Increased Sensitivity To Smells
This is a big early sign for lots of our forum mums. Can you suddenly smell damp? Does your pet have a new whiff about them? And have you started thinking your partner could do with a good wash and a splash of cologne?
Oh yes, your sense of smell may be so heightened that you can smell things that you didnt even know had a smell, as MadForNO5 experienced: Seven days after ovulating, I started to get a strong sense of smell. I could smell absolutely everything!
The downside? The slightest odour can make you feel queasy.
Could You Be Pregnant
If you missed your period, answer these 4 questions:
If you answered “yes” to all questions, there is a high chance that you are pregnant. But only a positive pregnancy test will confirm your suspicion.
About Our Fertility Expert Dr Amin Gorgy
Dr Gorgy co-founded The Fertility & Gynaecology Academy in 2004 and is now its co-director. Previously, he was the deputy director of the Assisted Reproduction and Gynaecology Centre. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and a member of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.
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How Do Pregnancy Tests Work
If you have a pregnancy test done at the doctors office, it basically lets the doctor know if your blood or urine contains hCG, which is a hormone known as human chorionic gonadotropin. This particular hormone is made immediately after you have a fertilized egg attach itself to your uterus wall, typically happening around five or six days after its been fertilized.
Youll have a rapid rise in hCG levels if youre pregnant. Your hCG levels will typically double approximately every 72 hours early on in your pregnancy. There are two different types of pregnancy tests that will give you the same answer. These are blood and urine tests.
The staff at your local Carlisle, Harrisburg and Mechanicsburg urgent care centers realize that it can be an exciting time starting a family, but the uncertainty in the beginning surrounding pregnancy tests can be nerve-wracking. Many women dont even consider going to an urgent care center to have a pregnancy test done and often rely on a home test instead.
The problem with this is these types of tests can give you a false-negative or false-positive, which can really add on to this uncertainty. There are a number of reasons why home tests give you false results. Some reasons include:
Youre Visiting The Bathroom Significantly More Often
Do you find yourself urinating more often during the day or waking up in the middle of the night to take care of a full bladder? This could be a sign youâre pregnant. Because your body makes significantly more blood during pregnancy, your kidneys are filtering more liquids â resulting in a greater number of potty breaks. Though youâll be doing plenty of urinating, pregnancy actually increases your chances of constipation, meaning that going #2 may be a little more difficult.
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Early Changes To Breasts: Tingling Aching Growing
Breast changes can occur between weeks 4 and 6. Youre likely to develop tender and swollen breasts due to hormone changes. This is likely to go away after a few weeks when your body has adjusted to the hormones.
Nipple and breast changes can also occur around week 11. Hormones continue to cause your breasts to grow. The areola the area around the nipple may change to a darker color and grow larger.
If youve had bouts with acne before your pregnancy, you may also experience breakouts again.
What Is The 2
The “2-week wait” is a term that has been used to describe the time interval between ovulation and implantation, or the approximate point at which a pregnancy test will yield a definitive answer. Many tests available on the market today are able to determine if you are pregnant, even before the date of the expected menstrual period.
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Cervical Mucus And Pregnancy
Hurray! Youre pregnant. Your cervical mucus still has a significant role to play now that you’ve got baby on board:
- Once fertilization has occurred, cervical mucus safeguards and nourishes the newly implanted embryo.
- Later in pregnancy, there’s evidence cervical mucus may continue to protect the growing fetus from infection.
Metallic Or Strange Taste In Your Mouth
Does it suddenly taste like youve been sucking on a mouthful of pennies?
Nope, you didnt forget chomping down on some change this is probably just one more of the unusual early pregnancy signs were talking about.
The medical term for this condition is dysgeusia. Its most noticeable during the first trimester but can occur throughout the remainder of your pregnancy.
In fact, up to 93% of women notice strange tastes in their mouths throughout different moments during gestation.
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How Long Should You Wait To Take A Home Pregnancy Test
Early pregnancy symptoms show up weeks before your period, but an average waiting period of two weeks is recommended from the date of ovulation, to take a home pregnancy test. Human Chorionic Gonadotropin is a placenta-produced hormone that enters the urine, once an embryo is implanted in the uterus. This takes place about 6 to 12 days after fertilisation. hCG levels are picked up by the test, only closer to when periods are due. The ideal time to take a home pregnancy test is a week after your periods are due. There are 90% chances of an accurate result when the test is taken after the due date for the period has passed.
