5 Weeks Pregnant - What to Expect

Your embryo is transforming from a ball of cells to a tadpole-like shape, complete with a rudimentary heart, circulatory system, and digestive system.

Learn more about week 5 of pregnancy: https://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnanc...

Track your baby's growth with the What to Expect App: https://wte.onelink.me/85iI/29dt1g98

Transcript:

Welcome to week 5 of your pregnancy, the beginning of your second month. With the pee now dry on your positive home pregnancy test, or the 20 tests you took just to be sure, the reality that you're pregnant is likely setting in, and with it any number of emotions, from joy to trepidation. Mood swings are also normal, kind of like PMS but pumped up, so don't worry if you're going from excited to sad, cranky to happy in 60 seconds or less.

Your pregnancy is still new, but that embryo inside of you is growing fast and furious, from the size of a poppy seed last week to as big as an orange seed right now. Wondering what your growing baby looks like? Actually, not much like a baby yet, elongating from a ball of cells to a tadpole-like shape.

This week, a primitive heart begins to form. The heart and circulatory system come first because blood flow is essential for the development of baby's organs and other systems, including the digestive and nervous systems. At this stage, the heart is still pretty basic, made of two tiny channels called heart tubes. And though it's far from fully functional, it's already beating, though you might not see it on an ultrasound quite yet. Your baby's brain is well past the blueprint phase. The neural tube, which will ultimately become the spinal cord and brain, is under construction.

And if that's not enough bodybuilding going on, a rudimentary digestive system is taking shape too. There's a tube extending from the mouth to the tail of the embryo, and this tube will eventually turn into the stomach, liver, pancreas, esophagus and intestines, which means your baby is one step closer to that first feeding. Can you believe it?