When Can I Find Out If I Am Pregnant

When Should I Call My Doctor About A New Pregnancy

If you have missed a period, taken a pregnancy test and gotten a positive result, your next step will be to call your healthcare provider for your first appointment. While scheduling, your provider may ask if you have already started taking a prenatal vitamin with at least 400mcg of folic acid. These vitamins are important in early pregnancy because they help in the development of your babys neural tube. The neural tube will become the brain and spine. Many healthcare providers recommend that any women who could become pregnant take folic acid at all times.

If you are planning a pregnancy, a preconception appointment with your healthcare provider is a good place to start. A preconception appointment is especially important if you take medication for a chronic illness or have other medical conditions like diabetes, hypertension or lupus.

During this appointment, your provider will discuss any current medical conditions, as well as your general health before pregnancy. This appointment is meant to get you into the best place for a new pregnancy.

Last reviewed by a Cleveland Clinic medical professional on 04/01/2020.

References

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How Can I Find Out If I Can Get Pregnant

By | Feb. 10, 2011, 6:01 p.m.

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How can i find out if i can get pregnant?

Infertility testing finding out whether or not a woman is able to become pregnant involves several medical exams, procedures, and tests. It is usually done for women who want to have a baby but are having trouble getting pregnant or for women who have health conditions that might cause infertility.

Infertility testing includes physical and ultrasound exams to evaluate the health of the reproductive organs. It includes chemical and hormonal tests to evaluate the health and number of the eggs in a womans ovaries. It is unlikely that a health care provider would screen a young woman for infertility unless she had trouble getting pregnant or a serious health problem.

In general, any young woman who ovulates and has her period should assume she can become pregnant. So, any girl who has unprotected vaginal intercourse runs the risk of becoming pregnant. Generally, a woman who has unprotected vaginal intercourse during the course of one year has an 85 percent chance of becoming pregnant.

Pregnancy can happen when semen gets in the vagina or on the vulva. Here are some examples of things that do NOT cause pregnancy: kissing, masturbation, body rubbing, oral sex, anal sex. These things wont cause pregnancy unless sperm comes into contact with the vagina or vulva.

Tags: pregnancy, infertility

Telling People That You’re Pregnant

You may want to tell your family and friends immediately, or wait a while until you know how you feel. Or you may want to wait until you have had your first ultrasound scan, when you’re around 12 weeks pregnant, before you tell people.

Some of your family or friends may have mixed feelings or react in unexpected ways to your news. You may wish to discuss this with a midwife.

Read about dealing with feelings and relationships in pregnancy.

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What Are Five Common Signs Of Pregnancy

There are several signs of early pregnancy that you could experience. Not everyone will have all of these symptoms, and some women may not feel any of these things. Pregnancy symptoms throughout the entire pregnancy can vary dramatically between women. Its important not to compare your pregnancy to someone elses.

Common early pregnancy symptoms can include:

Could I Have The Symptoms Of Early Pregnancy And Not Be Pregnant

Many of the symptoms of early pregnancy overlap with other medical conditions, as well as your typical menstrual cycle. Premenstrual symptoms can be very similar to pregnancy symptoms. This can make it difficult to tell the difference. You can also miss a period without being pregnant. This can happen when you exercise in extreme amounts, lose or gain a lot of weight, or even are stressed. Breastfeeding can also cause your period to stop for a while.

The best way to know youre pregnant is to take a pregnancy test. If you have missed a period and think theres a chance you could be pregnant, consider taking a test.

Recommended Reading: What Is True About Teen Pregnancy And Parenting

Knowing That You’re Pregnant

When you find out you’re pregnant, you may feel happy and excited, or shocked, confused and upset. Everybody is different.

Some of this may be caused by changes in your hormone levels, which can make you feel more emotional.

If you are feeling anxious or worried it will help to talk to someone, read about mental health in pregnancy.