Cramping And Spotting During Early Pregnancy
From week 1 to week 4, everything is still happening on a cellular level. The fertilized egg creates a blastocyst that will develop into the babys organs and body parts.
About 10 to 14 days after conception, the blastocyst will implant in the endometrium, the lining of the uterus. This can cause implantation bleeding, which may be mistaken for a light period.
Here are some signs of implantation bleeding:
- Color: The color of each episode may be pink, red, or brown.
- Bleeding: Bleeding is usually compared to your regular menstrual period. Spotting is defined by blood present only when wiping.
- Pain: Pain may be mild, moderate, or severe. According to a , 28 percent of women associated their spotting and light bleeding with pain.
- Episodes: Implantation bleeding is likely to last less than three days and doesnt require treatment.
Avoid smoking, drinking alcohol, or using illicit drugs, which are associated with heavy bleeding.
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What Is A Late Period
If your period is late or youre wondering if youre pregnant, the days can tick by rather slowly. How long do you have to wait before taking a pregnancy test? The instructions on home pregnancy tests often talk about your missed period. What do they mean?
In the world of pregnancy testing, a missed period means you expected your menstrual bleeding to have started yesterday, and it still has not started. The day of your expected period depends on what your normal menstrual cycle looks like and when your last period started.
The menstrual cycle is the time from the first day of your period to the day before your next period starts. The average cycle is 28 days, with a pattern that looks something like this:
Some womens menstrual cycles last the same number of days every month. These women can accurately predict the day their period will start. Other women have a menstrual cycle that is a little different each month. Your period is still considered regular as long as it comes every 24 to 38 days.
Dizziness And Clumsy Feeling
Pregnancy shows you a time of your life when you can also expect yourself to be very clumsy and light headed. While dizziness and nausea may be a part of your morning sickness, due to the overwhelming changes that your body goes through, being clumsy can also be expected.
So, dont worry if you have been missing steps or if you are having problems remembering where you put your clothes because, the good news is you may be pregnant and thus, air headed.
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Can You Feel Pregnancy Symptoms Soon After Sex
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 or increased discharge, is usually not related 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 women found that 72% detected their pregnancy by the sixth week after their last menstrual period. Symptoms tend to develop abruptly.
This is 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.
How Soon Can You Take A Pregnancy Test Before Your Period
I was so tempted to take the test when I noticed these signs but I remembered my doctors advice and resisted says Rachna.
If you take the pregnancy test before your period, you may get false negative result and be unnecessarily disappointed says Dr Priti.
It is advised to take a pregnancy test after 2-3 days of your missed period to get reliable results.
Rachnas excitement mounted when her expected date of period came and went. She took a test a few days after her missed period and was delighted to confirm pregnancy.
This article has been written with inputs from Dr. Priti Arora Dhamija, who has over 16 years of experience as a fertility specialist and obstetrician-gynecologist. She has received training from the Indian Fertility Society in Assisted Reproductive Technologies and fertility enhancing laparoscopy.
Dr. Priti Arora Dhamija, MBBS, Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi M.D, Lady Hardinge Medical College DNB Obstetrics & Gynecology Diploma in Pelvic Endoscopy, Kiel, Germany
Seek expert advice from our expert gynaecologist.. Come in for a complimentary consultation. Please call on +91 9871001458 to schedule a free consultation.
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Get A More Accurate Test At Your Doctors Office
Even though your trip to the bathroom has made you pretty certain youâre pregnant, getting it confirmed by a medical professional is critical.
Most doctors are able to offer patients both urine tests and blood tests to check for pregnancy. While the results of the urine test are typically available within just a few minutes, lab results may take several hours or days to get back. Unlike a simple urine test, blood tests are able to give you and your doctor a better sense of where youâre at in your pregnancy and how things are developing. Itâs possible your physician asks you to do more than one of these tests over the course of your pregnancy to determine how things are changing over time.
The Source has clinics across Texas and provides free pregnancy tests. Click the button below to schedule a 30-minute appointment with one of our doctors today.
