Pregnancy Symptoms: 11 Early Signs You Might Be Pregnant

Could you be pregnant and not even know it? Believe it or not, you can start detecting your pregnancy around the time your first miss your period, or even two weeks after that. In fact, nearly 60 percent of women start experiencing their pregnancy symptoms when they’re 6 weeks pregnant, even 90 percent of women experience them by the time they’re 8 weeks pregnant.

A large majority of this is mainly due to not keeping up with your menstruation cycle since it can vary every month. However, if you’ve experienced any of these symptoms below, you may very well be pregnant.

Missing a Period

If you recently missed a period that you regularly experience, it may be time to take a pregnancy test just to be sure you aren’t pregnant. However, if you’re aren’t regularly keeping up with your cycle, tenderness of your breasts, excessive bathroom use, and nausea are common signs of pregnancy.

Mood Swings

Due to hormonal imbalances that affect your neurotransmitters, or chemical messages in your brain, you can develop mood swings throughout your pregnancy. However, this varies person to person and isn’t a definite pregnancy identifier.
As a side note, if you start developing sad or depressed feelings, be sure to call your local physician for a general checkup. Some chemical imbalances can lead to depression.

Fatigue

Do you often feel more tired than usual? Scientists don’t currently know why pregnancies cause fatigue, but due to your increased hormonal levels, you can feel sleepier than normal. Although, constant urination during the night and morning sickness can definitely deplete your energy levels for the day.

Once you reach your second trimester, you should start feeling more energetic. However, the added weight and common pain during your pregnancy can make sleeping harder than usual, which may lead to even more fatigue.

Constant Urination

Due to hormonal changes during your pregnancy, you have a higher blood flow through your kidneys, which can lead to constant urination. Unfortunately, this will only continue or get worse, while your pregnancy continues. Since you have a higher blood volume, more fluid empties into your bladder, resulting in extra bathroom runs.

Light Spotting

Although the last thing you want to see is spotting or bleeding while you’re pregnant, it’s not uncommon to notice slight spotting around the time your period should be happening. There is no definite reason for this to happen, but the most likely reason is the settling of the fertilized egg in your uterus lining.

Keep in mind, roughly one in four women notice light spotting during their first trimester. Although it most likely isn’t a complication, it can sometimes be a sign of ectopic pregnancy or a miscarriage. If you notice more severe bleeding, pain, or lightheadedness, be sure to contact your primary doctor.

Bloating

Similar to the feeling women get right before their period, hormonal changes in pregnancies can leave you feeling a bit bloated. This is a primary reason why your clothes may not fit quite as well anymore, even though your uterus size remains the same.

Food Aversions

For newly pregnant women, it’s not an uncommon symptom to be repelled at the smell of coffee or meat. No one knows why this happens, but pregnant women have a heightened gag reflex when they have higher than normal estrogen levels in their body.

Tender Breasts

A very common pregnancy symptom that the majority of pregnant women experience are tender, swollen, or sensitive breasts due to higher hormonal levels. This feeling may feel similar to how sore your breasts feel right before your period, just heightened. However, this feeling should go away after your first trimester, once your body adjusts to your new hormonal changes.

High Basal Body Temperature

Some women who are trying to become pregnant keep track of their basal body temperature. If your temperature has been high for longer than two weeks, you are most likely pregnant.

Morning Sickness and Nausea

Every woman experiences morning sickness symptoms differently. Some do not experience nausea until two months after conception whereas others may begin experiencing it just two weeks after conception. Despite what the name states, women do not just experience nausea in the morning. They may experience pregnancy-related nausea at any time of day, morning, noon, or night. On the upside, morning sickness subsides by the start of the second trimester for most women. Others stop experiencing symptoms within a month and others still do not experience it at all.

A Positive Result on a Home Pregnancy Test

Though you can take a home pregnancy test as soon as you suspect you may be pregnant, they are not as effective until a week after your missed period. This is the time when you will receive the most reliable result. If you take the test earlier than this, you should retake the test a few days later. If you are trying to get pregnant, be sure that you are taking care of your health in the time leading up to the test. Your baby begins developing before you can even determine if you are pregnant, which is why this is so important. Keep your eye out for the other early symptoms of pregnancy, too! Once you get your positive result, you should set up an appointment with your gynecologist.

What is your experience with your pregnancy? Please share for others to learn and know

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