When Is Sex Determined
Your babys sex is set as soon as the sperm meets the egg. Its at the point of conception when a baby gets 23 chromosomes from each of their parents. Along with the gender, things like eye color, hair color, and even intelligence are already determined.
Your babys genitals start to develop around week 11 of pregnancy. Still, you wont usually be able to learn the sex for several more weeks via ultrasound. Of course, that doesnt stop moms-to-be and their families from making predictions.
Stay In Bed Right After Intercourse
You have probably heard this one — lie in bed with your feet in the air after having sex to increase your chances of getting pregnant. The verdict? Not true.
“It’s good advice to lay in bed for 10 to 15 minutes after intercourse, but you don’t need your feet in the air,” Goldfarb says. “Your pelvis does not move when you put your legs in the air.” Don’t go the bathroom during this time either, he says. “If you wait 10 to 15 minutes, the sperm that is going to get into the cervix will be in the cervix.”
When Can You Confirm Your Pregnancy
If you think you might be pregnant because you missed your period or are experiencing some of the early symptoms of pregnancy listed above, you can take a home pregnancy test.These tests can confirm a pregnancy by checking your urine for the presence of a hormone called hCG.
If you think you may be pregnant, but the test says otherwise, test again after a few more days or speak to your healthcare provider. You can also ask your provider to confirm your pregnancy with a blood test. Think you might be pregnant? Take our Am I Pregnant quiz. It wonât tell you for sure, but itâs all good fun!
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You Can’t Feel The Iud Strings
Your IUD is shaped like the letter T, with thin strings at the bottom that are used to ensure that it can be removed easily when you decide you do want to get pregnant. But it can also act as a guide to show you that itâs in its proper place. Now, if you canât feel the strings, that doesnât mean that your IUD has moved it could be that theyâve curled up, Self explained. But in cases whereyour IUD has undergone expulsion or perforation, you might not be protected against pregnancy, especially if youâve had sex. If youâre unsure if your IUD is still in place, you can schedule a sonogram with your ob/gyn, who can confirm its location â and if you might be pregnant.
Pros Of Blood Testing
- Blood tests can detect pregnancy earlier than a home pregnancy test, about 6 to 8 days after ovulation, or about 7 – 12 days after possible conception .
- This could mean that you get a result as early as 9 days after possible conception, or 5 days earlier than a home pregnancy test would be able to detect .
For most women, it makes more sense to wait and do a pregnancy test at home because of its convenience and low cost, as well as the fact that you’d only find out a day or two earlier with a blood test .
For others, especially those with a high risk for miscarriage or other pregnancy complications, their doctor may recommend getting a blood test.
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Your Boobs Are Sore & Heavy
If your boobs are aching and feel a bit fuller, it could be a sign. “Breast changes are early signs of pregnancy,” says Walters. “The moment you conceive, hormones send signals to the breasts to get ready in 40 weeks.” However, this may not be as pronounced of a , if this isn’t your first, according to the Mayo Clinic â they may not be as tender or experience as much of a change in size, if that’s the case.
Am I Pregnant 12 Early Signs Of Pregnancy
ByCari Nierenberg, Sarah Wild, Ailsa Harveypublished 15 December 21
The early signs of pregnancy can differ between women. Here are some of the clues your body may provide.
Looking out for the early signs of pregnancy in the body can help you to find out if you have become successful in conceiving. When discovering you are pregnant, it can be the start of a remarkable, life-changing experience. That journey often starts with the question: “Am I pregnant?”
The first sign is usually a missed period, followed by a pregnancy test, said Lia Moss, a certified nurse midwife at Northwestern Medicine, who delivers babies at Prentice Women’s Hospital in Chicago.
Pregnancy tests, whether done at home or at a doctor’s office, measure the amount of human chorionic gonadotropin in a woman’s urine or blood. This hormone is released when a fertilized egg attaches to the lining of the uterus. Urine pregnancy tests can detect levels of hCG about 10 days after conception, Moss told Live Science, while blood tests, usually done at a doctor’s office, can detect a pregnancy about seven to 10 days after conception. Testing too soon can produce a false negative result. A woman’s due date is calculated from the first day of her last period.
“The first trimester can be very hard for some women,” Moss said, but after that many mothers-to-be start feeling better.
Here are 12 clues that a woman may notice during her first trimester to indicate she may be pregnant.
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Recognizing Pregnancy Later On
I Think I Might Be Pregnant
Nothing is more likely to make you feel like youre in limbo than suspecting that youre pregnant but not knowing for sure. Sure, it can cause you undue stress, worry, and anxiety, but it can also make you feel hopeful and excited.
Early warning signs and symptoms can give you a heads up that you may be pregnant. Just keep in mind that they are not to be taken as sure signs of pregnancy, but rather indicators instead. Youll want to take a pregnancy test to know for sure.
Not all women experience pregnancy the same, nor do they experience the same early pregnancy symptoms. While many do experience early pregnancy symptoms, they may be different for you than they are for your colleague or best friend.
Whats more, if youve been pregnant before, the early symptoms you experience this time around may not be the same as your last pregnancy. Keep in mind, that many of these symptoms mimic menstruation symptoms before you get your period and after so you might be pregnant and not even realize it.
Below are some of the common early pregnancy signs and symptoms. However, its important to know that these symptoms could be due to other things going on with your body other than pregnancy. Therefore, youre not necessarily pregnant if you notice any of the symptoms below. Again, as it bears repeating, the only way to know for sure if youre pregnant is to take a pregnancy test.
