This detailed guide on how to know if you’re pregnant outlines the early signs that are how to tell if you’re pregnant without a test, and when to take a test.
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How do I know if I’m pregnant? The first indications of pregnancy, signs of pregnancy or pregnancy symptoms can often be noticed before the period does not occur. Early signs of pregnancy are usually nausea, tiredness, a feeling of fullness, gas or a feeling of tension in the breasts .
With some of the pregnant early signs, some women already notice pregnancy when the egg has implanted in the uterus a few days after fertilization. If there is no menstrual period, this is in most cases the key sign for how to know if you’re pregnant.
How can you tell you are pregnant without a test?
Other noticeable changes that go hand in hand with pregnancy and indicators for how to know if you’re pregnant are dizziness and hormone-related changes, such as an increased urge to urinate, cravings or disgust for certain foods such as coffee and hot meat and stimulants such as cigarettes and alcohol. The breasts grow and become tender to the touch.
Another indication of how to know if you’re pregnant is a change in body temperature. Women who measure this regularly (temperature method) can find that the temperature does not drop as usual shortly before the expected menstrual period, but remains high.
At what time can conception occur?
If unprotected sexual intercourse took place at the time of ovulation, i.e. in the middle of a woman’s cycle lasting between 25 and 35 days, the probability that conception will occur is high. But pregnancy is not the only reason for amenorrhea to fail.
Other reasons can be a change of time due to a trip that brings the body out of its usual rhythm, hormonal disorders, serious illnesses, stress or shock. Even after stopping the “pill”, after an operation or in the event of a severe reduction in body weight (diet, illness), the rule may initially not be applied. A pregnancy test or an ultrasound scan provide reliable information about the presence of a pregnancy .
Despite the pregnancy, a slight bleeding can still occur at the usual time of the menstrual period, a so-called spotting.
How to know if you’re pregnant: the signs
Signs of pregnancy: tiredness
Many women are much more tired than they were before pregnancy, which is one of the key signs for how to know if you’re pregnant. This is due to an increase in a hormone called progesterone, which has a sedating effect on the pregnant woman. The maternal progesterone is up to 10/11. Week of pregnancy formed from the corpus luteum, the transformed follicle to hold the pregnancy.
Signs of pregnancy: nausea
A well-known and often very stressful pregnancy sign is nausea. This usually occurs in early pregnancy – especially between the 6th to 12th week – and preferably in the morning with vomiting attacks, but can manifest itself with repeated waves of nausea throughout the day, occur with or without food, or in the evening with swelling of the Body have its climax. In addition to multiple pregnancies, various metabolic and hormonal changes, such as thyroid disorders, can be the cause, which influence the level of the hormone level of the pregnancy hormone HCG. Usually the nausea disappears at the end of the embryonic phase in the 3rd month of pregnancy. In very rare cases, nausea lasts throughout pregnancy.
Although nausea is a negatively perceived symptom of the disease, it can be assessed as positive in connection with an early pregnancy, since with this sign one can assume normal pregnancy development with a corresponding increase in HCG.
Coffee, cigarette smoke or other strong smells (such as perfumes) in particular, as well as certain foods, can cause nausea during pregnancy. Often the women affected cannot smell fatty, sour or spicy foods (let alone eat them), and meat, fish or eggs are often rejected. Sometimes simply imagining the food is enough to trigger nausea. This has to do with the fact that pregnancy, especially at an early stage, brings about hormonal changes in the body that have an impact on the perception of taste and smell. These dislikes are normal and not worrying.
You can treat pregnancy sickness yourself according to the symptoms. The rusks or crispbreads help against vomiting in the morning right after you wake up in bed. Since fruit and fruit juices, as well as carbonated drinks, cause nausea, the pregnant woman should avoid them. A sensible diet is just as important as dividing meals into more frequent and smaller portions and of course avoiding nausea-inducing foods or smells (no perfume, etc.). In addition, by pressing an acupuncture point in the middle of the inside of the upper arm – two transverse fingers above the wrist – using a so-called “sailor’s strap”,
For pregnancy, it is important to understand that the milder cases of nausea are not an illness , but a pregnancy-specific change. Even if the nausea is uncomfortable, you can – temporarily – cope with it. For cases of severe nausea (vomiting gravidarum) there are also medications that can be taken during pregnancy and that do not harm the child. The gynecologist is the best contact here.
In extreme forms of pregnancy sickness (hyperemesis gravidarum) , constant, violent vomiting is possible. This, as well as the low intake of food and liquid, leads to water loss and weight loss and as a result to a deterioration in the general condition of the pregnant woman. Affected women should be observed by a doctor and, if necessary, treated in hospital. In the case of very severe symptoms, drugs are available whose effects on the unborn child have been classified as harmless in animal experiments and in large studies. These medicines require a prescription. Talk to your gynecologist and let him advise you whether and which medication makes sense for you.
