What to Expect in the First Trimester?
First Trimester Story
The first trimester is the earliest part of a woman's pregnancy journey and it starts on the first day of your last period, before a woman even gets pregnant.
What are the common symptoms you may feel during the first trimester?
- Breast tenderness
- Noticing a missed period
- Spotting as a sign of an implanted embryo
- Morning sickness
- Headaches
- Mood swings
- Headaches
What happens inside your womb during the first trimester?
- Implanting in uterus
- Starting to develop brain and spinal cord
- The placenta (cake-like disc providing nutrition to baby)
- Amniotic sac (balloon like covering of baby for protection)
- Amniotic fluid begins to form
- Heart beats at 4th week and can be detected by 8th week, teeth begin to develop
Click here to read a summary of changes that will happen to you in the first trimester
First 4 Weeks
What are the common symptoms you may feel?
Know that you missed your period and feel breast tenderness.
What happens inside your womb?
- 0.6 cm in length
- About the size of the grain of rice
- Attaches to the wall of the uterus
- Starts to develop a primitive brain
The 5-8 weeks
What happens inside you?
- Have missed your period
- Notice mood swings
- Feel more tired than usual
- Feel hungrier than usual
- Feel sick to your stomach
What happens inside your womb?
- Size is about 2.5 cm (1 inch long)
- Weigh less than a grape
- Heart tube starts to “pound”
- Head and brain take shape
- Teeth start to develop
- Arm and leg buds beginning to show
- Spine starts to show with bones forming
Click here to read more about changes in your baby from 5-8 weeks
9-13 weeks
What are the common symptoms you may feel during the first trimester?
- May start noticing a change in skin tone or a rash may appear
- Start feeling sick more often
- Food cravings or food repulse
- Appetite loss, constipation
- Vaginal discharge
- Swollen gums that may bleed on touch
- Feel tired more often
- Mood swings
What happens inside your womb during the first trimester?
- Length is about 3 inches long, and weight is comparable to a lipstick tube
- Eyes, ears and nose have formed
- Mouth forms with lips and tooth buds
- Hands, fingers and knees have formed and sex organs too
