Pregnancy Diary

Archive for the ‘Pregnancy Week 2’ Category

You have now entered your pregnancy calendar week 2. Your period has ended, and the uterine lining is thickening in preparation for implantation. The egg that will become your baby is maturing and preparing for the journey through your fallopian tubes to your uterus, where your significant other’s sperm will fertilize it.

Read More About What’s Happening In Week 2?

Monitoring Ovulation

In pregnancy calendar week 2 you will want to consistently chart your basal body temperature (BBT), or use a fertility monitor or ovulation kit.

Basal Body Temperature
To test your BBT, chart your body temperature daily. Take your temperature orally, rectally, or vaginally each morning, prior to getting out of bed. Once you get up and move around, your body temperature is apt to rise. From the time your period begins until ovulation, your temperature will vary between 97.2 degrees F and 97.6 degrees F, but from the time of ovulation until your next period begins, your BBT will typically raise as much as one degree.

Fertility Monitors
If you are using an electronic fertility monitor to help you get pregnant, you will notice a rise in the amount of estrogen in your urine. Depending on the monitor you purchased, it may also track your BBT.

Ovulation Kits
Ovulation predictor kits are used to test the LH level in the urine. Ovulation kits can be purchased over the counter at pharmacies and online. Typically, an increased LH level will be observed 24 to 36 hours prior to ovulation.

Things to Consider in Pregnancy Calendar Week 2

While you are waiting to ovulate, there are several things you can do to prepare for your impending conception.

• You will not want to wait around any longer than you have to before you find out you are pregnant. Take this opportunity to purchase Home Pregnancy Tests. You can purchase single test kits, or for just a few dollars more, pick up double kits. Remember, you may not get pregnant this month and may have to try again next month. Additionally, home pregnancy tests taken prior to fourteen days after conception are often inaccurate.
• If you smoke, this is the time to consider quitting. Smoking and Pregnancy can prove an unhealthy mix for your unborn baby. The nicotine from the cigarettes can travel through your body and to the baby through your placenta.
• If you will need childcare for your baby, the time to look for qualified care is long before the baby is born. It may take months before space opens at your preferred childcare center. Now is the time to consider your childcare options.
• If you are not in good physical condition, look as this as an opportunity to get a head start on getting fit. As a bonus, exercise is an excellent way to reduce stress, which can hinder your chances of getting pregnant.
• Review your medical insurance. Know what your coinsurance and deductible will be for prenatal visits and delivery. Often the doctor’s fee for both are calculated upfront and paid over the course of your pregnancy. This information will help you budget for your pregnancy and delivery.
• If your employer offers flex spending benefits, also known as a cafeteria plan, look into increasing your medical benefits. Pregnancy tests, prenatal vitamins, and other pregnancy related expenses may be covered under the plan, which means you can lower your tax bill by having your expected medical expenses taken out of your paycheck before tax.

The days may drag by during pregnancy calendar week 2. The best way to pass the time is to stay busy and prepare for the long-term costs and care of your baby.

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Despite the fact that it is counted as part of pregnancy, you are not 2 weeks pregnant at this point. You haven’t even ovulated yet! At the end of this week, though, the egg will be released into the fallopian tube. As the egg divides, your uterine lining and your body start to secrete follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) which stimulates an egg to mature. Now that you are at the midpoint of your menstrual cycle – if you have a regular 28-day cycle – you are ovulating and you’re most likely to conceive. If you have sexual intercourse without protection during this week, you can become pregnant.

After your partner ejaculates, millions of sperm will travel from the vagina to the fallopian tube where your egg is waiting. An enzyme is released that allows one sperm to penetrate the egg and fertilization then takes place.

During fertilization, the genetic material of the sperm and egg are combined. You are now pregnant – although your body is not yet letting you know that just yet. Fertilization has just occurred so by the end of this week, your baby’s sex will be determined. Depending on whether the father’s sex chromosome is an X or Y, your child will be a girl or a boy respectively.

