1 week pregnant: Key points

Changes for mum and baby

• The first week of pregnancy occurs before you conceive. It begins with your menstrual bleeding. Your body starts preparing an egg for ovulation.
• Your body produces a lot of a hormone called follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) this week. It stimulates your ovaries and causes a few of the thousands of immature eggs (oocytes) in your ovarian follicles to mature. By the end of the week a single ovarian follicle is dominant.
• The dominant follicle begins producing oestrogen which stimulates the body to produce luteinising hormone, the hormone responsible for maturing the egg. Only the egg in the dominant follicle will mature in preparation to be released when you ovulate in Week 2.
• At this stage the egg which will become your baby is still in your ovaries and is too small to be seen by the naked eye.

Doctor appointments and tests

Get to your doctor this week for preconception care if you have not already. Preconception care aims to optimise your health before you get pregnant and give your baby the healthiest possible start. It may include:

• Immunisations for diseases like chicken pox which can harm your baby if you become infected whilst pregnant. Immunisations are best performed before you get pregnant.
• Assessment of your health and treatment of any existing health conditions before you become pregnant.
• Assessment of your diet and correcting nutritional deficiencies before pregnancy. Most women require supplemental folate, a micronutrient which helps develop your baby’s nervous system in the first week of pregnancy.
• Emotional preparation for pregnancy.

Women’s health and lifestyle information

• Prepare your body for a healthy pregnancy this week by eating a healthy diet and getting plenty of exercise.
• If you haven’t already, start avoiding substances which can harm your developing baby. These include tobacco, alcohol, caffeine, recreational drugs and some foods.
• If you use a medicine or any over the counter drugs or herbs, check with you doctor if it’s safe for use in pregnancy.

Men’s health and lifestyle information

In week 1 of pregnancy dads should also be staying healthy to boost their fertility. They might:

• Treat any existing health conditions which might affect their fertility, including type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, erectile dysfunction and sexually transmitted infections.
• Eat a healthy diet to improve their sperm health. Include lots of antioxidant rich foods like fruits and vegetables and avoid saturated fat.
• Detox by avoiding smoking, alcohol, recreational drugs and performance enhancing drugs.

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References

More information on the 1^st week of pregnancy

For more information on the first week of pregnancy, see 1 week pregnant.

For more information about preparing your body for pregnancy with healthy eating and exercise, see Women’s health and lifestyle tips for getting pregnant this week.

For more information about the changes that occur when pregnant, see Changes for mum and baby this week.

For more information about optimising your health before pregnancy, see Doctor appointments and tests this week.

For more information about how to improve the chances of getting your partner pregnant, see Men’s health and lifestyle tips to boost fertility and sperm health this week