Wednesday, 09 May 2018 08:51

Pregnancy Timeline

Written by

Becoming a mother for the first time is probably the most thrilling moment of one’s life. A first-time mom or a first time Parent is most of the time anxious, apprehensive and has unending questions about the various Do’s and Don’ts of Pregnancy. In this blog, I would like to broadly touch upon some exciting milestones of your pregnancy.

Every Pregnancy is unique and every individual is different. Here is what you can look forward to in the 40 weeks of your pregnancy.

Early clues that you're pregnant may start as early as your fourth week.

That is when you would have missed your period. Your breasts may feel tender and a home pregnancy test can be done a couple of days after you miss your period to confirm your pregnancy

If you're a first-time mom-to-be, your baby bump(your tummy) could start

to show between weeks 12-16. But, Second and third-time moms may show sooner. Don’t expect a big change. Others may still not be able to tell you are pregnant by just looking at you yet.

Around 17 to 18 weeks, you may be able to feel your little one move around. It may be very subtle movements. Don’t get anxious if you are not feeling anything yet. Many first-time moms may not be able to point out that what they are experiencing is indeed the baby move.

At about week 18, an ultrasound may be done. By 19th week to 20th week, the movements get more distinct.

 

As you reach the 2nd half of your pregnancy, you'll start to feel your growing baby moving around more often. Around week 27, you may start experiencing Braxton-Hicks contractions. These are also called as false contractions and these are body’s way of practicing for the real labor and are thus also called as Practice contractions. Unlike real contractions,

they usually go away with rest, and they don't get closer together as the time passes by.

Your uterus reaches almost till your chest by week 37. Some women experience slight breathlessness around this time as all the organs are being pushed to the side by the growing uterus and the lungs may also be squeezed and may not be able to expand to its full capacity. But Don’t worry! This is temporary and soon, the baby will begin to move down into the pelvis to get ready for delivery.

After week 38, you are in your final few weeks and the baby could arrive anytime from now. Due dates are usually only an approximate calculation and the labor and delivery can happen a couple of days before or after the due date.

By the 40th week or so, you would have already welcomed your little one into this world. Enjoy your pregnancy. Congratulations!

Last modified on Thursday, 02 August 2018 07:33
Dr Padma

Dr Padma is a Family care physician and is the Founder and CEO of MedHealthTV.

www.medhealthtv.com

Leave a comment

Make sure you enter all the required information, indicated by an asterisk (*). HTML code is not allowed.