During this week, the fertilized egg goes through a process of division from one cell to two cells to four cells and more. By the time it gets to the uterus, this group of cells numbers 32 and is called a morula. And at just one week after fertilization, there are already 250 cells! Read up on the fascinating subject of the reproductive process.

Understanding Your Reproductive System

It is actually quite surprising how difficult it can be to get pregnant. In fact, most specialists will only see couples who have been trying to conceive for more than a year. The female body is only fertile for a few days of every menstrual cycle, and if your timing is not absolutely spot on, you will miss the chance and have to wait for that time when you are fertile during the following cycle?. There are, of course, other factors which affect your ability to successfully conceive, including your age and the type of lifestyle that you live.

The best way to get pregnant is to have a basic understanding of the female reproductive system, ovulation, when you are most fertile and what factors may be preventing you from falling pregnant.

Ovulation and the Female Reproductive System
It is a good idea to understand the female reproductive system in order to help you see how important timing is during your monthly cycle. Let’s just make sure that we all understand exactly what is happening when you go through your monthly cycle.

The female reproductive system is made up of many different organs, each playing their own vital role in reproduction.

uterus : the uterus is centered between your hips, just above where the top of your pubic hair ends. It is roughly the size and shape of an upside-down pear. Each month it prepares a soft spongy lining in case an egg is fertilized.

fallopian tubes : you’ve got two of these, and they lead off from each side of the uterus and link it to the ovaries. The tubes are about the width of a hairbrush bristle and 4-5 inches long. They have finger-like “fimbria” at the ovary ends, which help waft eggs towards the womb.

ovaries : there are two of these too – one on the end of each fallopian tube. If you put your hands on your hips (on them – not above them), your fingers are probably just over your ovaries. They are about thumbnail in size. Ovaries are full of eggs (ovum) from the day you’re born – up to a million of them. Each egg is surrounded by a group of cells called follicles. Follicles are fluid-filled sacs on the ovaries that enlarge as eggs ripen. Each follicle contains an immature egg.

vagina : the muscular passage between the vulva and cervix.

cervix : the lower opening of the uterus.

vulva : the external “lips” of your vagina – officially referred to as ‘female genitalia.’

Ovulation and Timing Your Baby’s Conception

Conceiving successfully relies more on correct timing than just the act of intercourse, so therefore it is of utmost importance that you understand when you are going to ovulate as this is your most fertile time. There are different ways of determining your most fertile days in your cycle.

If you have a normal menstrual cycle, it will be easier for you to determine your most fertile days. Lets take a look at a regular 28-day cycle for example.

As you can see from the diagram on the right, we take the beginning of each cycle from the first day that you start menstruating. This is important to remember when you are calculating when you are going to ovulate. If for example you take the beginning of your cycle from the last day of menstruation, you will be way off target right from the beginning. The Heybaby software for your palm pilot is a handy device for easily keeping track of your ovulation.

Your most fertile days will be days 12-18 during your cycle. This means that between the 12th and 18th day of your cycle, you are going to ovulate. Okay, so now you know when you are going to be at your most fertile, so your next question would be, when is the best time to have intercourse in order to improve the chances of conceiving?

The best time to have intercourse in order to improve chances of conception would be from days 10-18. Why day 10 if you will only be becoming more fertile between days 12-18? Well let me explain the reasoning behind this theory.

This is because the male sperm will survive for up to 72 hours once released. So to have a fair chance at conceiving should you ovulate on the 12th day of your cycle, you should start having intercourse from day 10, instead of day 12. If you wish to determine exactly when you are most fertile, there are many tests available that can help you.

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Fertility software is very helpful for couples who are trying to conceive. You can analyze your temperature and cervical fluid and identify your thermal shift. The software also creates a calendar of your fertility cycle and generates clear charts for further analysis.

Another highly accurate test is an ovulation microscope. By viewing your saliva through this precise microscope, you can identify your estrogen surge, and predict ovulation up to 72 hours in advance.

Digital basal thermometers can also give you an accurate prediction of when you are ovulating and will even beep to indicate a peak temperature reading.