PREGNANCY WEEK BY WEEK: 3 WEEKS PREGNANT

A single sperm met an egg at week 2 and now, you’ve made a baby! At 3 weeks pregnant, you may have no idea that you’re actually pregnant because conception just happened a few days ago, so it’s not really yet time for you to miss a period.  

3 WEEKS PREGNANCY SYMPTOMS

When you’re 3 weeks pregnant, symptoms may not have appeared yet either. That’s because most early pregnancy symptoms are caused by pregnancy hormones, and you probably don’t have a very high level of those in your body yet. But keep calm, you will soon start experiencing symptoms of pregnancy like these:

Missed period. If your cycle is typically shorter than 28 days, you may realize toward the end of this week that you could be pregnant. The only way to know for sure is to take a pregnancy test.

Nausea. As the pregnancy hormone hCG begins to make its way through your newly pregnant body, you may notice some feelings of nausea so bad it makes you puke. Morning sickness should really be called all-day sickness since it really doesn’t discriminate by time of day. If you’re feeling this symptom of pregnancy at three weeks, you may be further along than you thought or you may even be three weeks pregnant with twins! That’s because twin pregnancies often have higher levels of pregnancy hormone. Therefore, experiencing worse nausea.

Breast changes. Your breast can start to get sore and your nipples may darken as your body starts prepping to make milk.

Implantation bleeding. If your little soon-to-be-embryo has already made it to fertilize your eggs, you may see a bit of spotting as the fertilized egg burrows into the wall of your uterus.

Positive home pregnancy test. Check the box of your home pregnancy test to see how accurate its results are before your missed period. Most are over 99% accurate once you’ve missed it, and some brands promise to detect pregnancy hormones in your urine sooner than that. (For example, when you’re 3 weeks 5 days pregnant or even 3 weeks 4 days pregnant.) Here’s the thing: The amount of pregnancy hormone hCG in your body might not be enough for the test to detect right away. If you get a negative result, you might just be checking too early. Follow up a few days later with another pregnancy test and then another.

Positive blood pregnancy test. In some cases, your doctor may ask you to come into the office for a blood draw. Blood tests can detect smaller amounts of hCG than urine tests can, so you may find out that you’re pregnant sooner with a blood test than you would with an at-home test.

3 WEEKS PREGNANT BELLY

You may be excited to start noticing something different about your appearance, but at 3 weeks pregnant, a belly isn’t really a bump yet. Though you may feel a bit bloated, most pregnant women don’t start to show until around week 12, so you’ve got quite a long way to go before you actually look pregnant.

3 WEEKS PREGNANT ULTRASOUND

A 3 weeks pregnant ultrasound may not detect your soon-to-be-baby. The tiny fertilized egg which is smaller than a grain of salt and is on a journey through the fallopian tube, dividing and re-dividing into identical cells to the uterus. But as early as week 4 your doctor may be able to see your uterine lining get thicker, a sign that you are pregnant.

PREGNANCY TO- DO LIST AT 3 WEEKS PREGNANT

Buy a pack of Home pregnancy test kit

Take an early result pregnancy test

Keep taking a prenatal vitamin with folic acid daily

Eat balanced diet

Read up on the first trimester