Ten days after conception, the egg that has been fertilized and now attached itself to the wall of the uterus. Many women begin to experience signs at that early stage that they are pregnant. From this point until you missed your period, there are ways to tell if you are pregnant.
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Signs of Pregnancy Before Missed Period
Here are the top 10 signs of pregnancy before missed period that will help you understand how your body is reacting in these early stages.
1. Cramping and Spotting
Although it is very common to see spotting in and around the time your period is approaching, you may begin to see a brownish or pink stain appear in your underwear. You may also begin to experience slight cramping when you go to the bathroom. Physicians are unsure exactly what causes the spotting at such an early stage, but it is believed to be caused by the egg after it is implanted in your uterus. This causes the hormones that control your period to react and this could be the causes of the spotting.
2. Tingling and Pinching Nipples
When the hormones begin to increase the blood to your breasts, this increased blood supply can give you a tingling and pinching sensation around the nipples. You can often feel these sensations a week or two after conception and are one of the earlier signs that you are pregnant. It may take your body a few weeks to get used to the increased blood flow from your hormones, soon after that the sensation of tingling will subside.
3. Swollen Sensitive Breasts
Your breasts will begin to become extremely sensitive to the touch at around week six. Similar to the way your breasts feel right before you have your period, this feeling will be at a much more sensitive level. The breasts can also begin to increase in size with small blue veins appearing slightly below the surface of the skin. You will experience the most sensitivity in your breasts during the first trimester, and as time goes on your feelings will begin to ease.
4. Morning Sickness
Although this is a common effect once you are well into your second trimester, early signs of pregnancy may include you feeling dizzy and to the point you have to vomit. You may begin to experience these feelings as early as your sixth week of being pregnant. These feelings of dizziness and vomiting are not limited to the morning, you may become sick any time of the day when you are in the early phases of being pregnant.
5. Getting Tired
When the hormones in your body begin to react to the pregnancy, your system is going to be working on overdrive. In addition to your normal routines during the day you may all of a sudden begin to feel tired much earlier than you have before. It is not uncommon to become exhausted by lunch, to the point that you need to lie down and close your eyes. With these feelings of fatigue, often come elevated levels of emotions. You will become much more emotional much faster, getting upset easily is not uncommon in the first weeks of pregnancy as the hormones are throwing your routines out of whack.
6. Using the Bathroom More Frequently
At the six month mark of your pregnancy, you will begin to notice you have to urinate much more frequently. The reason for the increase in the desire to urinate is because the kidneys are now working on overdrive to handle the increased blood flowing through your system. Pay close attention to when you go to the bathroom these first months because a stinging or pain when you urinate could be attributed to a urinary tract infection.
7. The Food Cravings
Although food cravings are attributed to women who are much further on in their pregnancy, you can experience different types of food cravings very early on in your pregnancy. You may find that you develop a new craving for foods you never liked before. You may also find that you are disliking certain foods you have always loved. The taste of food may suddenly be different as well as the way certain foods smell. Your hormones are causing a disruption to the senses, and your likes and dislikes for certain food may begin to change before you even missed your first period.
8. Much Darker Nipples
With all the increased blood flow in your body, one of the very first areas to be affected will be your nipple area. The skin around your nipples will become a much darker shade of pink in and around week eight of your pregnancy. The nipples will also become more hard and erect to the point they begin to hurt. This is all normal and a direct result of the hormones and blood flow. The tiny little bumps around your nipple region will also begin to protrude more like the nipple itself.
9. Stomach Cramps
The cramps a woman experiences during her menstrual cycle are often mistaken for early signs of pregnancy. The cramps during the first weeks of pregnancy are usually milder but definitely noticeable. These milder cramps are not long-lasting like the menstrual cramps and in most cases subside in a few seconds. This sign is very difficult for many women to identify because many see cramping leading up to and right after their periods. If you are experiencing a mild cramping for several weeks up to the time your period is due, this can be a very clear sign of pregnancy.
10. The Heightened Sense of Smell
Similar to having strange food cravings and food smelling and tasting differently, the body begins to affect the way things smell when the estrogen levels begin to increase. The rise in estrogen can affect the sense of smell to the point that many women can smell items from further distances than ever before. During the normal course of the day being able to smell the neighbors dinner on the barbecue, flowers blooming across the street and the garbage in the garage are just a few ways the heightened sense of smell will affect a woman very early on.