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Clinical Diagnosis Of Pregnancy In Cats
If your queen has had regular veterinary care and the previous signs of pregnancy are evident, it may not be necessary to get an official diagnosis from a veterinarian. However, it’s a good idea for your vet to examine your cat and make sure she is in good condition.
- Palpation of the Cat’s Abdomen: Your veterinarian may be able to feel your pregnant cat’s fetuses by palpating and gently pressing on her abdomen. This typically happens around the 17th to 25th day of pregnancy.
- Ultrasound of Your Cat’s Abdomen: An ultrasound may detect fetuses as early as the second week of pregnancy, and heartbeats may be detected sometime after the third week.
- Radiographs : Your vet can take a radiograph of your cat’s abdomen when she is further along in her pregnancy to determine the number of kittens she is carrying. This is a minor amount of radiation that will not be harmful to the kittens or the mother. Kitten spines and skulls begin to be visible on x-rays after about 42 days into the pregnancy.
If your resident or rescued cat is indeed confirmed pregnant, some serious decision-making time is at hand. If you decide to spay her and prevent the pregnancy from coming to term, it should be done as early as possible. If not, be prepared to help care for the kittens and find them all good homes.
A Personal Note: What My Pregnancy Symptoms Were Like
Some of these pregnancy symptoms are hard to quantify, especially when it’s something like “feeling different.” But, you may well feel different somehow even though you can’t explain how you feel different.
In my first pregnancy, the earliest signs for me were the enlarged nipples and breasts and breast tenderness as well as feeling dizzy, sick and extremely tired. And yesâI did feel different!
During my second pregnancy, the most noticeable early symptoms were a metallic taste in my mouth, an aversion to drinking tea and a heightened sense of smell. This last symptom got worse and worse throughout my pregnancy and it became difficult to manage all of the smells that made me either feel sick or actually be sick. Smells I couldn’t handle were anything soapy such as body wash and deodorant, perfume, aftershave and alcohol. There were a lot more, but these were the main ones.
For my third pregnancy, me, my husband and our daughter were away traveling around Europe in our motorhome. We’d stopped to work on a farm for a few weeks, when I started to feel incredibly tired.
I couldn’t work out why I felt that way after a good night’s sleep and I had no other symptoms of illness, so I tried drinking extra coffee to keep me awake . Then a few days later I started feeling really unwell to the point I spent around four days laying down resting, but no real symptoms as suchâI might describe them like the flu without the sore throat and cough.
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Determining If Someone Is Pregnant Early On
What Is The Best Way To Confirm Pregnancy
The best way to confirm pregnancy is to do a blood test measuring the human chorionic gonadotropin hormone. Women can also take a home pregnancy test. Home pregnancy tests are fairly reliable but may occasionally be a false-positive. This can occur for a number of reasons, including having a chemical or ectopic pregnancy or even taking certain medications. Following a positive home pregnancy test with a doctors visit for a urine or blood test to confirm the pregnancy is the best way to confirm a pregnancy.
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You Have Characteristics That Increase The Odds
While sometimes a twin pregnancy just “happens,” there are some characteristics that increase the odds that a woman will have twins or multiples, including:
- Conception while breastfeeding or on birth control pills: Hormone fluctuations may affect your odds of having twins.
- Family history: Having “the twin gene” makes a woman more susceptible to having a fraternal twin birth, in which more than one egg is released at once. There may also be genetic associations in some identical twins, where one embryo divides.
- Fertility treatments: As hormonal treatments such as in vitro fertilization become more common, the frequency of twin births increases, as well, thanks to the resulting ovarian stimulation that may release more than one egg at a time.
- Higher body mass index : A BMI above 25 is associated with an increased probability of having twins.
- Maternal age: The probability of having a twin pregnancy increases with maternal age.
However, many incidences of twins are random and not attributable to any specific cause or characteristic. For many families, their double blessing is simply a result of luck!
Checking For Hormonal Changes
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Varicose Veins And Leg Oedema
Varicose veins of the legs are very common in pregnancy due to a combination of factors, including increased volume of circulating blood during pregnancy, and pressure of the pregnant uterus on the larger veins. This increased pressure on the veins can also result in swelling of the legs that can cause pain, feelings of heaviness, cramps and other unusual sensations.
If you have varicose veins, it is recommended that you:
- Wear support stockings.
- Avoid standing for long periods.
- Exercise gently and regularly .
- Lie down to rest with feet elevated, when you can.
- Try massaging your legs.
Sore Breasts And Tingly Nipples
A few women complain of sore, tender, and painful breasts. The areolas and nipples might turn darker, and there could be small spots around the nipples. You may also see some pimple-like white spots around the areola .
These changes in breasts could be mistaken to be a symptom of PMS symptom and not of pregnancy, or vice-versa.
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Youve Missed Your Period
If youâre in your childbearing years, sexually active, and more than a week has passed since the day your period was expected to start, itâs very possible youâre pregnant. If you have an irregular menstrual cycle, have recently experienced significant weight loss or weight gain, or stopped taking your birth control pills, a missed period may not be a reason to worry. However, missed periods are perhaps the most tell-tale sign of a potential pregnancy, so be sure to take a pregnancy test if youâre in this situation. Many pregnant women experience some bleeding around two weeks after fertilization and mistake it for a light period, but a missed period on their next cycle will indicate a pregnancy. â
