Early Signs and Symptoms of Pregnancy

Key takeaways:

• The first indication of pregnancy is often the absence of the menstrual period. However, this sign may not stand out for people with irregular menstrual cycles, as they often miss their periods even when they are not pregnant.
• Other early signs and symptoms of early pregnancy include morning sickness, fatigue, spotting, and sore breasts. You may also experience food cravings and heightened senses of smell and taste.
• If you suspect you are pregnant, you can get a pregnancy test strip at the pharmacy or grocery store to check, or run a pregnancy test in a hospital to confirm.

A missed period, fatigue, and nausea make most people suspect they are pregnant. These are indeed some of the common symptoms that occur in early pregnancy, but there are more of them. Also, not everyone experiences the same pregnancy symptoms.

Having certain symptoms is not enough to confirm pregnancy, as some health conditions and even your period can mimic pregnancy symptoms. If you suspect you're pregnant, consider doing at-home pregnancy tests using pregnancy test strips or visiting a healthcare facility to get tested for pregnancy.

Some signs and symptoms that indicate you may be pregnant include the following.

1. Missed period

A missed period is usually the first sign of pregnancy. However, it's more reliable for people who have a regular period and know their cycle.  

Conditions like hormonal problems, perimenopause, excessive exercise, and sudden weight loss may also cause you to miss your period.

2. Fatigue

Hormonal changes during pregnancy can make you feel tired, especially during the first 12 weeks. Taking naps every day may help you feel less tired. A proper diet will also improve your energy levels.

3. Frequent urination

You may pee more frequently while pregnant. This is due to compression of the bladder by your enlarging womb (uterus) and hormonal changes that occur during this period. 

However, frequent urination is accompanied by other urinary symptoms like pain while urinating or changes in urine color and odor. In that case, you should see your doctor, as conditions like a urinary tract infection may cause it.

4. Sore breasts

During early pregnancy, your breasts may feel painful to touch and also tingle due to hormonal changes. This may be similar to how your breasts feel around your menstrual period. 

Your breasts may also get bigger, and your nipples may become darker and stick out more. If your breasts get bigger, you need to get a more appropriately sized bra to avoid compressing your breasts with the now smaller bras you own.

5. Spotting

You may spot some blood in early pregnancy, which usually happens around the time your regular period would have happened. However, it's lighter than regular periods and occurs for a few days during the first few weeks of pregnancy. 

This spotting that occurs in early pregnancy is also referred to as implantation bleeding. It is caused by the developing embryo burrowing into the wall of your uterus, where it would implant itself.

6. Morning sickness

Feeling sick, with the strong urge to vomit, is one of the early symptoms of pregnancy. This starts around the 4th–6th week of pregnancy. Though it's known as morning sickness, you may feel this way at any time of the day, including at night. Symptoms of nausea typically get better around the second trimester (4th–6th month of pregnancy).

If you vomit a lot and cannot keep any food down, you need to see your doctor immediately. You may have hyperemesis gravidarum, which is a severe form of morning sickness and can make you dehydrated and malnourished. It can also cause you to lose weight.

7. Vaginal discharge

You may experience more vaginal discharge without itchiness or pain during pregnancy. However, if your discharge is accompanied by a foul odor, itchiness, pain, or a greenish color, you need to see your doctor, as you probably have an infection.

8. Food cravings

Many people have food cravings or experience changes in appetite during pregnancy. You may find that you stop enjoying your favorite foods or begin to love the ones you never liked. These cravings may pass after the first three or six months.

You may also have strange cravings to eat things that aren't food, like clay, ice, or dirt. Pica is the term for this condition. Pica may be due to insufficient micronutrients, like iron, and may cause or worsen iron deficiency anemia. Consider seeing your doctor if you are experiencing this. 

9. Changes in sense of taste and smell

During pregnancy, you may experience a metallic-like taste in your mouth. You may also have a heightened sense of smell.

10. Constipation

Hormonal changes during pregnancy slow down the digestive system and can cause hardening of your stools and difficulty passing out stool. This is called constipation, one of the symptoms you may experience in early pregnancy. 

To reduce your risk of having constipation or help relieve it, you can do the following:

• Drink lots of water.
• Eat enough fruits and vegetables to get enough fiber to improve your bowel movement.
• Eat more whole-grain foods.

If these don't help, ask your doctor about using a stool softener, laxatives, or other remedies that may help.

11. Heartburn

This is another pregnancy symptom that occurs due to slowed digestion. Since food stays in your stomach longer, stomach acid-containing food may flow back to the food pipe (esophagus), causing heartburn. To reduce this, do the following:

• Avoid spicy and oily foods.
• Avoid eating large meals at a stretch. Eat smaller meals instead.
• Don't lie down immediately after eating.
• Don't exercise for a few hours after eating.

12. Bloating

Hormonal changes during pregnancy can also cause bloating. Identify foods that cause this and avoid them. To feel less bloated, eat smaller, more frequent meals and avoid carbonated drinks.

13. Shortness of breath

During the early part of pregnancy, you may need to catch your breath often and breathe rapidly at times. This may be due to hormonal changes. Reducing stressful activities and resting whenever you feel this way may help.

However, if you have severe difficulty breathing or if you're asthmatic, contact your doctor immediately. Pregnancy may worsen asthma symptoms. 

14. Weight gain

You may gain some weight during your first trimester (the first three months of pregnancy). This could be due to the growing fetus, the placenta, increased fat stores, and increased blood supply.

How to confirm you are pregnant

You can confirm whether you're pregnant by doing a pregnancy test. This test checks for human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), also known as the pregnancy hormone. The presence of hCG beyond a particular limit (usually 5 miu/ml) is a sign of pregnancy. 

Pregnancy tests can be done at home or in the hospital by your physician using your urine or blood.

1. Home-based pregnancy tests

You can get a pregnancy test kit at a pharmacy or grocery store and test for pregnancy at home. Check the expiry date before buying it because an expired kit can affect the accuracy of the result. After buying the kit, read the instructions and follow them. Pregnancy tests done at home are 99% accurate if you do them correctly.

General instructions on most pregnancy test kits:

• Use your morning urine, as hCG levels are higher in the morning.
• Pee in a clean container.
• Dip the test strip into the urine for some seconds.
• Keep on a flat surface for a few minutes, and then read the test.
• If there are two lines present, you may be pregnant. If there's only one line present, you're probably not pregnant. If the control line is absent, the test is invalid, and you must retake it.

If you take the test too early in your pregnancy or don't follow the instructions on the kit properly, you may get a false positive (a result that shows you are pregnant when you are not) or a false negative result (a result that shows you are not pregnant when indeed you are pregnant). The instructions on the kit may vary slightly from the steps listed above, so reading and following them is important.

You can take a home pregnancy test from the first day you missed your period. If you don't know when your period is due, take the test 21 days after having unprotected sex.

Some pregnancy test kits can be used before a missed period, but the results are less reliable. To confirm pregnancy, you should have a follow-up test at the hospital.

2. Hospital-based pregnancy tests

Your doctor may perform this test using blood or urine. Blood tests can detect hCG levels earlier and may show whether you're pregnant even before you miss your period.

Wrap Up

You should see your doctor if you experience extreme pregnancy symptoms and discomfort. You should also see them if you take a home-based pregnancy test and it's positive. Your doctor will perform other tests to confirm your pregnancy and start you on antenatal care.