The Nation's Health

Health Tips: Pregnancy Week 5

Mother:

If you are in your fifth week, you might not be able to stop yawning long enough to read this! Sleeping in a jog bra can help the breast soreness. Many of your symptoms are the same as last week. Some women may also get headaches from the rise in hormones.

There are also a lot of women who will have none of these symptoms. They will sail through early pregnancy without vomiting or being light headed. For a lot of women this can be normal as well. Do not panic if you do not have pregnancy symptoms, although you should contact your care provider if you suddenly lose your pregnancy symptoms.

Baby:

The heart will begin to beat this week! It's amazing how much is happening so quickly. A transvaginal ultrasound will show about 90% of the yolk sacs. It is now possible to differentiate between the head and the tail of the baby now. By the end of the week that folic acid will be paying off as the neural folds begin to fuse. Average length is 1.5 - 2.5 mm.

Twin Tips:

Early pregnancy ultrasound can usually diagnose multiple gestational sacs, and there by you know early on. However, early ultrasound can also miss an early multiple gestation, even though other symptoms leave you wondering if you're having twins. Some reports say that the appearance of sacs via ultrasound can be different by up to 4 days. Early ultrasound is also more helpful in determining how many sacs are present and whether or not your babies share the same sac (monoamniotic). Monoamniotic sacs occur only in identical babies and places the pregnancy at a higher risk for problems like cord entanglement.

6.8/10 stars (2010-01-06