Your baby is still pretty small about the size of a beauty mark. He resembles a small tadpole as the beginnings of a spinal A develop and form a tail. His umbilical cord has formed, and your placenta is hard at work helping to deliver nutrients and keeping the bad stuff away from his fragile body.

Perhaps you are wondering if you should tell your family and friends the good news. It’s important to examine the pros and cons and make this choice with the help of your partner. You may need time to adjust to the news and to discuss options with your partner for your pregnancy and beyond (Keep working? Work part-time? Quit your job?). If you’re employed, you may want time to consider how to discuss your pregnancy with your employer.

Plus, the first three months are the most common time for miscarriage. Some women prefer to keep the news quiet until the baby has had time to get settled, while others prefer to share their pregnancy with close friends and family so they’ll have support, if needed.

In the meantime, if you haven’t already, now is a great time to begin forming habits that will contribute to a healthy pregnancy. This includes regular exercise and getting ample nutrients to support your growing baby. You’ll gradually want to work up to 300 more calories a day in your second trimester.

Your diet should ideally consist of whole grains, fruits, vegetables and lean protein. Go light on the saturated fat (for example, red meat and whole-milk dairy products) and aim for as few processed foods as possible. Don’t eat raw or undercooked seafood or meats or unpasteurized milk, cheese and juices.

HCG and Home Pregnancy Tests

By now you should have missed your period one of the more obvious indications that you’re pregnant. It’s time to pee on a stick (good news since you probably need to go more often anyway): At 5 weeks pregnant the level of HCG (the pregnancy-announcer hormone) in your urine is high enough to be detected by a home pregnancy test. That means you’ll be able to confirm what you probably already suspect: You’re expecting! This news will probably elicit a combo platter of emotions ranging from sheer joy to sheer terror as the reality that you’re going to be a mom sets in. Mood swings are totally normal (kind of like PMS on overdrive) and you’d better get used to them since they’ll be hanging around for the next nine months or so.

Early Pregnancy Signs

There’ll be other early pregnancy signs, too. Like that sense of exhaustion that’s likely washed over you (or, more likely, hit you like a tidal wave). And those tender breasts. Or that slight bout of nausea you might have felt when you walked by your partner’s plate of scrambled eggs. Growing a baby even one no larger than an orange seed is hard work, and your body is responding in kind.

Pregnancy Hormones Kick In

Large quantities of hormones chemical signals that circulate in your body and work together to cause physical changes are being mass-produced this week. Among them: estrogen to keep the levels of progesterone and HCG up where they need to be; progesterone to maintain the function of the placenta, keep the smooth muscles of the uterus from contracting and stimulate breast tissue growth; and HCG to support the corpus luteum, which nourishes baby until the placenta takes over at about 10 weeks and regulates the amount of progesterone necessary. Watch out these hormones are going to take over your life!

You at five weeks pregnant

The signs of early pregnancy might have kicked in by now, but some women with an irregular cycle might still be in the dark as to what is causing the sickness, nausea, overwhelming tiredness and uncomfortable boobs! It will get better, so hang on in there

If you know you are pregnant, you might be feeling a bit worried or anxious about how your pregnancy is progressing, particularly as you will not have had a scan or ante-natal checks at this stage. Try and relax, eat healthily and get plenty of rest, but do have a chat with your GP if you have any worries.

Some mums-to-be will spot or bleed early in pregnancy have a read of our early pregnancy pages if you are concerned about this. Rarely, it could be a sign of ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage, so it is always best to get it checked out.

How big is my baby at five weeks?

Your little one is currently rocking an apple pip vibe in terms of size but not for long!

At five weeks gestation, they will be around 5mm long, and their heart, brain and spine will be developing at a pace. Soon, your baby’s heart will actually start beating, and if you have an early scan in the coming weeks, you would see it flickering on the monitor.

Your baby’s head is also seeing signs of development with the neural tube developing (the start of the connection between their spinal cord and brain) which will help to regulate your baby’s vital functions along with heart rate and blood supply. Whilst your baby might currently resemble a tiny tadpole, their limbs are also starting to develop with nubs starting to turn into small limp flippers, the precursor to arms and legs forming.

What to think about in week five Pregnancy?

If you now know you are pregnant, you might be wondering if you can still safely exercise and continue to do all your usual activities. Keeping fit and active is really important in pregnancy, both for you and your baby’s health, and potentially for an easier labour and delivery, too.

If you currently regularly work out, unless it is something very high risk or a contact sport, you will be fine to continue at your own pace. It would also be wise to speak to your trainer or gym staff about how you should adapt your work out regime now you are expecting, just to be on the safe side.

Although you may not be ready to share your amazing news yet, you might be thinking about how and when you’d eventually like to share your pregnancy with your loved ones. Will you surprise them with a photo of your first scan? Or maybe you’re thinking of dressing your fist in an, ‘I’m the big sister’ t-shirt for something extra adorable. Why not take a look at some more creative ways other people have announced their pregnancy for inspiration. You’ll also be able to get a good idea on when your baby is likely to be due before your first scan by using our pregnancy due date calculator on Bounty.com.

At this early stage of pregnancy, eating a healthy, balanced diet is important but there are some specific nutritional tips and supplements that can help you have a healthy pregnancy.

Folic acid is well known as a supplement to take when you plan to get pregnant and continue up until at least 12 weeks in to your pregnancy. It can help prevent birth defects such as spina bifida. Even if you have not taken folic acid up to this point, it’s never too late to start.

Vitamin D is also really important in pregnancy as it can help regulate calcium and phosphate in your body to help teeth and bones stay strong.

Iron tablets may also be advised if your blood tests from the midwife have shown your iron levels are low. Eating an iron rich diet can also help, with iron rich foods such as green leafy veg and dried fruit and nuts.

As well as eating the best foods for a healthy pregnancy, it’s just as important to steer clear of the foods that could adversely affect your pregnancy.

Reasons to avoid some foods is that they can carry bacteria which could cause listeria or salmonella. If contracted during your pregnancy, these could prove risky to you or your baby.

Obvious examples are soft cheeses, especially mould ripened ones, but at this early stage of your pregnancy, you may find the smell (you may have previously loved) turns your stomach. Smells are a common cause of heaving in pregnancy and you may find, particularly in the early days, you develop some strong aversions to many everyday smells.

More Tips of Five Week Pregnancy

• It’s time to take some eats off the menu, like unpasteurized foods, undercooked meat and eggs and mercury-laden fish. These can cause food-borne illnesses that are bad for baby.
• Score! According to experts, moms-to-be shouldn’t be cleaning the kitty litter box. It may cause an infection called toxoplasmosis, which could harm unborn babes.
• Teeth cleanings are okay for pregnant women and needed since about 40% of moms-to-be have periodontal disease, which ups their chance of preeclampsia. Dental X-rays should be saved until after baby arrives, though, unless the risk of not having one done outweighs the (relatively small) risk of radiation to the fetus.

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