Is There Anything I Can Look For
Probably the most reliable physical symptom of early pregnancy is a missed period. Noticing that your breasts are getting increasingly sore, or experiencing symptoms that you dont usually get around the time of your period, are also signs that you could be pregnant. But again, a blood test will be the best way to know for sure.
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Similarities Between Pms Vs Pregnancy Symptoms And Signs
For many women, the signs and symptoms of early pregnancy can resemble those of her approaching menstrual period or PMS. In fact, it is not possible to tell from early symptoms alone if a woman is pregnant or having symptoms related to her upcoming menstrual period.
The most similar common signs and symptoms that these conditions share include:
Tingling And Numbness In Your Hands
Carpal tunnel syndrome tingling and numbness in your hands affects up to 60 per cent of women during pregnancy. It is caused by compression of the median nerve due to an increase in the tissue fluids during pregnancy.
Carpal tunnel syndrome may be mild, intermittently painful, or severe, which may cause partial paralysis of the thumb or loss of sensation. Symptoms usually resolve on their own soon after birth.
If you are experiencing tingling and numbness in your hands, inform your doctor or midwife. In very severe cases, your doctor may recommend corticosteroid injections or surgical treatment.
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Pregnancy Glow And Acne During Early Pregnancy
Many people may begin saying you have the pregnancy glow. The combination of increased blood volume and higher hormone levels pushes more blood through your vessels. This causes the bodys oil glands to work overtime.
This increased activity of your bodys oil glands gives your skin a flushed, glossy appearance. On the other hand, you may also develop acne.
How Early Do Pregnancy Symptoms Start
Again, a missed period is really the biggest tip-off that you might be pregnant. Still, you can get other symptoms earlier than that, and before you can even take a pregnancy test to confirm the big news. Its all due toyephormones.
Human chorionic gonadotropin, or HCG, is the hormone tested by a pregnancy test, and which contributes to the secretion of progesterone, the main hormone responsible for most pregnancy symptoms, explains Jonathan Schaffir, MD, an ob-gyn at The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center. HCG starts entering your bloodstream about seven to 10 days after you conceive, but it doesn’t reach levels that would show up on a pregnancy test until a couple of days before a period would be missed, he says.
Still, the levels of HCG are pretty low at this point, although not so low that a test wont pick it up. The tests are very sensitive, Dr. Greves says. At the same time, Dr. Schaffir says, its unlikely that youd have extreme symptoms. But some women are more sensitive to changes in their bodies than others, or may experience certain symptoms like implantation bleeding or cramps five to six days after they become pregnant, says womens health expert Jennifer Wider, MD.
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What Is The Last Menstrual Period
The LMP is the date of the first day of the last menstrual period you had before conceiving. It is the first day that your last menstrual cycle begins when you see bright red blood, not just a little brown spotting. You should keep track of your LMP each month, either with an online calculator or just by recording it on a calendar each month. That is the date you use when entering the LMP on an online period calculator.
Whether you are trying to get pregnant or not trying to get pregnant, keeping track of your menstrual periods is vital. Besides pregnancy, missing a menstrual period could also be a sign of other issues like missed ovulation.
Your Cervical Mucus Timeline What Does Egg White Cervical Mucus Mean
There’s a clear link between cervical mucus and ovulation, and your cervical mucus can tell you a lot about when you’re most fertile during your menstrual cycle. Your cervical mucus changes can be a fairly reliable indicator of the best and least productive times to try to get pregnant.
If youre hoping to conceive, check your cervical mucus every day so you can start to see the patterns, which vary based on the time of the month.
Here’s an overview of your cervical mucus timeline, including when you’re likely to see egg white cervical mucus and what it means:
Talk to your practitioner if you have any questions or concerns, and be sure to schedule a preconception checkup with your doctor before you start trying just to make sure all systems are go for getting pregnant.
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How Did You Know You Were Pregnant
One of the easiest ways of answering the question how do you know if you are pregnant? is a missed period. Before that occurs, however, you might experience other unusual early pregnancy signs in the first 2 weeks.
Every woman will experience pregnancy a little bit differently.
When it comes to early signs of pregnancy, discharge, headaches, and mood swings are all par for the course. We make pregnancy sound so glamorous, dont we?
If anything concerns you, though, be sure to speak with your doctor and find out if what youre feeling is normal.
What were your first early signs of pregnancy?
