How Fast Can You Tell You Re Pregnant

Morning Sickness Nausea And Vomiting During Early Pregnancy

How to Know If You’re Pregnant

Nausea and morning sickness usually develop around weeks 4 to 6 and peak around week 9.

Although its called morning sickness, it can occur anytime during the day or night. Its unclear exactly what causes nausea and morning sickness, but hormones may play a role.

During the first trimester of pregnancy, many women experience mild to severe morning sickness. It may become more intense toward the end of the first trimester, but often becomes less severe as you enter the second trimester.

Super Early Signs Of Pregnancy How Soon Can I Tell If Im Pregnant

1. Missed Period

Sometimes the very first indicator for many women, a missed period is normally a good sign that a pregnancy has occurred.

However, its also not always the case. Periods can be delayed in general by stress or changes to your diet, and bleeding can even still occur throughout pregnancy.

If you havent yet missed your period, but would like to test early, home pregnancy tests such as First Response can detect pregnancy hormones up to six days prior to a missed period. But this is certainly not guaranteed.

Its better to wait until your period is actually missed so that your body is making enough hormones to detect and you can get an accurate result. You will also need to make sure you take the test properly.

Read the full instructions on how to do this towards the end of this page.

2. Nausea or Vomiting

Nausea is an extremely common side effect of pregnancy, especially early on. If you find yourself feeling nauseous for no reason you can pinpoint, dry retching or unexpectedly over the toilet, you may want to take a test.

3. Spotting

Some women notice very light pink or brown spots of blood around a week two weeks after conception. This is the fertilized embryo implanting into the lining of the womb and is called implantation bleeding.

4. Dizziness

Finding yourself needing to sit down often, getting light-headed or wobbly on your feet, and unable to focus on things you normally can could indicate pregnancy.

5. Headaches

6. Increased Sensitivity to Smells

Food Cravings And Aversions

PMS: When you have PMS, youll likely notice that your eating habits change. You may crave chocolate, carbohydrates, sugars, sweets, or salty foods. Or you may have a ravenous appetite. These cravings dont happen to the same extent when youre pregnant.

Pregnancy: You may have highly specific cravings, and you may be totally uninterested in other foods. You may also have an aversion to certain smells and tastes, even ones you once liked. These effects can last throughout pregnancy.

You could also have pica, in which you compulsively eat items that have no nutritional value, such as ice, dirt, dried paint flakes, or pieces of metal. If you have cravings for nonfood items, talk to your doctor right away.

Also Check: How To Lose Baby Fat After Pregnancy

I Had Sex Two Weeks Ago But My Doctor Says That Im Four Weeks Pregnant How

88 things nobody tells you about being pregnantIf you have a standard 28-day period, you will likely ovulate around day 14 and are most fertile around days 12, 13 and 14when you had sex to conceive. It takes about nine days after ovulation for implantation to occur, which brings you to around day 23. It takes a few days for your pregnancy hormone levels to be detectable by a pregnancy test, bringing you to around day 28. How far along you are in your pregnancy isnt calculated from conception or implantation but from the first day of your last normal period. If you had your period four weeks ago, then ovulated and had sex two weeks ago to become pregnant, youre currently four weeks pregnant.

Contact Your Obgyn As Soon As You Think You Are Pregnant

How Soon Can You Know If You Re Pregnant

Call your OBGYN clinic as soon as you find out youre pregnant. When you call in, your provider will review your medical history to determine the timing of your first prenatal visit. If you are a woman with no medical problems and under the age of 35, your first prenatal appointment will likely be 3-4 weeks after your missed period.

Some women should be seen sooner than others. For instance, if a woman has a history of ectopic pregnancy , she should be seen within a couple of days. Certain other medical conditions warrant an immediate visit with the provider.

Note: Ectopic pregnancy is when a fertilized egg grows outside of the uterus, such as in the fallopian tube. The earliest symptom of ectopic pregnancy is typically light vaginal bleeding soon after a positive pregnancy test. If this happens, call your OBGYN to schedule an ultrasound right away. The ultrasound will identify if the fertilized egg is growing in the uterus or if it has attached somewhere else.

An ectopic pregnancy cannot be moved to the uterus and requires treatment such as medication or surgery. If the ectopic pregnancy continues growing to 5 or 5.5 weeks after conception, it could cause more serious complications, such as a ruptured fallopian tube, which can result in life-threatening internal bleeding. Symptoms of a ruptured fallopian tube include sudden and severe pain, abnormal bleeding, lightheadedness, and shoulder pain.

Also Check: How To Never Get Pregnant Again

Most Symptoms Don’t Show Up Until After You Miss A Period

While some pregnancy symptoms start very early, most of the time, you won’t notice anything right away. Anything that happens immediately after having sex, like spotting, increased discharge, or feeling tired or nauseated, is usually unrelated to pregnancy.

