Are there really symptoms such as nausea and a missed period that all pregnant women get or are there also many other symptoms and signs of pregnancy that are not quite as well known?
The answer is yes and in this article I will tell you about different signs of pregnancy that can appear and when the signs of pregnancy usually appear during pregnancy. I will also try to answer other important questions that may be helpful when trying to find out if you are pregnant or not.
It is important that you keep the following information in mind at all times:
It is far from certain that you will get all the classic symptoms that you can get in a pregnancy. You may get some of them or you may be lucky enough not to get more than a few.
If you do not have any symptoms, many people will think you are lucky, especially pregnant women who are so tormented by symptoms that haunt them around the clock and make them unable to clean, cook, and even can not go to work.
It is as normal to get pregnant and not be plagued by symptoms as it is to suffer from severe symptoms. Not having any signs of pregnancy or getting all the signs of pregnancy at the same time says nothing about how the pregnancy will otherwise proceed.
It is usually noticeable that the breasts become more tense, both the breasts and the nipples can become incredibly sensitive and you may also notice that the breasts start to grow and get bigger.
The area around the nipple itself (areola mammae) can be perceived as larger in circumference or changes color to a darker shade.
One of the most classic symptoms that can sometimes play a bit of a prank on the pregnant woman has small haemorrhages around the time the egg gets stuck in the uterine lining.
If you experience that you suddenly feel scents that you did not notice before, it can also be a sign of pregnancy.
It is said that it is an ability we have with us from the time when we were more primitive and deeply dependent on our sense of smell to be able to decide on something that we e.g. found in nature was edible or not.
Creating a new little person puts the woman's body to the test. The woman's heart gets bigger to be able to pump around more blood in her body. The hormones are in high gear to be able to maintain the new demand for hormones from which more is to be produced, and which hormones are to be reduced during the duration of the pregnancy.
That alone is enough to understand why pregnant women experience fatigue. Sometimes so heavy that they can fall asleep sitting at the desk when they work or when they sit on the toilet and only need to rest their eyes for a while.
This is completely understandable, but if you are pregnant or think you are, it may be a good idea to go to bed a little earlier in the evening.
Maybe you become aware that you do not feel well in the morning - or at other times during the day. Having nausea is normal when you are pregnant but it can also be due to many other causes.
Some women feel so bad and vomit so much that they have to consider being hospitalized to ensure that the pregnant women get enough fluids and nutrition. Then there are women who do not feel bad at all.
Sometimes you discover that you suddenly have a craving for food other than the one you usually eat or that the food you have eaten before gives a feeling of nausea.
If the stomach grows early in the pregnancy, it is not the baby that grows in there, but it is the pregnancy hormones that are developed.
Before pregnancy, the uterus is the size of a small pear, but during pregnancy it grows to a size equivalent to a watermelon.
The ligaments - ligaments - that the uterus attaches to in your body will stretch already in the beginning of pregnancy and it can give you pain that can certainly remind you of the pain you may have during a period.
Hormones in early pregnancy make you need to urinate more often. Be sure to keep an eye on if you need to urinate more than normal as it can unfortunately also be caused by you having a bladder inflammation.
The hormones are also the cause here if you suddenly discover that you have become much more sensitive or simply fall into tears. It can also be that you go from being happy to being furious in a split second.
Your body whines and has to get used to the transformation that takes place. Pay attention if you go and feel so depressed that it may be the beginning of a depression. Pregnant women have a higher risk of developing depression.
Hormones in pregnancy cause your stomach to work more slowly and it can cause gradual constipation.
Pay extra attention if the constipation gets worse. The best thing you can do for yourself is to discover them before it becomes so difficult that you get sore when you need to get rid of your stools.
It can easily become a vicious circle and many pregnant women may have to take remedies for constipation throughout pregnancy as constipation can not always be kept in check with changes in diet.
