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.
