Week 4 of Pregnancy (Trimester 1 of Preganancy)

I felt so low on Tuesday and Wednesday – I had some bleeding. I was convinced that this was the start of another period. It would fit within my irregular cycle, as it would be 30 days since the first day of my last period (that awful 12 day bleed).

To top it all, AJ is leaving for a two week break in America. He will be spending one week doing a bike ride from Yosemite National Park to San Francisco Bay, raising money for the British Heart Foundation, and a second week to sight-see and recuperate.

I was upset that starting my period meant that we hadn’t conceived, and really by now I felt that 7 months was really taking a bit long to get pregnant – after all, I fell pregnant with Rosie almost immediately.

But come Sunday and no bleeding, other than the two days earlier in the week, I began to wonder ………

Once the blastocyst reaches the uterus, it embeds itself into the lining – this is called implantation, and can be indicated by some ‘spotting’, otherwise known as breakthrough or implantation bleeding. This is when those layers of cells really begin to develop rapidly. The outer cells reach out like roots to link with the mother’s blood supply, the beginnings of the placenta. The inner cells continue to multiply, and group together to make different structures - two, then three layers which will each become different parts of the baby’s body. One layer becomes the nervous system, including the brain, skin, eyes and ears. Another becomes the lungs, stomach and gut. The third layer becomes the heart, blood, muscles and bones. The developing life is now called an embryo.

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