Wondering if you have a baby on board?
Pregnancy is the part of life that every woman looks forward to. While it is important to test for pregnancy in order to be sure about it, some tell-tale signs can do the job for you till you go to the hospital. When you are pregnant, there occur some hormonal changes in your body which cause some changes that can be acknowledged if you pay close attention.
A missed period could be an alarming indicator of the pregnancy. It is obvious that when you are pregnant, there is no purpose for your period to visit you. So, if your periods are mostly regular, a missed period can be taken as so subtle sign of pregnancy. If this happens, the best thing to do next is to test for pregnancy at home, wait till it turns pink and then visit your doctor.
But, there are numerous early indicators of pregnancy that precede the women have missed their period. The changes that occur in your body could also be a sign of the fact that you’re likely to become a mom. Read through the list of these 20 early symptoms of pregnancy that you might experience before a missed period.
Sore and swollen breasts
There are sore and puffy breasts. This is considered to be one of the first indications of pregnancies. When the egg becomes fertilized, the progesterone and hCG hormones begin to flood the body. This helps to increase the blood flow.
As the breast tissues are highly hormone-sensitive, this makes your breasts swell, become heavy and sometimes sore. So, this can be one of the very first signs of pregnancy that you can encounter within a week of becoming pregnant.
Fatigue
When you become pregnant, you tend to tire very soon. It may not always be because you had less sleep or you worked hard, as you can find yourself tired at any unnecessary point of the day when you get pregnant. Fatigue while you are pregnant does not limit itself to being tired, but it exhausts you, and you can’t gather yourself to do anything at the time.
Morning sickness
Morning sickness or vomiting is also very common among pregnant ladies. Unlike its name, morning sickness can occur at any point of the day, and it makes you feel dizzy and nauseous, which often results in vomiting. So, it’s better if you can pay attention to your body and understand the signs which may be very subtle to grab hold of.
Short of air
When you are going on your daily run, and you find yourself short of breath unexpectedly, this may be a sign of pregnancy. This may seem too vague, but if you have no other related problems, shortness of breath can always sign you towards your pregnancy. Being unable to breathe while walking, climbing stairs and dancing in a very short period should be noticed attentively.
Gas
It is very common for pregnant women to find them gassy from an early period of their pregnancy. It happens due to the overwhelming hormonal flows in the body, which affect metabolism. Even though anyone can be gassy for any other reason, gas is also a sign of pregnancy, which shows in its early phase.
Bleeding gums
Sometimes, pregnant ladies experience tenderness in their gums. More often than not, the gums bleed, which is nothing far from normal while pregnant. The reason behind the bleeding is also quite similar to your breasts becoming tender and hard.
Due to the hormones and rise in blood volume, you may see blood while brushing. If your dentist says there is nothing to worry about, you can take it as a happy sign of pregnancy.
Cramps
While the egg fertilizes, the pregnant body starts to feel crampy. You may feel as if you are going to have your periods or as if you are having your periods, and the cramps may get painful, too. This happens because when the egg is fertilized, the uterus starts to stretch so that it can prepare for its expansion in the future to hold a baby, explaining your cramps.
Spotting
Spotting is light bleeding, which sometimes can be confused with periods by women. While spotting, the bleeding is way less than that of the period, as it only happens during the implantation of a fertilized egg into the lining of your uterus. So, before you mistake spotting for abnormal periods, be sure to take a hint.
Bloating
Bloating can also be taken as one of the early signs of pregnancy. It often occurs at around four weeks of pregnancy, which is after fertilization of the egg. While bloating also happens before you get your period and disappears afterwards, this is not the case when you get pregnant. If you are bloated and also miss your periods, be prepared for a baby around the corner.
Increased urination
If you find yourself knocking on toilet doors more than before, you may be pregnant. It is normal that you want to urinate an increased number of times than before, and it is also a sign that near pregnancy.
Food aversions
Food aversions during pregnancy can go to a pretty unexpected level due to cravings for inedible substances. You might start to like some food that you loathed before. And once you start craving the food, you can’t let it go till you actually eat it. This happens in many pregnancy cases, so it is also one of the profound signs of pregnancy.
