Pregnancy Week 3: The Quiet Week

If fertilized, the zygote has divided into a ball of about 100 cells called a blastocyst. It's traveling down the fallopian tube toward the uterus. By end of the week, implantation begins — the blastocyst burrows into the uterine wall and hCG production starts.

No noticeable symptoms yet for most women. Some may experience light spotting (implantation bleeding) or mild cramping that feels like a period starting. hCG levels are still too low for a home pregnancy test to detect reliably.

• 01If you're reading this after a positive test, week 3 is already behind you — this is when the embryo implanted and hCG, the hormone every test detects, first started rising. Nothing you did this week changed the outcome.
• 02The diet advice still holds: folate-rich foods — leafy greens, citrus, beans, lentils — support the neural tube forming right about now. A daily prenatal covers whatever the plate misses.

The two-week wait between ovulation and a possible positive test is anxiety-inducing for both of you. Don't fill it with constant pregnancy talk. Plan something fun together — a hike, a dinner out, a movie night. Distraction is a strategy.