Track YourPregnancy

You've just gotten your last period, at least for a while: The lining of your uterus is shedding, taking with it last month's unfertilized egg. But that's not all that's happening. A new cycle is beginning, one that is the starting point for your pregnancy.

Your menstrual cycle is orchestrated by a symphony of hormones working in concert with one another. The first to kick in is FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) which — you guessed it — stimulates the follicles to mature, some faster than others.

A second hormone, lutenizing hormone (LH), increases around day 5 and also works with FSH to stimulate the follicles. Each follicle contains an egg, and each month only one follicle becomes the dominant one, destined for ovulation.

As the follicles mature, they produce another hormone, estrogen, which does two things. First, it encourages the lining of the uterus to begin thickening again. Second, once a high enough level of estrogen is reached, it will trigger a spike in the production of LH.

That surge of LH causes the egg from the most mature follicle to burst through the ovarian wall (a process you probably know best as ovulation, which generally occurs about 24 to 36 hours after the LH surge) to meet Mr. Right — the lucky sperm that will turn that eager egg into a baby-in-the-making and make your body's prep work worth all the effort.

Believe it or not, the countdown to delivery day begins now, during the period before fertilization — even though egg and sperm haven't even been in the same room (or womb!).

And if you don't get pregnant this time around, don't stress: The average, healthy couple in their 20s and early 30s have about a 25 to 30% chance of getting pregnant with each cycle.

In the meantime, while your uterus is preparing for its new tenant, be a good landlord. Think of these two weeks of waiting as a final walk-through before baby takes over the keys. You may not technically be pregnant yet, but it isn't too early to act like you are. Start taking your prenatal vitamin, give up alcohol and smoking, and embark on a healthy prenatal diet and exercise routine.

The Happy Mom app is with you every step of the way on your pregnancy journey.

Thank you for reading.

How does your stomach feel at 2 weeks pregnant? Well, if you do conceive at 2 weeks, symptoms won’t appear right away. In fact, you won’t be able to find out for sure if you’re pregnant until there’s enough pregnancy hormone in your system for a home pregnancy test to detect. That should happen at about week 4, which is the same time you’ll probably miss your period. Around this time, those hormone levels are finally high enough that they give you some noticeable pregnancy symptoms. Some women swear they do start noticing early pregnancy signs before week 4 though.

The Happy Mom app is with you every step of the way on your pregnancy journey.

Thank you for reading.

For now, it will seem like nothing is happening on the outside — but only for the next couple of weeks. If your timing is right and you've had sex during ovulation, your egg has been fertilized by one lucky sperm and your body is gearing up to host the blastocyst (which will soon become your baby!) that's heading for the uterus, its home for the next nine months.

So what's happening inside this week? Just after the egg is released, the follicle it came from gets a new tenant called the corpus luteum, a yellowish body of cells that occupies the space left by the egg. The corpus luteum starts to produce progesterone and some estrogen, enough of both pregnancy hormones to nourish and support the future baby until the placenta takes over in about 10 weeks.

In the meantime, about a week after fertilization, the blastocyst (or soon-to-be embryo) implants itself in the uterine lining and the placenta starts to take shape. Within six to 12 days after snuggling into the uterus (around week 4 of pregnancy), the cells of the newly developing placenta begin making human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG).

HCG surges during the first trimester before dipping in the second, tells your ovaries to stop releasing eggs and triggers the production of more progesterone and estrogen — which keep the lining of the uterus from shedding and support the growth of the placenta.

As you'll later see, all these hormones play an important role throughout your pregnancy and cause a whole host of body changes, plus symptoms like morning sickness (yay?).

Traces of hCG can be picked up in urine and blood — which explains why home pregnancy tests have you pee on a stick and your OB/GYN runs a blood screening at your first appointment — but you probably won’t get a positive result on a pregnancy test for another week or two.

The Happy Mom app is with you every step of the way on your pregnancy journey.

Thank you for reading.

Just a week after fertilization, baby-making is still in its infancy, so to speak. At 4 weeks pregnant, your body is gearing up, big-time — transforming quickly into a baby-growing haven that will house your little miracle for the next nine months or so.

Chances are you're oblivious to all the hubbub. While some women experience those pesky, PMS-like early pregnancy symptoms, including mood swings, bloating, and cramping, others don't feel a thing.

Whatever you're feeling or not feeling, it may be too early to see a reliable result on your pregnancy test.

The egg implants

Though you may not feel pregnant quite yet, here's what's going on behind the scenes.

The fertilized egg and your uterus are making contact this week in a process called implantation, as the blastocyst you'll one day call your baby begins to attach itself to the uterine lining.

Up to 25% of the time, implantation bleeding will occur as that bundle of cells burrows its way into the uterine wall. Implantation bleeding, which is usually very scant and either light pink, light red, or light brown, occurs earlier than your expected period. 

Don't mistake it for your period and don't worry about the bleeding — it's not a sign that something is wrong. You might feel a little pressure in your abdomen (nothing to worry about!) and your breasts may feel a little tender and become even bigger (but get ready for more growth spurts!

The Happy Mom app is with you every step of the way on your pregnancy journey.

Thank you for reading.