Things like missing your period, sore or tender breasts, feeling more tired and nausea (morning sickness) are common symptoms of early pregnancy. Some people have symptoms of pregnancy before they miss their period.
Home pregnancy test
You can do a test on the first day your period's due. The test measures a hormone called human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) in your urine. For the result to be positive, your body must be making enough for the test to pick it up, usually about 2 weeks after you conceive.
The only reliable home pregnancy test is a commercial test that detects hCG. However, fertility monitoring and awareness methods may help a woman identify pregnancy early on. These methods are more reliable than most homemade pregnancy tests but cannot conclusively confirm pregnancy.
It's possible to check the position and firmness of your cervix at home. You can do this by inserting a finger into your vagina to feel for the cervix. Your middle finger may be the most effective finger to use because it's the longest, but use whichever finger is easiest for you.
How does a pregnant belly feel in early pregnancy? For most of your first trimester, you may not feel much, if any, difference in your belly. It will probably be soft and look a little bigger – similar to when you get bloated during your period or after you've eaten a large meal.
Lower abdominal pain is normal during pregnancy and is most common between 18 and 24 weeks. Your growing uterus is pulling and straining the muscles that support it. You may feel sharp pains or just a mild pulling sensation. It often occurs when you cough, sneeze, stand up, sit down, roll over, or during sex.
Normally, the color of urine can be light yellow or yellow to transparent. But for a pregnant woman, this change is more prominent and noticeable. The urine color can change from light yellow to dark yellow. It can go to an orange-yellow shade too.
Many people experience what seem to be pregnancy symptoms shortly before their period arrives. This happens because the hormone progesterone rises both during early pregnancy and in the premenstrual period. 1 In short, PMS symptoms and early pregnancy symptoms can sometimes be exactly the same.
Nausea. Nausea is one of the most common symptoms of being pregnant. It's caused by an increase in hormone levels (about 80 percent of women experience "morning sickness" during the first 3 months of pregnancy). For many, morning sickness isn't confined to the morning—some feel it all day long.
Rising levels of progesterone during PMS can cause symptoms that mimic pregnancy to a T, whether it's tender breasts, a ravenous appetite, mild cramping, moodiness and fatigue, spotting, or even nausea.
The toothpaste pregnancy test involves putting a few drops of urine on some white toothpaste. After stirring the mixture, the person watches for any foaming or color change, which supposedly indicates a positive result. However, this is not an accurate way to detect pregnancy.
There's Now a Pregnancy Test You Can Take With Your iPhone
In that case, three minutes is an eternity. That's precisely what inspired the creation of a just-released pregnancy test from First Response, which uses Bluetooth wireless technology to securely sync results to a specific app on a smartphone.
There's no one way to take a salt pregnancy test (or an official set of rules, for that matter), but in general, all you have to do is combine a tablespoon or two of salt with a sample of your morning urine and wait a few minutes to a few hours. If the mixture turns "milky" or "cheesy," then you're supposedly pregnant.
Normal discharge during pregnancy is clear or white, and usually a bit sticky; it should not have a noticeable odor. It's OK if your discharge looks a little yellow on your underwear or panty liner during pregnancy, too.
Pregnancy doesn't start the day you have sex — It actually takes up to 2-3 weeks after sex to become officially pregnant. It can take up to 6 days after sex for the sperm and egg to join — if a sperm cell joins with an egg, it's called fertilization. The fertilized egg moves towards your uterus.
When you become pregnant, your hormones may cause urine odor to change. But a strong urine odor may also indicate a urinary tract infection, per the ACOG.
Week 1 pregnant belly
There won't really be a baby bump during the first week of your pregnancy, or really, for the next few weeks. Since you'll be menstruating during this week, it is possible that hormonal changes might make you feel a bit bloated due to fluid retention.
This represents any pregnancy that ends on its own in the first 20 weeks of gestation. Experts estimate that 10% to 20% of known pregnancies end in miscarriage. There are several classifications of miscarriage: Complete – when the embryo and surrounding tissues have emptied out of the uterus.
Pregnancy is by far the most common cause of a missed period. However, other medical and lifestyle factors can also affect your menstrual cycle making your period late. Weight changes, hormonal irregularities, and menopause are among the most common causes if you're not pregnant.