pregnancy symptoms week 4?

Week-by-week guide to pregnancy
happy couple looking at pregnancy test results
When you're pregnant, you have lots of questions. Our week-by-week pregnancy guide is packed with lots of useful information. From what's happening inside your body, to how your baby is developing, and tips and advice on having a healthy pregnancy – this is your one-stop pregnancy guide!

1st trimester
2nd trimester
3rd trimester

1st trimester

Our week-by-week pregnancy guide is full of essential information. From early pregnancy symptoms to how your baby is growing and developing, you'll find it all here.

Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12

Week 4 – your 1st trimester
What's happening in my body?

You probably don't look pregnant yet. If it's your first pregnancy you might not start showing until at least week 12. However, if this isn't your first baby, you may start showing sooner, as the muscles in your uterus (womb) and belly may have been stretched from your last pregnancy.

Pregnancy is dated from the first day of your last period. Read about you and your pregnancy at 1 to 3 weeks on the NHS website.

Am I pregnant?

Wondering when to take a pregnancy test? Some of the home tests can tell you if you're pregnant after about 3 and a half weeks – and are 99% accurate.

Early pregnancy symptoms (at 4 weeks)

To start with, you may not have any symptoms at all. When the pregnancy hormone “human chorionic gonadotrophin” starts to kick in, you may experience early pregnancy symptoms.

During your 1st trimester, which is up until week 12, you may experience:

a missed period (often one of the first signs of pregnancy)
a metallic taste in your mouth
sore breasts
nausea - also known as morning sickness, although you can experience it at any time (read about morning sickness in week 6)
tiredness
new food likes and dislikes
a heightened sense of smell
needing to pee more frequently
a milky white pregnancy discharge from your vagina
light spotting as the fertilised egg burrows into your uterus (see your doctor if you get bleeding during pregnancy)
cramping, a bit like period pains
darkened skin on your face or brown patches – this is known as chloasma faciei or the “mask of pregnancy”
thicker and shinier hair
bloating (read about dealing with bloating in week 10)

If you think you could be pregnant but haven't noticed any symptoms, you still might be. Everyone's different and nobody else will have a pregnancy just like yours.
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What does my baby look like?

Your baby, or embryo, is about 2mm long (about the size of a poppy seed) and growing rapidly in your womb. It's protected by an amniotic sac, which is filled with cushioning fluid, and attached to a tiny yolk sac that provides all the nourishment it needs. The outer layer will later develop into the placenta and provide your baby with oxygen and nutrients.