Week 2 of your Pregnancy

The second week, as calculated by doctors and midwives, is the last week of pre-pregnancy. The last day of this week is day fourteen of your menstrual cycle, which is the date on which conception is most likely to take place. There is a lot going on in a woman's body during week two even if there is no actual baby yet.

For one things, hormones are preparing your womb to receive the new egg cell. Last week, your period swept out the last, unfertilized egg cell, and now the womb is getting ready again. Every month your body gives you a new chance to get pregnant. Two hormones are mainly responsible for the changes in your body. During weeks one and two of each menstrual cycle, estrogen dominates, and during the last two weeks, progesterone does.

Have you been charting your basal temperature during the past months, in an effort to choose the most likely day of ovulation? If so, you know that the estrogen weeks tend to be a little "cooler" than the progesterone weeks. If not, here are a few facts about charting your basal temperature.

A basal thermometer is not like a standard thermometer that you use to see if you might have a fever. Instead, it is calibrated so that you can track small changes in your body temperature, such as a tenth of a degree. It is essential that you take the reading at exactly the same time every morning before getting out of bed. That means that if you get up most mornings to go to work, you will have to awaken on your days off, too, in order to take your temperature. Keep the thermometer near your bedside so that it is handy. Some thermometers are designed with a memory so that you don't have to record the temperature immediately.

Another natural way to check for ovulation is to be aware of the consistency of your vaginal fluids. Right around the time of ovulation, the fluid tends to take on a stretchy, gelatinous feel. To check it, wash your hands and insert two fingers into the vagina. Get some of the fluid from the cervix (the opening of the womb) on your fingers and bring them back out. If you can open your fingers four inches or so and the fluid stretches without breaking, it is probably a very good time to try to get pregnant! This should be around the 14th day.

Since we are assuming this is "week two" of your pregnancy, you are now pregnant! During week three, the tiny embryo will begin to grow.