Knowing if your pregnant requires recognizing symptoms like fatigue, a missed period and irritability, but it can also be determined by an at-home pregnancy test. Know if you’re pregnant with tips from a gynecologist and obstetrician in this free video on pregnancy.
Pregnancy starts long before any of the early pregnancy signs and symptoms are felt. Everything starts when the egg meets the sperm and fertilization occurs. The development of a new human starts immediately. By the time a woman misses her monthly period or confirms she is pregnant by taking a pregnancy test, the baby is already developing.
During the first two months of pregnancy, even before you feel any of the signs of early pregnancy, the baby has grown to about an inch in length and has started to develop most of the body’s major organs. This is the embryonic stage and you should be careful because the baby is prone to be negatively affected by alcohol use, exposure to radiation and infectious diseases. You need to know the signs of early pregnancy so you will be guided to take extra care as much as possible.
Signs of Early Pregnancy
A missed period is usually the first blinking warning light that may indicate you are pregnant. This is especially if you menstruate on a regular cycle but this is not the only symptom.
Other women may or may not experience some of the early pregnancy signs. This varies from woman to woman, depending on how a particular woman’s body adjusts to the changes of carrying a new life within her.
It is important for you to know and understand what these signs and symptoms of early pregnancy are or you may mistake some of the signs for something else and take medicines which may not be good for the developing baby at all. You are not the first pregnant woman on earth so your friends, family members, relatives and your mother can guide you.
Hormonal changes in your body as it prepares for the whole process cause most of the signs of early pregnancy. You may suffer any of the signs like persistent sleepiness and fatigue, increased need to urinate, and pain or a feeling of tenderness in the breasts. You may also experience a mild pain in the lower part of your abdomen, morning sickness which is nausea or vomiting, and the development of a pregnancy mask which is the darkening of the skin on any portion of your face.
Early pregnancy is the most crucial for some pregnant women, especially for the ones who are attacked by morning sickness. You will also be feeling fear and anxiety thinking if your baby has developed complete body parts, or if it is developing properly.
These are all signs of early pregnancy but not all women can experience this. When you encounter any of these early pregnancy signs, it is best that you consult a doctor immediately to confirm your doubts. If you are positive, you can take the best possible care for yourself and your coming baby.
If you suspect you are pregnant, you can confirm it without visiting a doctor. You can do it by doing a home pregnancy test. Doing it is very simple. When you get pregnant, your body will produce a hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) from the placenta and this can be detected by a home pregnancy test. As early as six days after fertilization occurs, your body starts to produce HCG in increasing levels. This can be easily detected in your urine.
Why Home Pregnancy Test?
Home pregnancy test kits are being sold in grocery and drug stores and at very affordable prices. The kit usually involves very simple instructions you just need to follow it.
A test kit is usually done when you urinate. You will have to collect a small amount of urine in container that comes with the package, dip the test stick on it and wait for three to five minutes. You can read the symbols in the stick to confirm whether you are pregnant or not.
There are so many home pregnancy test kits available in the market today. Each brand has its own display of symbols to indicate whether the result is positive or negative. A positive result indicates you are pregnant while a negative result indicates you are not.
If you home pregnancy test shows a positive result, it is best if you make an appointment with your doctor. However, if the test shows negative and you haven’t started your period after a few days, you can do another test.
Inaccuracies in Home Pregnancy Tests
Not all home pregnancy tests will show a correct result. There are instances when you are pregnant yet the result will show a negative sign. This could be because you might have done the home pregnancy test so soon and the HCG levels in your body cannot yet be detected by the test kit in your urine. Another case is if you take in large amounts of water, this can dilute your urine. The best time to conduct a urine test is first thing in the morning when your urine is still most concentrated.
Home pregnancy tests could also present false positives caused by a “chemical pregnancy.” This happens when a fertilized egg starts to implant itself in the uterus for a few days then stop developing. The first few days is enough to produce HCG that can be detected in your urine.