pregnancy fetal development, puberty, uterus, week of pregnancy