Are you suspecting you could be pregnant? Whether you’re worried about a likely conception or been looking forward to it, it’s important to know the early signs of pregnancy. Whereas early signs of pregnancy can appear during your menses date, sometimes they show up a week or two later.
60% of pregnant women get the symptoms as early as 6 weeks after conception while 90% notice them after about 2 months. If you experience irregular menses with unpredictable dates or simply don’t track your menstrual cycle, you might not know when to expect your period.
However, if you miss your menses and experience the following symptoms, you could be pregnant:
Top 5 Early Signs of Pregnancy You Should Know
- Mood Swings
Hormonal changes during pregnancy can affect your neurotransmitters, leading to mood swings. However, women are different and thus respond differently to the changes. Whereas some get depressed and anxious, others experience positive and negative heightened emotions.
Contact your doctor if you’re feeling hopeless, sad, having feelings of harming yourself or can’t cope with things you usually do on a daily basis.
- Increased Trips to the Washroom
Due to hormonal changes in your body, more blood flows through your kidneys. As a result, your bladder fills more quickly, hence the need to urinate frequently. As your pregnancy progresses, your need to urinate frequently continues and even intensifies. Your blood volume increases, filling up your bladder faster. And with the pressure your unborn baby exerts on your bladder, it gets no better.
- Bloating of Your Abdomen
Pregnancy can also cause bloating due to hormonal changes in your body, feeling the way you often do before your menses. Even with your uterus still small, it explains why you might feel bigger at your waistline than you usually do.
- Sore Breasts
Hormones increase in your body during pregnancy, causing your breasts to become sensitive and swollen. How do your breasts often feel before your menstrual periods? When they become sensitive and swollen, it feels like an exaggerated version of your premenstrual feeling.
As your pregnancy progresses, your body adjusts and adapts to the increased hormonal levels and changes in your body. Your discomfort during the first trimester then diminishes progressively.
- Fatigue
Are you feeling fatigued or exhausted? Although no clear causes of fatigue early during pregnancy are known, studies have linked heightened sleepiness to increased levels of the progesterone hormone. The need to urinate frequently and morning sickness can also cause fatigue during the first trimester.
Fatigue is also experienced in the last trimester but subsides once you get into the second trimester. Other signs of early pregnancy include spotting or light bleeding. So, when does implantation bleeding occur? It occurs around the time your period is due when the fertilized egg is attaching to your uterus lining. However, it might also be a sign of ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage.
Therefore, if you experience lightheadedness, pain or severe bleeding, see a doctor. Nausea, high basal body temperature, a missed period and a positive home pregnancy test can also indicate that you’re pregnant.
Contact us to learn more about your pregnancy and what to do to take care of your unborn baby.
