If you’re worried you might be pregnant, it’s normal to wonder what’s actually happening inside your body. This article walks through what typically happens from conception through week 7, including when a heartbeat can be seen on ultrasound and how testing and ultrasound can help you understand your next steps.
If you’ve heard people talk about early pregnancy as “just a cluster of cells,” you’re not alone. That phrase shows up online, in conversations, and sometimes even in medical settings.
You may have heard people say, “Life begins at conception,” but if you’re staring at a late period, a positive test, or even just the possibility of pregnancy, that phrase can feel abstract and far away from what you’re actually going through.
If you’re staring at a late period, a positive test, or even just the possibility of being pregnant, your mind might be spinning with questions like:
“Is this really a pregnancy yet?”
“Is it just a ‘cluster of cells’?”
“When does life actually start?”
Throughout a woman’s pregnancy, her baby undergoes many stages of development in the womb before being born, and among these milestones which indicate life is the fetal heartbeat. Through the use of ultrasounds, modern science can detect the waves of the baby’s heartbeat as early as three weeks after fertilization.
“In fact, between 6 and 10 weeks’ gestation, the embryo grows into a fetus, from the size of a baked bean to the size of a prune. In many cases, they are, in fact, visible to the naked eye. Many women who have experienced a miscarriage or medication abortion can attest to this,” she said.