Signs of pregnancy: dizziness
In addition to tiredness and nausea, dizziness can also occur and is also a good indicator for how to know if you’re pregnant. The body tries to adjust to the changed blood volume, the blood pressure dropsusually in the first few months and the red blood cells to supply the body with oxygen are not yet sufficiently formed. Standing in warm rooms for a long time, “waiting in line at the bakery” can lead to circulatory attacks. This helps to step on the spot and to improve the peripheral blood flow through quick, repeated clenching of the fists. Little sleep, sedentary work and a lack of physical activity worsen the circulatory situation. Circulatory problems are a nuisance for the mother, but they are harmless to the child. Exercise, alternating showers, brush massages and exercise are helpful.
Signs of pregnancy: cravings
Everyone knows the story of cravings for pickles alternating with amounts of ice cream during pregnancy. This cravings can be a sign of increased mineral needs, which is ultimately not clarified.
Signs of pregnancy: discharge
Hormone changes during pregnancy lead to increased discharge. This vaginal discharge is usually colorless or white, odorless, and uncomfortable. The pregnant woman shouldn’t worry.
However, if itching, unpleasant smell or bleeding occurs, she should see her gynecologist. There could be a bacterial infection that needs to be treated so as not to endanger the unborn child with germs. If it is a sexually transmitted disease, treatment from the partner is required.
Signs of pregnancy: hormonal changes
The hormonal balance that changes during pregnancy has a variety of effects. The placental hormones (HCG, HPL, estrogens, progesterone) as well as the maternal hormones (prolactin , FSH, LH, oxytocin, vasopressin, thyroid hormones, cortisone and cortisol, aldosterone, parathyroid hormone, insulin, somatotropic hormone) are important for pregnancy , which – not only in the body of a pregnant woman – have specific effects on the target organs. These messenger substances can have positive and negative effects on child development. The following changes can be observed in the pregnant woman:
- Skin: Increased pigmentation in the pubic area around the nipple, as a dark vertical line on the abdominal wall, pigment spots on the face, intensification or sudden onset of acne
- Cardiovascular system: increase in blood volume, thereby initially thinning of the blood; Increase in cardiac output, that is, increase in stroke volume and increase in heart rate; Decrease in blood pressure in the first 6 months; Decreased venous pressure, thereby prone to varicose veins and thrombosis
- Excretory organs: changes in kidney function with lowering of the elimination threshold for glucose and magnesium; The urinary tract is dilated by the action of progesterone, thereby favoring ascending urinary tract infections
- Digestive system: gestagen-related widening of the hollow organs, such as the stomach and intestines; as it shifts through the growing uterus, constipation and gas can occur. Heartburn is caused by reflux and weakness of the diaphragm
- Oral cavity: During pregnancy there are hormonal changes and a simultaneous change in the immune response. This favors the development of oral mucosal inflammation, which can progress increasingly until the end of pregnancy. Hormone-sensitive receptors increase the permeability of the oral mucosa, increase the flow of saliva and build up blood vessels and tissue. This often creates pseudo-pockets and swellings combined with a pH shift in the oral flora in favor of pathogenic germs. Pre-existing diseases of the mouth area can be significantly increased during pregnancy. A dental check-up is recommended in early and late pregnancy (e.g. in the 4th and 8th month).
When to take a pregnancy test
How early can you take a pregnancy test? Just six to nine days after fertilization is when you can take a pregnancy test and expect an indication. At this stage, the doctor can use a pregnancy test to detect the pregnancy-preserving hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) in the patient’s blood. The female body produces it as soon as a fertilized egg is implanted in the lining of the uterus.
About a week later, HCG also appears in a pregnant woman’s urine, which she can check herself with a pregnancy test from the pharmacy or drugstore. The test is only reliable if a concentrated morning urine sample turns out positive. At this point, the test may be negative, as the detection limit of the pregnancy hormone in the urine has not yet been reached. If the test is negative, you may still be pregnant.
Proof of how to know if you’re pregnant by testing can only be reliably verified with the test from concentrated morning urine, which has the highest HCG concentration. A blood test at the gynecologist to detect the pregnancy hormone remains the exception in the event of an unclear course in early pregnancy.
If the test is positive, you are most likely pregnant, which should be confirmed by a visit to the gynecologist. No later than six weeks after the 1st day of the last menstruation, pregnancy can also be determined by an ultrasound examination.