It can be really difficult to know if you get symptoms because you are pregnant or because you think you are pregnant. Our body gives off daily signs that may be reminiscent of pregnancy symptoms, even if we are not pregnant at all.
If you experience early signs of pregnancy, it can be as early as days after you ovulated and up to several weeks after you should have menstruated.
The difference in when you start to suspect whether it is a sign of pregnancy or not, depends on where you are in life.
If you have stopped using contraception and are actively trying to conceive, you will most likely be more aware of small signs that you may be pregnant. Our brains are created in such a way that we focus our thoughts on things that will be reflected in our everyday lives.
For example. If you have decided to buy a new car and it should be red, you will probably start noticing all the red cars passing by you.
During the period you are trying to get pregnant, it is probably suddenly prams and pregnant bellies that catch your attention.
A woman is not pregnant until she has entered week 2 of her pregnancy, it is only then that she has ovulated and thus that the egg has had the opportunity to be fertilized.
It is also only then that her body can show signs of being pregnant because it is only in week 2 that it can actually become so.
I can very well understand if you find it confusing that doctors and other health professionals also count the time before the actual ovulation in the pregnancy itself and I can tell you that there is only one reason why they do it.
Most women probably know when they were menstruating while only a few women know when they were ovulating.
By determining the pregnancy from what is called the first day of the last menstrual period, it gives doctors an opportunity to calculate the date of birth as accurately as possible. An ultrasound scan later in pregnancy may change or confirm that the date of birth is correctly calculated.
The signs of pregnancy that you may have in the third week of pregnancy are exactly the same as you may have when you have come later in your pregnancy. In weeks 1 and 2 of pregnancy, you may also have symptoms, but then they are not due to you being pregnant.
However, some women experience symptoms around the time of ovulation that may well be mistaken for symptoms that many pregnant women get.
In the past, when our grandmothers and great-grandmothers lived, women did not have the opportunities we have today.
A pregnancy test was not available for their generations and therefore a woman at that time had to pay extra attention to the symptoms of her body - and sometimes the small changes that happened to her during a pregnancy.
The woman's body functions in such a way that the hormone progesterone increases after ovulation and when it increases, it informs the body that there may be a pregnancy soon. Pregnancy does not occur until 12-24 hours after ovulation.
As long as the progesterone level is high, the body will not reject the uterine lining and therefore many women will also experience that their menstruation is absent when they become pregnant.
Progesterone - also known as the pregnancy-preserving hormone - remains high during a pregnancy to ensure that the uterine lining - and the unborn baby - is not expelled from the uterus.
If the progesterone still falls, the pregnancy will be terminated and the woman will have a bleeding that may resemble a menstrual period. The longer in the pregnancy she is, the heavier the bleeding.
Did you know that e.g. about 25% of all pregnant women bleed at some point in their pregnancy - especially during the first 3 months - and therefore it can be difficult to know if the bleeding is a menstrual-like bleeding, an early miscarriage or if it is actually menstruation that has begun.
And in the same way, the reverse is true.
A woman's menstruation may very well be missed even if the woman is not pregnant. Some reasons for this may be that:
A woman's body is so ingeniously created by nature that if it notices that something is wrong - if the woman is in a difficult period where she is forced to push herself to the limit, e.g. in situations where the woman is ill, malnourished or severely underweight or if she practices sports at a high level - then the woman's body shuts down the functions that it does not consider vital to maintain.
The absence of menstruation does not have to be a sign of pregnancy. Nowadays, all Swedish women have the opportunity to find out if they are pregnant or not, as a pregnancy test can be performed free of charge by a midwife. Otherwise, the woman can choose to buy a self-test in the nearest grocery store when she is still shopping.
Pregnancy tests are available today in so many places that no woman needs to walk around with uncertainty about whether they are pregnant or not.
A woman's body changes throughout her life. Before, during and after the long period in her life when she can get pregnant and mother.
