13 Early Signs and Symptoms of Pregnancy

Knowing the signs and symptoms of pregnancy early is very important. When pregnant, your health is extremely important to not only you but also to the baby growing inside you. There are vitamins to take and habits to change, and the earlier you do this, the better for both of you.

Remember that the only way to know for sure you are pregnant is to visit the doctor, but most pregnancy tests can tell you with 99 percent accuracy. Knowing what signs to look for early in pregnancy can help you to know when the time is right to buy that pregnancy test and visit the doctor.

One thing to take into consideration is that every woman is different and might experience different symptoms. The intensity and duration of each symptom can be very different as well. Each pregnancy can be different. My two full-term pregnancies were completely different from one another.

1. Missed Period: Of course this is the most common and will almost always happen to each and every woman. It is possible to also have a period but it will usually be much lighter than normal. In rare cases, a woman may continue to have her period the entire pregnancy.

2. Breast Tenderness: This is one of those symptoms that don’t usually start until after your first missed period, but in some cases it can start sooner. The entire breast will become sore feeling and sensitive to the touch. Many times at night, when trying to go to sleep, breast tenderness is the most apparent in early stages of pregnancy.

3. Fatigue: If you begin feeling a tired more often or even exhausted, it can be a sign of pregnancy. Your body begins to go through so many changes during pregnancy, and it can take a toll on the body from the very beginning of the pregnancy.

4. Nausea and Vomiting: This is usually known as morning sickness, but it does not always happen in the morning. Some women seem to be more nauseated at night or in the afternoon, and for some women, it can be all day. The duration of morning sickness can also vary from woman to woman as well as from pregnancy to pregnancy.

5. Dizziness and Faint Feeling: Many things can make you feel faint or dizzy when you are pregnant, such as going up stairs, looking down from high places and standing for too long. What causes this is the uterus swelling, which compresses arteries in your legs, dropping your blood pressure and making you dizzy. If you wait too long to eat, you can feel dizzy and faint as well. Remember, your body is not only feeding and taking care of you anymore, and it has to work harder to accomplish this.

6. Food Weirdness: Now we have all heard of the craving of pickles and ice cream for pregnant woman, but the cravings experienced by many pregnant women are not always gross! I craved Lucky Charms with my first pregnancy and very large glasses of cold milk with my second. Many times, a food craving is a sign you might need something in that food, such as calcium from milk.

Craving foods is not the only food weirdness that can go on with pregnancies though. You might find that foods that don’t normally bother you and even some you enjoy will become very undesirable. I was not able to eat hamburger meat with both of my term pregnancies. No matter how bad I wanted that juicy hamburger, I could not do it.

7. Sensitivity to Smells: Many times you might become very sensitive to smells. Certain smells might make you feel sick or even make you feel lightheaded. Smells that you once enjoyed might make you want to gag when you are pregnant.

8. Heartburn: Heartburn is not a fun thing to experience, but in some pregnancies it is just going to happen. Any food you eat can cause heartburn, even for women who have never had heartburn. Click the word heartburn for some great ways to help heartburn during pregnancy.

9. Constipation: Constipation is a problem that just sometimes happens no matter what you do – like heartburn. Sometimes it just happens because of all the changes going on inside you. You can eat foods that are high in fiber to help this problem.

10. Mood Swings: It is very normal for you to feel all kinds of different emotions throughout your pregnancy, but sometimes you might just feel them all in one hour! Pregnancy causes so many changes in your body but also in your hormones, which will make a difference in your mood at times. This is much worse for some than others.

11. Vivid Dreams: Pregnancy can cause woman to have very vivid and “real” dreams.

12. Weight Loss / Weight Gain: We always think about weight gain as a pregnancy sign, but in the first trimester it is normal to lose a little weight for many. With my first pregnancy, I lost 12 pounds in the beginning.

13. Frequent Urination: This sign usually does not start until later in the pregnancy, but some women who seem to have sensitive bladders can start to have frequent urination very early in the pregnancy.

Please remember that each woman and each pregnancy is different. The only way to know for sure that you are pregnant is to take a pregnancy test and visit your doctor.