Early Pregnancy Symptoms
Medical Author: Melissa Conrad Stoppler, MD
Medical Editor: William C. Shiel, Jr., MD, FACP, FACR
Pregnant or Not? How To Know
Medical Author: Melissa Stoppler, M.D.
Medical Editor: Barbara
K. Hecht, Ph.D.
To learn whether you are pregnant or not, a
pregnancy
test may provide you with the answer. This test can be done in the privacy of
your home using one of several available test kits. Or the test can be performed
in your doctor's office or clinic. Home pregnancy tests are always done on urine
while those in a doctor's office or clinic may be done on urine or blood.
All pregnancy tests are based upon measurement of the
same hormone -- human
chorionic gonadotrophin or hCG -- which is only present in a woman when she is
pregnant. This hormone is made after the egg is fertilized and its levels rise
rapidly in early pregnancy. It acts to support progesterone, a hormone necessary to maintain the pregnancy.
Most home pregnancy tests are done because of a missed period. If a woman has
regular menstrual cycles, a home test can be very informative. It can tell
whether or not there is a pregnancy as early as the first day of the missed
period (which is about two weeks after conception).
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Introduction
Most women equate a missed menstrual period with
the possibility of being pregnant, but other symptoms and signs are experienced by most women in the
early stages of pregnancy.
It's important to remember that not all women will experience all of these
symptoms or have the symptoms to the same degree. Even the same woman can have
different types of symptoms in a subsequent pregnancy than she had in previous
pregnancies. The following are the most common pregnancy symptoms in the first
trimester.
Missed period
A missed menstrual period is most often the first sign
of pregnancy. Sometimes a woman who is pregnant may still experience some bleeding or spotting around the time of the expected period. This small amount of bleeding that occurs at the time of the expected menstrual period happens when the fertilized egg attaches to the uterine wall and is referred to as implantation bleeding.
Any bleeding during pregnancy is typically lighter than that observed during the regular menstrual period. However, if a woman does not have regular menstrual cycles, she may notice some of the other symptoms of early pregnancy before it is apparent that the menstrual period has been missed. A missed menstrual period also does not confirm that a woman is pregnant even if she has regular cycles, since both emotional and physical conditions may cause absent or delayed periods.
Breast swelling, tenderness, and pain
Feelings of breast swelling, tenderness, or pain are also commonly
associated with early pregnancy. These symptoms are sometimes similar to the
sensations in the breasts in the days before an expected menstrual period. Women may also describe a feeling of heaviness or fullness in the breasts. These symptoms can begin in some women as early as one to two weeks after conception.
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