A fine balance between the brain, glands, hormones and chemical signals ensures that the woman's body is optimal during all phases and the woman's secretions can in connection with it also be affected.
The secretions from the woman's vagina when she is fertile can either make it easy or difficult for the sperm to swim the way to the fallopian tube where the egg is to be fertilized.
Just after menstruation when the woman's egg lies and matures inside the woman's ovaries, the secretion will usually form a barrier for the sperm, as the woman's body knows that she is not ready to get pregnant - the egg to be fertilized is not mature.
As ovulation approaches, the woman's secretions will become thinner and resemble egg whites more and more. The secretion is now fertile and helps the sperm to reach their target.
When ovulation is over, the woman's secretions will again change consistency - regardless of whether the woman becomes pregnant or not.
Therefore, based on the woman's secretions, it is not possible to see whether a pregnancy has taken place or not. Early in pregnancy, only a pregnancy test can answer that question.
If a woman either wants to get pregnant or is afraid of getting pregnant, her subconscious will often be very aware of the changes that take place in - and with - her body during her cycle.
That in itself may be enough for these women to notice the slightest change that is happening to their bodies.
Are their breasts more tender, does the secretions from the vagina look different, are there signs of bleeding, are they more tired than normal, did they feel a little unwell this morning, do they eat differently than they usually do, what do they dream about, etc.
If you are afraid or want a pregnancy, even very small completely normal changes in your body can be analyzed and kneaded around in the mind. It is both normal and natural.
Think about when you met your partner and try to remember how you felt before you actually became a couple. All the little signals that you probably analyzed in relation to whether you were created for each other, if you wanted to meet each other again, the thoughts about whether the phone rang or not and if you would have a future with each other.
Maybe you did not do it consciously, but unconsciously your whole body was highly analytical because it meant so much to you whether you would eventually become a couple or not.
In the same way, your body reacts when you are either waiting or afraid that the pregnancy test will show a positive.
The brain simply can not help it.
I am very happy that Swedish women have the opportunity to take a pregnancy test and thus get answers on whether they are pregnant or not. That we have opportunities that our ancestors (or should we call them "grandmothers") did not have. If you experience signs of pregnancy and begin to speculate if you are pregnant, it can fill so much of your everyday life, that it can be difficult to focus on other stuff. Some women are fortunately better at thinking about other things and if you are one of them, you are very lucky.
If, on the other hand, you belong to the other group where the thoughts - whether you are pregnant or not - run around in your head day and night, it is probably time to take a pregnancy test. You do not have to buy the most expensive and it gives you the opportunity to test when you need it.
I personally feel that taking a pregnancy test gives me peace of mind afterwards, regardless of whether the result is positive or negative.
Of course, it is a bit sad to stand with a negative pregnancy test if you want to get pregnant, but I can promise you that it is extremely liberating if you get a negative pregnancy test when you do not want to get pregnant.
A pregnancy test does not cost much and can be purchased almost anywhere you normally travel, whether you are shopping in physical stores or when shopping online.
You can choose to buy the cheap pregnancy tests that are designed as a stick or if you want a slightly more hygienic pregnancy test, you can choose a pregnancy test designed as a stick
If you do not need to test regularly, you may want to consider choosing the digital pregnancy test from Clearblue - with it in hand, you will not have to doubt whether it is a test line or not.
A digital pregnancy test from Clearblue will state with clear text if you are "pregnant" or "not pregnant".
Use your common sense throughout your life.
If you get a negative pregnancy test, it is not always an unambiguous result.
If your symptoms continue, take a new pregnancy test after 1-2 weeks and continue until you are sure that you are pregnant or not.
Also remember to talk to your midwife / doctor and get her recommendations so you know when to call if you still feel you are pregnant but the pregnancy test continues to show negative.
Many symptoms that most people perceive as signs of pregnancy can have other causes than being pregnant. It is important that you are always aware of this so that you do not focus exclusively on a possible. pregnancy but also takes other possibilities into consideration.