Youre Regularly Becoming Nauseous

We arenât talking about that nasty feeling you get after a greasy meal but chronic bloating and/or a recurring upset stomach. Nausea during pregnancy, often referred to as âmorning sickness,â usually starts around a month after you become pregnant. You may also develop intense desires for particular kinds of foods or suddenly become averse to foods youâve historically enjoyed. This nausea may or may not involve vomiting, so itâs important to note both kinds. If youâve been sick to your stomach for several days or nights and you arenât sick, pregnancy could be the reason.

Recommended Reading: How Easy Is It To Get Pregnant At 40

Your Pregnancy Tests Are Negative But You Still Think You Might Be Pregnant

While false positives are very rare, false negatives with pregnancy tests are more common. Here are some reasons you could be getting a negative pregnancy test.

If you’ve gotten negative results multiple times but are experiencing the signs of pregnancy, and especially if you’ve missed your period, then you should see a doctor who will be able to conduct additional tests and see what might be going on.

Other Reasons For Missing Your Period

Here are some possible reasons for missing your period but having negative pregnancy tests:

• Menopause
• Starting a new birth control method
• Illness
• Hormone imbalance

If you suspect one of these reasons may be disrupting your normal menstrual cycle, and you have a negative pregnancy, test then you should speak to a health professional.

Read Also: Can You Donate Plasma When Pregnant

What Does A Fetus Look Like At 1 Week

You could make out two eyes, a nose, ears, and an upper lip. Your babys body is also starting to straighten out. Your baby weighs about 1/8 of an ounce just bigger than a penny. The tadpole-like tail is almost gone, and in its place are two little legs.

What Is Phantom Hcg

Phantom hCG is a false positive pregnancy blood test.

In these cases, the blood test for hCG cross-reacts with non-pregnancy related proteins in the blood called heterophile antibodies.

“When this occurs, it can actually have serious consequences unless your physician is aware of this false positive risk,” says Dr. Mark Trolice. “What are the risks? Ectopic pregnancy, where an embryo implants outside the uterus. This is a potentially life-threatening event but is often conservatively treated using an injection of the chemotherapy agent, methotrexate.”

But if the blood test for hCG is a false positive, and there is, in fact, no ectopic pregnancy, the woman may be needlessly exposed to repeated injections of methotrexate with risks of serious side effects from this medicine.

Another condition that can lead to a false positive, says Dr. Trolice, is gestation trophoblastic disease, or cancer of pregnancy tissue. In this scenario, persistent low levels of phantom hCG can be misinterpreted for this disease resulting in aggressive but unnecessary medical intervention. How to avoid over-treating a false positive hCG test? The urine pregnancy test, because heterophile antibodies are not present in urine.

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What Book Do You Think Your Teacher Will Read When You Get To School This Morning

Find out what happens first in your child’s school day and help them mentally transition to that task. In a Montessori school, the children choose their own work, so you might ask about which work your child plans to do first.

If they’re in a more traditional school, find an aspect of the school morning they enjoy and talk about that.

Thinking about the whole school day can seem daunting, but helping your child focus on a specific thing that will happen can make it seem more manageable.

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 an unintended pregnancy. These medications do not cause an abortion, but rather prevent a pregnancy from being established.

Recommended Reading: What To Expect When 10 Weeks Pregnant

Pregnancy Testing For An Early And Accurate Result

A pregnancy test;measures levels of human chorionic gonadotropin in your blood or urine. hCG starts to be produced after implantation in the walls of the uterus.

Implantation can occur as early as 7 days after conception.

The placenta begins to develop and produces increasing amounts of hCG.

There are no dierences between ethnicities with regard to urinary hCG increase. However, levels of serum hCG in early pregnancy following assisted reproductive technology have been seen to be slightly lower in women with a higher pre-pregnancy body mass index.

If you need early detection of pregnancy, a blood pregnancy test done at the doctors oice can detect low levels of hCG and measure the actual quantity of hCG in the body.

A blood pregnancy test can be accurate six to eight days after ovulation. A urine test is usually accurate about 14-21 days after ovulation.

