In the 5th week of gestation, the baby is still very small (smaller than a grain of rice), but the symptoms in most mothers have already started to appear.
At this stage, the baby’s development is very accelerated – there are more than 1 million new cells per minute! – although the pregnant woman may not even know that she is pregnant.
The heart is the first organ to develop. The baby’s heartbeat already happens, but it still doesn’t follow a rhythmic pattern, which will be better defined in the coming weeks.
The neural tube is already at the beginning of its formation. It will be transformed into the brain and spinal cord. To avoid spinal cord malformation, it is at this stage that pregnant women need to take folic acid according to the recommendation of the obstetrician.
In this text, we will explain a little more about what happens in the 5th week of pregnancy, about the ultrasound and the symptoms of the pregnant woman. Continue reading and check it out!
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How many weeks of gestation is equivalent to how many months?
The 5th week of gestation marks the beginning of the second month.
From that week on, the zygote (the cell resulting from fertilization) is considered an embryo. It is a period when the growth of the fetus is very large: starting with the size of a sesame seed, it will be approximately 17cm at the end of the month.
It is also at the beginning of the second month of pregnancy that the woman usually begins to show signs of pregnancy, showing body changes and the first gestational symptoms.
