4 Weeks Pregnant

For many women, the 4th week of pregnancy is an amazing time, especially if it is going to be their first child. It’s the time when they may have been feeling some side effects and have noticed their period didn’t arrive like clockwork as it usually does. A few days prior to the normal menstruation date, a quality home pregnancy test can detect the change and when a woman does that first positive test, it’s a moment she will remember forever.

Women who are going to have more severe morning sickness than others can commonly begin to feel queasy at the four week mark. Many women report starting to feel off color at this stage and then continuing to be nauseous up until the last trimester or even the birth of their child. Most women still see no side effects in this way in week 4 of pregnancy.

In week four, there is a wider range of growth differences in embryos from one woman to the next than week two or three. Some embryos will be 0.014 of an inch up to others that can be 0.4 of an inch and the size at this stage bears no relation the overall size of the baby when it’s born. In the 4th week of pregnancy, the embryo will be working hard to securely implant itself into the lining of the uterus to ensure its safe and firm for the term of the pregnancy. Often a miscarriage will occur in earlier stages of pregnancy because the embryo has failed to root itself securely in the fourth week.

At this stage, the embryo has a little more shape and looks similar to a tadpole with little eyeballs: It still bears no resemblance to an actual baby by the 4th week of pregnancy. The placenta will start to grow in this week and the amniotic cavity is forming, which is a space for the fluid and the amniotic sac to continue to grow.

Although the embryo is very minuscule, the organs also begin forming in the fourth week. The best way it can be understood is to imagine the cells multiplying and being assigned to be a part of different sections of the future body: When the cell originally multiplies it is a generic cell or “stem cell” which can become any kind of cell it’s directed to be.

Because their body is working so hard over the first four weeks of fertilization, many women report feeling lethargic and drained. Week four of pregnancy is when the body produces enough progesterone to supply the fetus for another two months and every woman’s body reacts differently to the hormonal change.

During week 4 of pregnancy, all women should look seriously at avoiding all alcohol and tobacco, as well as analyzing their environments to ensure they aren’t surrounded by harmful pollutants or toxins that could damage the fetus. Stocking up on research material and looking into maternity clothes is also a good step to take at this time and have items on hand to combat morning sickness if it should arrive in the future. Bearing in mind some pregnancies can miscarry most commonly up until week twelve, it is still a time to get excited and begin to accept that she is actually going to have a baby in eight months!