Mood swings
Flooding of hormones in the body while you are just pregnant can make you very emotional and moody. You may sometimes find yourself happy and, seconds later, sad, all for nothing. Teeny, tiny emotional thoughts can make you cry, and you can’t stop laughing at a lousy joke. Even though you may find it hard time control yourself, these mood swings can also come to be very helpful to know if you are on the way to becoming a mother.
Dizziness and clumsy feeling
Pregnancy shows you a time of your life when you can also expect yourself to be very clumsy and light-headed. While dizziness and nausea may be a part of your morning sickness due to the overwhelming changes that your body goes through, being clumsy can also be expected.
So, don’t worry if you have been missing steps or if you are having problems remembering where you put your clothes because the good news is you may be pregnant and, thus, airheaded.
Constipation
As your body starts flooding with hormones while you are pregnant, there can be some irregularities in your metabolism. Often, your metabolism slows down, which results in bloating. It is also equally expected that you may suffer from constipation in the process of becoming a mommy. So, if you can’t figure out your bowel movement and don’t have any other related diseases, you may as well be pregnant.
Increased body temperature
If you feel that your body temperature has been remaining high for some time, this may also be a sign that you are pregnant. Basically when you are pregnant, your basal body temperature stays high during the whole time. This falls again after you give birth to your baby.
Headache and back pain
Even though it may seem fair that headaches and backaches are pretty normal for anyone, these are also signs of pregnancy. Mostly, pregnant ladies feel lower backaches, which are similar to backaches during and before their periods.
But if the backache persists and periods never come, this can be a sign of pregnancy. Headaches can also be visited by pregnant ladies time and again during the early phase of pregnancy.
Darkening of areolas
Due to your surging pregnancy hormones, the area around your nipples tends to darken. It is also common that the area expands, and some bumps similar to goosebumps can be found in the areolas which come to be of use in your nursing time. Not to mention the stiffness of the nipple, all these signs occur very early, which directly sign towards pregnancy.
Sensitive to smell
If all of a sudden you find yourself being super sensitive to smell, this can sign of your pregnancy. Sometimes, when you are pregnant, you may seem to like smelling something that you disliked earlier.
A heightened sense of smell may make you smell something very strongly. It’s not the same as food-related allergies, but it’s beneficial to understand that it’s common during pregnancy.
Change in the color of your vagina.
As an early sign of your pregnancy, there can be some color changes in your vagina. Usually, the vulva and vagina are pink in colour, and while you are pregnant, this colour may seem to change and become purplish-red. Most of the time, there occurs darkening of the skin in the vagina, which can be taken as one of the earliest signs of pregnancy. So keep checking for the color if you want to become a mom.
Higher level of vaginal discharge
When you are pregnant, it is normal that you have vaginal discharge at a higher level than you did before being pregnant. It is a very natural process and is not harmful. Yet, if the discharge smells and is in a very high amount, you need to consult your doctor. If not, this is only another early sign to tell you that you may be pregnant.
Other Causes of Missed Periods
Though missed periods are common when babies are on the agenda, there are several other potential reasons your period is late.
- Excessive weight loss or heavy exercise: With the decrease in BMI below 18 or 19, women start to miss periods. Though the problem is strictly not based on BMI, heavy exercise and training more than usual can also be a factor. That’s because when you already have gone through a lot of stress, nature tends to protect you from getting more pain.
- Stress: Stress has a lot to do with periods. The Hypothalamus, a part of the brain that regulates hormones for periods, is easily affected under stress, and it can lead to hypothalamic amenorrhea. It also can be a possible cause.
- Thyroid problems: One of the major functions of the thyroid gland is to regulate the metabolism of the body. It also helps to maintain balance by coordinating with other parts of the body. If you have problems related to thyroid, either hypo- or hyperthyroidism, you might see implications for your period.
- Premature menopause: This is one of the rare issues that can occur in women and contribute to missed periods. A premature ovarian failure caused by a misfiring of hormones in the body is what causes the problem. Along with missed periods, this complication is also accompanied by night sweats, vaginal dryness and hot flashes.
Even though most of the above mentioned signs can point towards PMS, these are also the very signs which appear at the earliest phase of pregnancy. And even when you must have a pregnancy test at a hospital to know for sure if you are pregnant, all these signs can prepare you for the better. Well, it’s better to prepare for your pregnancy rather than to freak out when the truth comes out, so keep looking for the signs!