Other than a missed period, pregnancy symptoms tend to really kick in around week five or six of pregnancy. One 2018 study of 458 pregnant people found that 72% detected their pregnancy by the sixth week after their last menstrual period.

Symptoms, such as breast tenderness and morning sickness, tend to develop abruptly. Typically this happens about two weeks from when you missed your last period . Occasionally you will hear of someone who has symptoms right around their first missed period, but this timing is less common.

What To Do In Different Scenarios

If You Had Sex…

And your period doesn’t come, test again in three days

And you haven’t missed your period

And your period doesn’t come, test again in three days

And you don’t know when your period is supposed to come

Wait at least two weeks before taking a test

And your period doesn’t come, test again in a week

Keep track of the date when you may have conceived as well as when you are expecting your period.

Recommended Reading: Does Pregnancy Medicaid Cover Urgent Care

Home Pregnancy Test Kits

Home pregnancy test kits are available from pharmacists. These kits offer accurate readings if performed strictly according to the manufacturers instructions. However, many women who use home pregnancy test kits get inaccurate results.The most common mistake is to test for pregnancy too soon after the missed period. The manufacturers instructions will tell you when is the best time to use the kit. It is very important to follow the manufacturers instructions exactly.

How Soon You Can Take A Pregnancy Test

Getting Pregnant: Everything you need to know (tips from a Fertility Doctor)

Step back from the supermarket shelves you should wait until the first day of a missed period before you do a pregnancy test . This is usually about two weeks after you think you conceived. So get your diary out and start counting.

Too keen to wait? Some tests are more sensitive than others and can be taken earlier . This might be four or five days before your period is due .

If you can though, its most reliable to wait for the first day of your missed period. And that way you wont get any upset from an inaccurate result.

You May Like: What To Eat And Drink When Pregnant

Raised Basal Body Temperature

If you’ve been using a special basal body thermometer to track your first morning temperature, you might notice that it rises around 1 degree when you conceive and stays elevated throughout your pregnancy.

Though not a foolproof early pregnancy symptom , it could give you advance notice of the big news.

How Is The Hcg Urine Test Performed

You can take an hCG urine test at your doctors office or at home with a home pregnancy test.

Both will require the collection of a urine sample. An hCG urine test conducted at home is similar to the test that your doctor conducts. Both have the same ability to detect hCG in your urine.

Most hCG urine tests sold for home testing follow a similar procedure for accurate testing. While you should carefully follow the instructions included with your kit, the process typically goes like this:

Wait 1 to 2 weeks after your first missed period. We know its hard to be patient! But if you can hold out, youll get the most accurate results. Irregular periods or miscalculations of when a period is due can affect your test.

In fact, 10 to 20 percent of pregnant women may not detect their pregnancy by testing on what they believe to be the first day of their first missed period, according to the Food and Drug Administration . If you can be patient best to wait a few days!

Plan to use the test the first time you urinate after waking up. This urine is the most concentrated and will contain the highest hCG levels of the day. Your urine dilutes as you drink liquids, so hCG levels may be harder to measure later in the day.

For most tests, it only takes about 5 to 10 minutes for a result to appear. Typically, a colored line or plus symbol will appear on the test stick to indicate a positive result. The absence of a colored line or a negative sign usually indicates a negative result.

Don’t Miss: How To Choose An Ob Gyn When Pregnant

How Soon Can I Take A Home Pregnancy Test

It is recommended that you wait until you have missed a period to take a home test. A missed period is often one of the first signs of pregnancy. If you cannot wait that long to find out and you know the day you may have conceived, then the earliest you can take a test would be 14 days from possible conception.

All You Need To Know About Testing Early For Pregnancy

How Fast Can You Know You Re Pregnant

After the egg is fertilized, it travels to the uterus and implants itself in the uterine wall. At this stage tiny amounts of the , start to appear in your urine. It is this hormone that all home pregnancy tests detect. can tell you 6 days sooner than your 1.

No matter when you test, you can be confident in the accuracy of a ‘Pregnant’ result with any

But if you are testing early, you should be aware that even if your result , you may still be pregnant. This is because levels of hCG vary from woman to woman and there may not yet be enough hormone for the test to give a . rise rapidly in early pregnancy, as shown in the graph below, meaning that if you test again on the day of your expected period, your result will be over 99% accurate.

Don’t Miss: What To Pack For The Hospital When Pregnant

Changes In Cervical Mucus

Have you become a student of your cervical mucus? Then check it out now: If it becomes creamy and stays that way after ovulation, its a good sign youll have a positive pregnancy test.

As your pregnancy progresses, youll also notice increased vaginal discharge, called leukorrhea. This thin, milky-white discharge is normal and healthy, but speak to your practitioner if it appears lumpy or thick.

The Most Common Sign Of Early Pregnancy A Missed Period

Your menstrual cycle is your bodys way of preparing for a possible pregnancy each month. Part of that is the thickening of your uterine lining, which is where a fertilized egg would implant to begin a pregnancy.

