You are 3 weeks pregnant

Your baby
From the moment sperm met egg, your baby’s gender has been set - although you’ll have to wait until around week 20 if you want to find out whether you’re having a boy or a girl. Other inherited ...Read more

Your body
This is the week when conception typically occurs. Congratulations - and welcome to pregnancy! Physically, you won’t notice any changes yet; it’s still too early. In fact, odds are you don’t ev...Read more

Your life right now
Many women experience spotting or light bleeding at this point in their pregnancy - which they often mistake for the beginning of their period. Nope! This is actually one of the very first signs of p...Read more

Mums like me
“You can arrange midwifery care directly with local midwives, rather than through your GP by contacting the Supervisor of Midwives at your local hospital.” Chrisnet...Read more

From the moment sperm met egg, your baby’s gender has been set - although you’ll have to wait until around week 20 if you want to find out whether you’re having a boy or a girl. Other inherited characteristics, such as hair colour, eye shade, and even intelligence, are also determined at conception. Fascinating stuff! Over the course of this week, the tiny ball of rapidly dividing cells will keep growing like mad as it continues to make its way to its final home in your uterus - a process that takes about 3 to 7 days. Once there, it will cosily implant itself.

This is the week when conception typically occurs. Congratulations - and welcome to pregnancy! Physically, you won’t notice any changes yet; it’s still too early. In fact, odds are you don’t even know you’re going to be a mummy, since you haven’t missed your period yet - and a pregnancy test may not pick up enough of the “pregnancy hormone” hCG, which is produced by cells that form the placenta, to alert you to the good news. In the meantime, however, your body is in All Pregnancy Systems Go mode: It begins producing more progesterone, a hormone that spurs blood vessel growth in your uterine wall - an important change because these blood vessels are what will help nourish the developing baby in the early stages of your pregnancy.

Many women experience spotting or light bleeding at this point in their pregnancy - which they often mistake for the beginning of their period. Nope! This is actually one of the very first signs of pregnancy. The spotting is a result of the baby implanting in the lining of your uterus. If the bleeding is heavy or you experience stomach pains, be sure to let your doctor know. In rare cases, it may be caused by an ectopic pregnancy - when the baby implants in the wrong spot, often a fallopian tube where it’s known as a tubal pregnancy. The vast majority of the time, a little spotting is totally normal. But if you’re worried, call your doctor.

“You can arrange midwifery care directly with local midwives, rather than through your GP by contacting the Supervisor of Midwives at your local hospital.” Chrisnet