Signs You Are Pregnant - Earliest Signs of Pregnancy, Pregnancy Tests, & More Signs That You Are Pregnant

Signs You Are Pregnant – Earliest Signs of Pregnancy & Early Pregnancy Tests

Signs Of Pregnancy: Early Signs That You Are Pregnant (Before Missed Period)

Nausea (Morning Sickness): This early sign of pregnancy is probably the most famous one. While this can be a pretty obvious early sign that you are pregnant, most women don’t experience morning sickness (which doesn’t only happen in the morning unfortunately) until about 6 weeks into pregnancy, at which point they may already be aware of their pregnancy due to a missed period. However, some women definitely experience nausea earlier on in their pregnancy, so keep an eye out for this one – it’s a biggie.
Sore Breasts: Breasts that feel tender and heavy can be due to pregnancy. While this is also a symptom of PMS, with pregnancy you’ll usually also notice a darkening of the areolas as well as more pronounced veins on your breasts.
Fatigue: One of the body’s reactions to the mass of hormones triggered during pregnancy, especially at the beginning, is fatigue. If you suddenly find yourself exhausted in the middle of the day for no apparent reason, it could be a sign you are pregnant. But keep in mind there are a lot of other causes for fatigue unrelated to pregnancy.
Frequent Urination: Taking an unusual amount of trips to the bathroom? This may be a sign you are pregnant. Your body produces extra fluids during pregnancy, which result in more urine trips to the bathroom.
Headaches: Those pesky hormones cause a lot of symptoms, and headaches are just another irritating early sign of pregnancy. If you need to take painkillers to cope with (potentially) pregnancy related headaches, avoid taking ibuprofen and stick with pg-safe acetaminophen instead.
Cramping: This is another symptom that can easily be confused with PMS. While this may not be an easy to use sign to determine if you are pregnant, cramping could be the uterus stretching itself out to make room for a baby
Shortness of Breath: Pregnant women require more oxygen to fuel the growth of the fetus. This is a sign of pregnancy that keeps growing as the baby grows, especially when the baby starts putting pressure on your diaphragm and lungs.
Food Cravings or Aversions: Another effect of the release of hormones associated with pregnancy – if you are finding yourself suddenly averse to certain foods, or desperately craving a specific taste, this could be related to pregnancy.
Bloating: It could be PMS, but it could also be extra progesterone being released due to pregnancy. The extra progesterone slows down your digestive system, making you feel backed up and bloated.
Mood Swings: This is another reaction to hormonal changes that is also common in some women reacting to hormonal changes in their regular menstrual cycle. However, pregnancy related mood swings may be a little more pronounced.
Elevated Basal Body Temperature: For women who track their basal body temperature, you know that usually your basal body temperature (BBT) remains elevated from ovulation until your period. However, if it stays elevated, it may be due to pregnancy.
Sensitivity to Odors: Similar to food aversion, are you reacting abnormally strongly to certain smells? This is one of the signs you are pregnant.
Light Headedness: If you are experiencing dizziness or fainting, it could be due to low blood sugar or low blood pressure associated with pregnancy.
Late Period: You have a regular cycle and your period is late. Does this mean you are pregnant? Not necessarily, but it is certainly a symptom. At this point, you should consider getting a home pregnancy test to determine whether you are pregnant.

Spotting: Instead of your regular period, you get

As you may have noticed, a lot of the first signs you are pregnant are also symptoms of PMS. This makes it really hard to determine with certainty whether you are actually pregnant.

There was a time when unfortunately there were no sure fire ways to determine whether or not you were actually pregnant until you had missed a period. However nowadays even before your period is late, you can find out with a high degree of accuracy whether or not you are pregnant by taking a home early pregnancy test.

Are You Pregnant? Take an Early Pregnancy Test (Home Pregnancy Test) To Find Out

The only way to accurately determine if you are pregnant before your missed period is by taking an early pregnancy test, either at home by urinating on a pregnancy test or at a lab where they test your blood. For most women, the home pregnancy test is the only reasonable option.

Home pregnancy tests work by detecting a hormone called hCG which is produced very early in pregnancy. This hormone is present in both the blood and urine, though for the purpose of home pregnancy tests the urine is used. The home pregnancy test contains a test strip that changes color once a certain level of hCG is bound to it.

While the newer home pregnancy tests work on this principle just like the older ones, the newer early pregnancy tests can accurately detect much smaller amounts of hCG, allowing for earlier pregnancy detection.

Using Early Home Pregnancy Tests – When To Test For Pregnancy

So at this point you’re probably getting anxious and wondering exactly when you be able to test for pregnancy. Because hCG is only secreted once the baby implants on the uterine wall, your early pregnancy test will not be effective until then.

Implantation occurs around 7 to 9 days after the egg is fertilized, and from sex until fertilization it may be around 0-5 days. This means that early pregnancy tests can tell you if you are pregnant potentially as early as 7 days after sex, but the test can’t really tell you whether you are NOT pregnant until about 14 days after sex.

14 days can be a long time to wait if you’re anxious, but at the moment, that’s the earliest that a home pregnancy test can determine whether or not you are pregnant. Still, using an early pregnancy test is much more effective than relying on reading vague pregnancy symptoms that look a lot like PMS.