If youre not pregnant, your period is how your uterus sheds that extra lining. If you are pregnant, that lining stays put and you dont get your normal flow. This is why a missed period is often the earliest sign of pregnancy.

Of course, a delayed or missed period doesnt always mean youre pregnant. If your body is under a lot of stress or you have a hormonal imbalance, you could be experiencing an irregular menstrual cycle.

Also Check: Can You Get Life Insurance While Pregnant

How Early Can Home Pregnancy Tests Show Positive Results

Since the earliest recorded history, women have had a strong desire to know whether they are pregnant as early as possible. The body goes through countless changes in the first trimester, and one of the first indicators is a change in the hormones that leave the body through urine.

Ancient Egyptians relied on a form of urine testing to determine pregnancy status way back in 1350 BCE. A woman urinated daily on wheat or barley seeds and if the plants grew, it meant she was pregnant. Modern-day validation suggests that test was about 70% accurate in detecting human chorionic gonadotropin , a hormone produced by a womans body soon after implantation of a fertilized egg inside the uterus.

Thankfully, urine-based pregnancy tests have evolved substantially. Women now have access to advanced tests that can detect a pregnancy as early as eight days after ovulation. But while many home pregnancy tests are marketed as simple and effective, getting accurate results comes down to how early in your ovulation cycle you take the test.

Ovulation generally occurs around day 15 of a 28-day cycle. In a normal pregnancy, an egg is fertilized in the fallopian tube and then travels into the uterus, where it implants in the uterine wall. After implantation, production of hCG starts from cells in the developing placenta . Trace levels of hCG can be detected as early as eight days after ovulation.

Youre Not Pregnant: Evaporation Line

8 Ways To Get Pregnant Faster | Getting Pregnant | Parents

Taking a home pregnancy test and getting a faint positive line doesnt always mean youre pregnant. Sometimes, what appears to be a positive line is actually an evaporation line. These misleading lines can appear in the results window as urine evaporates from the stick.

If a faint evaporation line develops on your home pregnancy test, you may mistakenly think that youre pregnant.

It can be hard to determine whether a faint line is a positive result or an evaporation line. The primary difference is that evaporation lines appear in the test window several minutes after the recommended time for checking the test results.

If you take a home pregnancy test, its important to read and carefully follow the instructions. The package will let you know when to check your test results, which can be within three to five minutes, depending on the manufacturer.

If you check your results within the recommended time frame and see a faint positive line, youre most likely pregnant. On the other hand, if you miss the window for checking the results and you dont check the test until 10 minutes later, a faint line may be an evaporation line, which means youre not pregnant.

It also helps to take the home pregnancy test first thing in the morning. The less diluted your urine, the better. Make sure you check the results within the appropriate time frame to avoid confusing an evaporation line with a positive line.

Recommended Reading: How To Stop Throwing Up In Pregnancy

When Do Early Pregnancy Symptoms Start

Regardless of your feelings about a possible pregnancy, it can be easy to ascribe any sensations you’re having to potential pregnancy symptoms. However, keep in mind that premenstrual syndrome symptoms and those of early pregnancy can be very similarand pregnancy symptoms most often don’t occur until after you’ve missed a period not before.

Having symptoms a day or two after having sex is usually not a sign of pregnancy. Here are some things to consider as you try to determine if you’re pregnant.

How To Determine Your Due Date

When you find out youâre pregnant, youâre probably wondering when youâll meet your new baby! For an estimate, try our Due Date Calculator, where you can simply enter the first day of your last menstrual period or the date of conception.

Healthcare providers use the LMP method to determine your estimated due date. Due dates are typically calculated as 280 days starting from the first day of your last menstrual period. Remember, when generating a due date this way, you arenât technically pregnant during the first couple of weeks of pregnancy.And, again, this is why you probably wonât feel those highly anticipated very early signs of pregnancy in weeks 1, 2, or 3. But once you start to notice themâand take a pregnancy test or confirm youâre pregnant with your healthcare providerâyou can calculate your due date!

Also Check: How Do You Know Pregnant

When Pregnancy Is Unintentional

If you had unprotected sex or a contraceptive failure and fear you could get pregnant, emergency contraception is an option. Commonly called the “morning-after pill,” medications are available over-the-counter that can prevent pregnancy if taken within five days of having unprotected sex.

The sooner you take these medications, the more effective they are in preventing unintended pregnancy. These medications do not cause an abortion, but rather prevent a pregnancy from being established.

Wondering If You’ve Got A Bun In The Oven Here Are Some Telltale Ways To Determine Whether You’re Expecting A Baby From Very Early Symptoms To Home Pregnancy Tests

How to tell you

The first signs of pregnancy are different for every woman. While some have telltale symptoms , others don’t know they’re expecting until they receive a positive pregnancy test. If you’re wondering, “How do I know if I’m pregnant?” read on to learn three ways to determine if a baby is in your future..

Read Also: Can I Still Get Pregnant With Irregular Periods

Related Posts

Recent Stories