Are You Pregnant? – Early Signs Of Pregnancy Before A Missed Period

 

Not sure if you’re pregnant? Before you even miss a period, your body could be giving off subtle warning signs alluding to the fact you may be pregnant.

Keep in mind pregnancy and the symptoms of pregnancy vary from woman to woman. For some women early signs begin to surface within the first week of conception, other women may have pregnancies that go unnoticed until weeks after conception.

The frequency and intensity of these early signs can also vary from woman to woman, meaning even if you are pregnant you could possibly not experience any of these symptoms, while others may experience all of them.

It is also important to note that individually these signs and symptoms alone are not unique to pregnancy. When multiple signs and symptoms are experienced simultaneously, that is a stronger indication of a possible pregnancy.

Are you dying to know if you’re pregnant and you just can’t wait to take a pregnancy test? Look no further. Below are the early signs of pregnancy before a missed period.

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Sore, Swollen, and Tender Breasts

Your breasts are one of the first things to signify a possible pregnancy. For me, this was the biggest indicator because I am not a busty person in the slightest. On a good day, I’m barely a B-cup.

About a week before I got my positive pregnancy test, my breasts were overflowing out of my bra. They were also sensitive to the touch. When I say sensitive, I mean like I had to cup them with my hands when I would walk down the stairs, and even cupping them was painful.

Okay maybe I’m being a little dramatic, but you get the point. If your breasts are more swollen or tender to the touch than normal, there’s a possibility you could be pregnant.

Change In Appetite

Thanks to hormones, changes in appetite occur during pregnancy. That’s why you hear of the famous cravings for pickles and peanut butter, or chocolate chip cookies soaked in hot sauce, or something else along those lines.

If you find yourself having weird cravings, or find yourself wanting to pair unusual food groups together, you may be pregnant.

On the other hand, you could experience food aversions. Meaning some foods repulse you, sometimes even to the point of nausea. When I was first pregnant, I found myself despising pizza and hamburgers, when just a week prior to that pizza and hamburgers were my life.

Along with these cravings and aversions, it is also common to experience increased hunger or a loss of appetite. If you notice any sort of change in your appetite and suspect that you may be pregnant, keep an eye on it and monitor your appetite changes. It could be a sign of pregnancy.

Mood Swings

Ah, mood swings, every husbands greatest fear when it comes to pregnancy. To say my emotions were all over the place when I was first pregnant would be an understatement.

About a week before my positive pregnancy test, I remember one night I was home with my husband and I just started crying seemingly out of nowhere.

The reason for my crying you might ask? Well, my husband sat down on the couch to watch some TV and didn’t invite me to sit by him-which was not out of the ordinary in our marriage.

So in my mind, that meant he was falling out of love with me. I know this may sound ridiculous to you, but in my hormonally dictated mind, it was the obvious reason he didn’t want to sit with me on the couch.

Naturally, I sat down on the floor tucked my head into my arms that were draped over my knees and began to sob and wail about how he didn’t love me anymore.

At one point I looked up through clouded eyes and saw the most distraught, yet concerned look on my husbands face, that I had ever seen a person make.

Mommas, this right here, should have been a clear indicator I was indeed pregnant.

Needless to say, if you’re finding yourself a little more edgy, irrational, teary, weepy, or a mixture of all the above, it’s possible you could be pregnant.

Changes In Sleep Patterns

Fatigue is a huge indicator of pregnancy. After all, your body is hard at work forming the beginnings of a tiny human, and it’s simply exhausting.

The main reason for this is again due to hormones. Progesterone, one of the hormones released in pregnancy, can cause you to be very sleepy, especially in high doses.

The increased production of blood throughout your body mixed with the decreased blood pressure that happens during pregnancy can also drain your energy as well, causing you to become lethargic and sleepy.

If you find yourself sleeping longer, or have an overall feeling of lethargy in general, there’s a chance a little one could be in your near future.

Changes In Your Bathroom Schedule

Our bathroom schedules are dictated by hormones and our gut health. Upon the beginning of pregnancy, the hormones estrogen and progesterone are released into our system in a higher dosage.

The progesterone causes the intestines to relax and therefore prevent the digestive track from running as efficiently as it used to. This slows down digestion and therefore can cause constipation.

In other words, if you are suddenly experiencing constipation accompanied by other symptoms on this list, and you suspect you could be pregnant, there’s a chance you possibly could be.

Raised Basal Body Temperature

Your basal body temperature is the measurement of your core temperature just after you have woken up in the morning. This temperature will be slightly elevated soon after ovulation and if you are pregnant it will continue to rise ever-so-slightly.

This early sign of pregnancy is usually noticed by women who were actively trying to conceive because a great method for ovulation tracking is through taking and recording your basal body temperature.

Along with swollen breasts, this was another clear indicator to me that I was pregnant. I am very in tune with my body and could tell that I was running at a slightly higher temperature than normal.

I ended up taking my temperature the next morning upon waking up and lo and behold my body temp had risen.

Nausea or Vomiting

We have all heard of this one. The infamous morning sickness. However, something that most people aren’t aware of is that it comes in many forms.

In pregnancy, you can feel nauseous with or without vomiting, or you could go your entire pregnancy without experiencing any nausea. Another misconception is that it can also strike at any time of the day. Contrary to its deceiving name, morning sickness does not only occur in the morning.

I consider myself lucky, because I never threw up throughout my entire pregnancy, not even once. Well, I did throw up in the delivery room, but that was due to another reason which you can read about here.

This is one of the tell-tale signs of pregnancy because 80-90{cff05f84b557692690786f01aac343ca795d254bba52b32b6e7dc8eb4ccdb223} of women experience morning sickness or nausea at some point in their pregnancy, and more often than not it’s in the early stage or the first trimester.

Cramping Or Implantation Bleeding

This early sign is tricky and most often deceives women into thinking they didn’t actually miss their period. This is the most common reason for pregnancies slipping under the radar.

The reason for this is that the cramping and implantation bleeding mimic a menstrual period. Implantation bleeding occurs when the fertilized egg attaches itself to the uterine wall, and in turn, mild spotting or bleeding is seen as a result. In terms of cramping, the sensation is mild, although some women experience it as more severe.

Please note that implantation bleeding ranges in color from light pink to dark brown. If you suspect you may be pregnant and are experiencing any bright red or heavy bleeding, please call your doctor immediately.

Throughout my pregnancy I never experienced any implantation or any cramping, this goes to show that every situation is unique.

So, if you have any spotting that seems different from a normal menstrual period, accompanied by some other symptoms on this list, there is a chance you could be pregnant.

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Am I Pregnant?

After reading through these early signs of pregnancy before a missed period, do you think you could be pregnant?

In all honesty, before you actually get a positive reading from the pregnancy test, there is no sure way to know if you are actually pregnant.

However, with these early signs, you can narrow down your chances by understanding the symptoms and what to expect as far as your body changing goes.

Remember every woman’s experience is different and every situation is unique. Some women experience all of these signs where other’s experience only a couple.

Another thing to keep in mind is that these signs on their own are not unique to pregnancy meaning, even though you may experience one or two of these early signs, it does not mean that you are in fact pregnant.

Did you find this list helpful? As always, I love hearing from my mommas! If you have any comments, questions or personal experience/advice, I would love to hear it. Please leave it in the comments below.

XOXO