Your First Prenatal Appointment May Not Be For A Couple Of Months

Save for some cramping and possibly morning sickness, you dont always feel pregnant when you first find out youre expecting and it can make a mom-to-be a little impatient for the “fun” things like telling friends, going to the doctor and having an adorable baby bump.;

In fact, that;first prenatal appointment feels very far away to some eager moms-to-be, since it may not happen until eight or 10 weeks into the pregnancy .

“I was surprised at how long it took for my first doctors appointment after finding out I was pregnant,” says What to Expect user inkedmom252. “Eight to 10 weeks before seeing your doctor or getting your first ultrasound!! What?!”

Another user who calls herself JenP1986 agrees: “I cant believe how long you have to wait for your first appointment! My anxiety is driving me nuts! All I do is wonder if everything is going in there!”

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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

Some Tips On Pregnancy Testing At Home

Because early pregnancy symptoms can be confused with other illnesses or conditions, I would always recommend buying yourself a test. These are very accurate from the point that your period is due, and will take the guesswork out of knowing if you are pregnant or not.

For those who have missed a period and got a negative pregnancy test result, follow the link to learn about the most common reasons behind this.

If you keep getting negative results but are experiencing pregnancy symptoms, listen to your body and make a doctor’s appointment!

Read Also: Can I Use Vagisil Wash While Pregnant

What Happens During Week 3

The fertilized egg moves down your fallopian tube and divides into more and more cells. It reaches your uterus about 34 days after fertilization. The dividing cells then form a ball that floats around in the uterus for about 23 days.

Pregnancy begins when the ball of cells attaches to the lining of your uterus. This is called implantation. It usually starts about 6 days after fertilization and takes about 34 days to be complete.

Pregnancy doesnt always happen, even if an egg is fertilized by a sperm. Up to half of all fertilized eggs pass out of your body when you get your period, before implantation is complete.

First You’ll Have Circle Time Then Work Time And Then You’ll Play On The Playground

Talk your child through the daily schedule at school, including as many details as possible. Talk about what will happen when you drop them off, what kinds of work they will do, when they will eat lunch and play outside, and who will come to get them in the afternoon.

It can help to do this many times so that they become comfortable with the new daily rhythm.

Recommended Reading: How I Treat Thrombocytopenia In Pregnancy

What Happens During A Pregnancy Test

You can get a home pregnancy test kit at the drug store without a prescription. Most are inexpensive and easy to use.

Many home pregnancy tests include a device called a dipstick. Some also include a collection cup. Your home test may include the following steps or similar steps:

• Do the test on your first urination of the morning. The test may be more accurate at this time, because morning urine usually has more HCG.
• Hold the dipstick in your urine stream for 5 to 10 seconds. For kits that include a collection cup, urinate into the cup, and insert the dipstick into the cup for 5 to 10 seconds.
• After a few minutes, the dipstick will show your results. The time to results and the way the results are shown will vary between test kit brands.
• Your dipstick may have a window or other area that shows a plus or minus sign, a single or double line, or the words “pregnant” or “not pregnant.” Your pregnancy test kit will include instructions on how to read your results.

If the results show you are not pregnant, you may want to try again in a few days, as you may have done the test too early. HCG gradually increases during pregnancy.

If your results show you are pregnant, you should make an appointment with your health care provider. Your provider may confirm your results with a physical exam and/or a blood test.

What To Do In Different Scenarios

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

Also Check: Can You Feel If Your Pregnant

First Response Pregnancy Test Accuracy Vs Date

As you can see above, roughly one in four pregnant women who take this test will get a false negative when they take it six days before the day of their missed period. Five days before the day of the missed period, however, it will be accurate for 96% of women, and 99% of women will get the correct result if they take it four days or less before the day of the missed period.

In general, the accuracy of home pregnancy tests gets better the longer you wait to take them. If you take a test and it comes out negative and you still think you might be pregnant, wait three days and test again. If you test and it’s positive, you’re pregnant.

Other pregnancy tests are also very reliableâthey just can’t be used as early as First Response. Most brands of pregnancy test are accurate from the day of the missed period.

Be sure to follow the testing instructions of the pregnancy test brand that you bought very closely. Different brands have different instructions.