Pregnancy

7 Weeks Pregnant: What To Expect?

7 week pregnant

         7 Weeks Pregnant: What To Expect?

Your baby grows rapidly within your body by week 7 of pregnant. However, at this juncture, it may not be very apparent from your tummy. This is the period of very significant changes in development as your body prepares to nurture the growing fetus. This time around, most women get to know about their pregnancy. Even if you may not have started gaining weight, you may feel bloated. You may also begin to feel the sickness of the morning.

Baby’s Growth During Pregnancy – Week 7

The legs and arms of your baby are beginning to emerge by this time. Also, your baby has a small tail that is more like a tailbone extension. However, as the pregnancy progresses, this will disappear. In the past week, the fetus has nearly doubled in size. Your baby is making rapid changes in development. The brain’s two hemispheres are forming. By forming red blood cells, the tiny liver begins to function until the bone marrow is formed. The digestive organs such as pancreas and appendix are also beginning to form. Your baby may be technically called an embryo at this stage.

What is the Baby’s Size?

By this time, your baby is about the size of a blueberry. The baby size of the 7 weeks pregnant is nearly a quarter of an inch. From the time of conception, there has been tremendous development as your baby has grown almost ten thousand times since then. At this time, most of the growth is concentrated in brain cell generation.

7-weeks Symptoms of Pregnancy

Being pregnant for seven weeks can cause a variety of symptoms. Some aren’t a biggie, and some might make it hard to get through your day. These are some of the most common ones:

  • Nausea: At week 7 of pregnancy, morning sickness may go strong. Hang in and try to find ways to deal with it. Some moms have success with ginger, vitamin B-6, and wristbands of acupressure that alleviate their tummy problems. Nausea should decrease or even disappear when your hormones become more normal in the second trimester. Moms-to-be who are pregnant with twins for seven weeks may be more likely to have nausea and vomiting as they have probably increased levels of morning sickness hormones.
  • Food cravings and/or aversions: You may find yourself eager to eat specific or even strange foods— or you may not want to go anywhere near certain foods you used to think were fine (or even delicious!). Food aversions are the way nature keeps you away from potentially hazardous foods, and usually go hand in hand with morning sickness. Giving in to your cravings and indulging here and it is all right. But if you can, try not to get too crazy and make healthy food choices.
  • Frequent Urination: If you seem to be constantly peeing, it’s not your imagination. Although you may not yet look pregnant, your uterus has already doubled in size, and you have also increased blood flow to your pelvis.
  • Acne: Breakouts are due to your body’s hormonal changes. Check with your doctor to make sure they are safe during pregnancy before you use any products to combat acne.
  • Extra Saliva: You’ve never expected a symptom here! The excess saliva is also likely to be triggered hormonally and may also be associated with nausea.
  • Cramping and/or spotting: It is normal to cramp in early pregnancy. After all, there’s a lot going on inside your uterus. And although it’s going to be several weeks before you feel the baby moving, at this point in your pregnancy you can certainly feel a lot of cramping and pulling. Your cervix may also be more sensitive now that you are pregnant. So it may happen after sex that you spot at 7 weeks. These two symptoms of pregnancy may be alarming, but know they are not a sign of ectopic pregnancy or other types of miscarriage in most cases. If you had abdominal pain worse than typical menstrual cramps or bleeding that is heavier than a period during pregnancy at 7 weeks, that would be a cause of concern, and you should call your doctor immediately.
  • Mood Swings: Not only are your hormones out of whack, but you’re probably still getting used to the idea of pregnancy, which can make you feel extra emotional.

That said, you may very well have no symptoms at all at 7 weeks pregnant. Consider yourself lucky if that’s the case! Some moms worry that having no symptoms at 7 weeks might be a sign of an issue, but it’s not at all. We will keep reminding you that each woman has a slightly different experience of pregnancy. If you have any concerns, bring them to your OB, but unless you have severe or painful symptoms at 7 weeks of pregnancy, it’s probably normal.

7 weeks pregnant belly

Did you look in the mirror at your 7 weeks pregnant belly— and even push it out to fake a baby bump, just to get a preview? Yeah, we’ve done that in week 7 too. Every mom-to-be is different, but when the uterus outgrows the pelvis, many reports begin to “show” in the middle of the second trimester. Moms-to-be who are pregnant with twins for 7 weeks should expect to show up earlier than that, but for everyone at this point, it’s just bloating.

7 Weeks Ultrasound

How wonderful is this? Every minute your 7-week embryo generates about a hundred new brain cells! And not only does the brain of the baby become more complex, but it’s also the heart. Also important: the development of a permanent set of kidneys by the baby and the formation of arm and leg joints.

You’re planning your first prenatal visit with your OB when you’re seven weeks pregnant, and you’re probably dying to know what to expect. Brace yourself to give a variety of samples (blood, urine, and cervical cells for pap smear), get an ultrasound that will confirm baby’s doing all right in there, and get an estimated due date (yep, you may already have one, but the doc may adjust it a little according to what she sees).

An ultrasound of 7 weeks is not common, as many OBs do not see their low – risk pregnancy patients until sometime between weeks 8 and 10—it depends on your history of health and the preference of your doctor.

Your mind may be full of curiosity with all the waiting.  Maybe even wondering if you might expect more than one baby. In addition to seeing two gestational sacs on an ultrasound, there are symptoms of twin pregnancy at 7 weeks. For instance, if you had a blood test to determine your pregnancy, your doctor would have found in your blood a higher level of pregnancy hormone HCG. Some twin moms have earlier and/or more severe morning sickness (because of hCG). And moms of multiples may start showing up earlier, of course.

PREGNANCY CHECKLIST AT 7 WEEKS PREGNANT

Reminders for the week:

  • Read about prenatal tests that you can expect
  • Make beauty swaps that are safe for pregnancy
  • Check which OTC drugs are safe

Also Read: 6 Weeks Pregnant: What To Expect?

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