Your Nutrition Tips Of This Week

Your Wellness Tips This Week

Wondering when to share the big news with others? There’s no right or wrong time. It’s up to you and your partner to decide when it’s right for you to share the news.

Looking Ahead
Your pregnancy is divided into 40 weeks, or nine months, or three trimesters.

• First trimester: Includes weeks one through 12
• Second trimester: Includes weeks 13 through 28
• Third trimester: Includes weeks 29 through 40

Scheduling with your doctor
If your home pregnancy test came back positive, you might want to schedule an appointment with your doctor. Most doctors will schedule the appointment between your 6th and 10th week of pregnancy.

Being informed is an important part of a healthy pregnancy. But it might seem that health warnings and pregnancy recommendations are always changing. Advice now might even conflict with what you’ve learned before. Always consult with your doctor regarding any questions.

Keep up the exercise
You’ve just received great news and might be a little cautious about doing things that could hurt your baby, especially in these early weeks and months.

In pregnancy week 4, regular exercise will continue to help strengthen your body. This will help your body become better prepared to contribute to the health of your baby.

Your Baby's Development at Week 4

In pregnancy week 4, your baby is probably embedded in your uterus and is growing at an amazing rate. Here’s what’s going on:

• At this stage, your baby’s body has three distinct layers from which all of her organs will develop.
• From the 3rd week of pregnancy to the end of the 4th week of pregnancy, your baby grows to the length of the head of a pin — about 1/10 of a centimetre long.

What you need to know about your placenta
At pregnancy week 4, the placenta, which will carry nutrients from you to your baby, begins to form. It is made primarily from your baby’s tissues, with the help of cells from your body. Here’s a look at what it does:

• In pregnancy week 4, the placenta continues to thicken until the fourth month of pregnancy.
• The placenta actually matches the needs of your baby with the nutrients available from you to give her the specific nutrients she needs at the time.
• Although it’s made up of shared tissue, the placenta does not allow blood from your body and your baby’s to come in direct contact.

Your Changing Body at Week 1

You might be eager to find out if you have a little one on the way!

Pregnancy tests
Your home pregnancy test measures a hormone called hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) that your body produces after a fertilised egg attaches to the wall of your uterus, usually six to 12 days after fertilisation. Most pregnancy tests recommend waiting to test until at least the first day of your missed period.

Remember, the longer you wait after you have missed your period, the more accurate the test will be. Testing too early could result in a false-negative reading of a still-developing pregnancy.

What’s the best time to test?
Early in the morning when you urinate for the first time.

The hCG hormone is at its highest level at this time. This is the same hormone your doctor will check to confirm that you’re pregnant. These hCG hormone levels double every two to three days throughout your first 10 weeks of pregnancy. Your doctor might choose to check these levels in a series of tests to confirm how your early pregnancy is progressing.

If you test negative, but you notice other pregnancy symptoms, wait a few days and test again.

How accurate are home pregnancy tests?
Most tests can diagnose 90% of pregnancies on the first day of the missed period. One week later, the tests jump to 97% accuracy.

Fourteen days after conception, you’re officially in pregnancy week 4. In addition to the hormones, there’s a lot going on with your body:

• Your uterus begins to thicken and line with blood vessels to nourish your growing baby.
• The opening in your uterus where your baby ultimately will emerge, or your cervix, probably begins to soften and change colour. Your doctor may check for this to confirm your pregnancy at your first appointment.
• Tender breasts are often one of the first changes that signal that you have a baby on the way. This tenderness usually goes away after the first few months. Your breasts might seem heavier or full.
• Emotionally, you might both be thrilled and worried — or both, all at once. The emotions are different for each woman, but it is common to experience a full range of them.
• You might also notice a few of the other signs of early pregnancy before you even take your pregnancy test.

References:
* Comparison among all maternal milk in Singapore as of January 2022, as declared on the label.

SG.2022.23683.SMM.1 (v1.0)