It is important to detect pregnancy early, so that you can start on prenatal care as early as possible. Following are some of the common early signs of pregnancy seen in women. But unfortunately these symptoms are not unique to pregnancy; it might be simply an indication that you are getting sick. And you can be pregnant without experiencing any of the symptoms. It differs from person to person.
Missed Period: - Also known as late period, a missed menstrual cycle is considered as one of the early signs of pregnancy. But many women have irregular periods and may not notice when they are late. Also there are lots of other reasons that can make you miss a period, like illness, stress, sudden gain or loss of weight and even giving up birth control pills. So a missing a period may not amount to anything. But pregnancy tests usually require that you have missed a period before using them. Some women even claim that they ‘feel’ they are pregnant even before they miss a period.
Implantation bleeding: - Many times women experience light to heavy spotting or vaginal bleeding around 12 days after conception. This is when the fertilized egg burrows into the lining of the blood vessels in uterus, thus breaking them and leading to spotting and possibly some cramping similar to menstrual cramps. Most of the time color of the blood is light pink to brown and look different from regular period discharge. It will usually be a bit earlier than regular periods and doesn’t last long. Widely known as Implantation bleeding, it serves as an early sign of pregnancy for some women.
Sensitive and Swollen Breasts: - Changes that occur to your breast can also provide signs of pregnancy, as early as two weeks after conception. Due to hormonal changes they become more sensitive, fuller and heavier and the changes are easily noticeable. Depending on the person, they may feel tingly or sore as well and skin around the nipples may become darker.
Nausea: - Nausea is considered as one of the classic symptoms of pregnancy. It is popularly known as ‘morning sickness’, though it may lead to vomiting at any time of the day –morning, noon, or night. For some women, the squeamishness begins as early as two weeks after conception. But a lucky few may escape it altogether. The raised levels of estrogen causes the stomach to empty more slowly and caused by heightened sense of smell in pregnant women, waves of nausea may arise when they smell something strong, such as perfume, cigarette smoke and foods cooking.
Frequent urination: - Frequent trips to bathroom, along with other signs, can help you to judge if you are pregnant. This happens when the uterus starts to expand applying pressure to the urinary bladder. Also the amount of blood and fluids in the body increases to nurture the fetus, causing the kidney to process more fluid and thereby producing more urine. This is likely to increase as the baby grows.
Constipation: - Constipation is another common early signs of pregnancy. Food passes more slowly through the intestines due to the increased level of progesterone, leading to constipation.
Aches and pains: - Many women have backaches and headaches early in pregnancy.
Headaches: - During early pregnancy, the hormonal changes and increased blood circulation may cause mild headaches.
Bloating of abdomen: - Bloating is also considered as an early sign of pregnancy. Hormonal changes in the body during early pregnancy may leave you feel bloated, frequently mistaken as PMS. If you experience bloating and miss a period, there is a good chance of you being pregnant. Your clothes may feel tighter at waistline.
Raised basal body temperature: - if you are charting your basal body temperature (oral temperature taken just after you woke up in the morning) you can notice an increase in it if you are pregnant.
Mood swings: - Frequent mood swings can be caused by the sudden rush of hormones in your body and can be ranked as an early sign of pregnancy. You will be emotionally jumpy during this period.
Carving for food: - During early pregnancy you usually experience strong carving for some foods. You might also develop a strong dislike for some of the foods that you used to like before, like spicy foods, coffee, meat, or cheese. This carvings or aversion for food is attributed to hormonal changes in pregnant women.
Fatigue: - Fatigue is also an early sign of pregnancy. The increased level of progesterone hormone causes sleepiness. Also the lowering of blood pressure, increased blood production and lower blood sugar levels during early pregnancy period can cause fatigue.
Faintness and dizziness: - Early in pregnancy, your blood vessels dilate and your blood pressure drops, causing dizziness and also lowering of blood sugar you may cause you to feel lightheaded or dizzy. |
