2 Weeks Pregnant

Each month one of your two ovaries will release an egg. This is alternated from side to side and in some women, more than one egg is released in each monthly cycle. The egg sits in a "bed" of fluid, known as a follicle. The follicle is influenced by a specific hormone which tells it when to rupture so the egg can be picked up by the fallopian tube. Although many follicles start the process of maturing an egg each month, only one dominant one, from a field of about 20 will make it out.

At the same time as your follicles are busy maturing an egg, the lining of your uterus is building up. Estrogen is released by unique cells in the follicles, and this helps to switch on the process of preparing your uterus to be ready to receive a fertilized egg.

If fertilization of your egg with sperm doesn’t occur, the blood-thickened lining inside your uterus will not be needed and it is shed in the next period. This usually happens two weeks after ovulation.

Most women have cycles which last between 28-32 days, though a couple of days either side of this is still considered within a normal range. Ovulation usually occurs on or around the 14th day after the first day of the last period. In women with longer or shorter cycles than the standard 28 days, their ovulation timing will be different.

There are some subtle external changes which you may be aware of when you are ready to ovulate.

• Some women develop a heightened sense of smell or sensitivity to odors they aren’t usually conscious of.
• Pain in the pelvic region. This is known as Mittelschmerz; a German word which translates as middle pain.
• Changes to the cervical mucous. These changes from the normal pattern are designed to encourage the sperm to swim more easily up through the cervix and towards the egg. Fertile mucous can look like egg white or be more watery and slippery than it usually is.
• Some women develop an increased libido and feel more sensual towards their partner. At some biological level this is nature's way of encouraging couples to have sex at the most fertile time of a woman's cycle.
• There are saliva and urine tests available which can detect hormonal changes to alert a woman to the fact that she has ovulated. These tests are available at pharmacies.
• An increased basal body temperature. A woman's temperature rises a couple of degrees from her baseline temperature when she is ovulating. Charting your temperature for a couple of months will help you see a pattern developing which can help you know when you are most fertile.
• An egg is capable of being fertilized for around 12-24 hours after it has been released from its follicle. Sperm can live for much longer, around 3-5 days. Which means they can lie in wait for a few days, biding their time until the opportunity presents itself for successfully fertilizing an egg. This is why if you are trying to get pregnant, it is worthwhile timing sex to coincide a few days either side of when you have ovulated.

Fertilization of the egg with a single sperm usually occurs in the fallopian tube and this occurs in the 3rd week of pregnancy. It is important that the zygote (single cell) continues to move down towards the uterus, because it starts to divide quickly and the cells multiply. If it doesn’t keep migrating, and implants itself in the fallopian tube, an ectopic pregnancy occurs where there is no room in

Fascinating and complex as it all is, ovulation is only one half of the story when it comes to making a baby and getting to 2 weeks pregnant. When your partner ejaculates, around 100-300 million sperm are present in the seminal fluid. But it only takes one sperm to fertilize your egg and from that precise moment, all of the other sperm give up trying.

Don’t worry if you don’t conceive in the first month or more that you start trying. It can take a while to get to know your cycles and when your most fertile time is likely to be. There is only around a 20 percent chance of getting pregnant each month and it takes many couples up to 12 months or more to conceive.

Look for signs that you have ovulated or are about to (see above). Keep a calendar and mark the dates of your last period and when it started and ended. Ovulation usually occurs some time midway between the menstrual cycles.

You may feel more amorous, have a higher libido, or just find your partner more attractive than you usually do. Somehow, those irritating little habits of theirs just don’t seem to matter anymore. Well, not for this week anyway.

Your baby has still not been conceived in this week, even though you might be officially two weeks pregnant. However, there is potential for it to be when you have ovulated. Half your baby's genetic information is contained in the single cell you will release from one of your ovaries midway between your cycles.

Give up smoking cigarettes if you smoke tobacco. Nicotine can affect fertility and reduce the likelihood of conceiving in some women.
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If you want to conceive, make plans to have some intimate time to have sex with your partner. In our busy lives this can sometimes take some planning and organization.
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Don’t forget you need to start taking prenatal vitamins which include folic acid. The recommended dose in early pregnancy is 400 mcg/day.
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Now, for week 3 when you are really going to feel you're getting somewhere!