Taking a home pregnancy test a day or so after your missed period can confirm your pregnancy. If the test is positive, call your doctor and schedule an initial visit. Be sure to discuss any medications ¡X prescription or over-the-counter ¡X you're currently taking. Ask about taking a prenatal nutrition supplement even before your first checkup. The next five weeks are critical to the baby's development.
What's going on in your womb? A lot, in fact. The cells of your fertilized egg, now called a blastocyst (a fluid-filled cluster of cells), are multiplying madly. Once the blastocyst completes the journey down the Fallopian tube, it nests in the uterus, where it divides into two parts. The half attached to the uterine wall becomes the placenta, the support system that nourishes the developing life. The other half will become the baby.
Nerve growth begins when a sheet of cells on the back of the embryo folds in the middle to form a tube, which will become the spinal cord. At one end, the tube enlarges to form the brain's major sections.
What will become amniotic fluid begins to collect now. In the weeks and months ahead this fluid will cushion the fetus.