How do u know u pregnant

There are many affordable and reliable pregnancy tests available over-the-counter OTC or online. To help ensure an accurate result, the best time to take a pregnancy test is 1 week after a missed period.

Results of a pregnancy test are either positive or negative. If a woman takes the pregnancy test earlier than 1 week after a missed period, it may give a negative result, even if the person is actually pregnant.

If a person believes they are pregnant despite a negative test result, they should repeat the test after 1 week. A person can also have a blood test to determine whether they are pregnant. This test identifies the presence of hCG in the blood. The blood test can show a positive result a few days earlier than the urine test can, but it may take up to 48 hrs to get the results back from the lab.

Pregnancy symptoms are different for every woman. Some women may notice symptoms, such as spotting or a headache, during week 1 of pregnancy. Others may only experience a missed period. Some women will have no symptoms at all. Whether a person has symptoms or not, the best way to determine if they are pregnant is to take a pregnancy test. A range of pregnancy tests is available for purchase online.

While an impending pregnancy can be associated with feelings of excitement or anxiety, it is often accompanied by harmless bleeding that can cause…. In most cases, women find out they are pregnant when they miss a period.

But some may not experience nausea or vomiting at all. And despite its name, morning sickness can actually happen at any time of the day or night. Usually, these changes are gradual and continue throughout pregnancy. However, some women notice these changes really early on in combination with other symptoms. We all experience bloating or constipation from time to time, but both are quite common during pregnancy. Once again, those changing hormones are the culprit. They slow down digestion, which can cause a buildup of air in the gut and lead to constipation.

Early on, bloating or constipation may be mild and accompanied with other pregnancy symptoms. But — as a heads up — if you really are pregnant, these symptoms may stick around throughout your whole pregnancy.

Many women report a metallic taste in their mouth during pregnancy. Once again, hormones are to blame — specifically, estrogen. Typically, this symptom as well as changes in taste overall is common in the first trimester but may occur at other times too — including before a missed period. Many women report that sensitivity to smell was one of their first signs of pregnancy. In fact, as many as two-thirds of women become more sensitive or reactive to the smells around them during pregnancy. And oftentimes, this heightened sense of smell can stick around through the first trimester or beyond, and contribute to other symptoms such as nausea, and food cravings or aversions.

From a stressful day at work to the natural wonders of your menstrual cycle, there are a lot of things that can affect your mood. These trigger a variety of symptoms. Some women experience many of the symptoms of pregnancy, while others may have only a few. Symptoms of early pregnancy include missed periods, breast changes, tiredness, frequent urination, and nausea and vomiting morning sickness.

However, these symptoms may be caused by other factors and do not necessarily mean that you are pregnant, so if you suspect you are pregnant take a home pregnancy test and see your GP.

A wide range of changes can occur in your body in the later stages of pregnancy, including backache, headache, leg cramps or varicose veins, itch or tingling, constipation, haemorrhoids or indigestion, vaginitis or vaginal discharge, or mood changes or depression. See your GP right away if you experience symptoms like vaginal bleeding or breaking waters, chronic pain, high temperature, severe headaches or vision loss. Many of the signs of pregnancy, such as a missed period amenorrhoea , nausea morning sickness or tiredness can also be caused by stress or illness, so if you think you are pregnant take a home pregnancy test urine test or see your GP, who will administer a urine test, blood test or ultrasound scan.

Missing a period is often the first sign of possible pregnancy. However, some women experience light bleeding around the time of their expected period. The symptoms include nausea and vomiting, and loss of appetite.

Morning sickness usually begins around the fourth to sixth week of pregnancy and may settle by week 12, although it can continue for longer or return at around 32 weeks. During pregnancy, the breasts become fuller, swollen and tender.

These changes are similar to those you may have noticed in the few days before your period. During pregnancy, the skin around the nipple becomes darker and the veins in the breast become more obvious. Overwhelming tiredness is common in early pregnancy. This is most likely caused by the massive increase in the sex hormone progesterone.

Progesterone is needed to maintain the pregnancy and help the baby to grow, but it also slows your metabolism. Try to get some more sleep or rest when you can during this early stage. Your energy levels will probably rise again by around the fourth month of pregnancy when the placenta is well established.

Tiredness during pregnancy can also be caused by anaemia, which is most commonly caused by iron deficiency. Eating iron-rich foods is important in the prevention of iron deficiency anaemia during pregnancy. Medical treatment of anaemia in pregnancy involves taking iron supplements. Pregnancy causes an increase in levels of body fluids and greater kidney efficiency. The swelling uterus also presses against the bladder.

As a result, most women start experiencing more frequent urination within the first few weeks of becoming pregnant. Cravings for certain foods are very common in pregnancy, especially for foods that provide energy and calcium, such as milk and other dairy products. You may also notice a sudden distaste for foods you previously liked. Some women even develop an unusual taste for non-food items such as soil or paper.

Please speak to your GP or midwife if this develops. Back pain during pregnancy can affect more than one in three women. This is usually due to loosening of ligaments and change in posture due to the growing pregnancy.

You can help reduce back pain during pregnancy by wearing flat heeled shoes, using chairs with good back support, avoiding lifting heavy objects, and doing gentle exercise. Exercising in water can reduce back pain in pregnancy, and physiotherapy and acupuncture may also help. At the onset of pregnancy the hormone progesterone increases your lung capacity. This enables you to carry more oxygen to your baby and get rid of waste products such as the carbon dioxide that you both produce.

At each breath you breathe more deeply and the amount of air you inhale and exhale increases significantly. This can make you feel short of breath. In addition, as pregnancy approaches term, the pressure of the enlarging uterus and baby on your diaphragm can make your breathing feel more laboured. Unfortunately, bloating is often accompanied by constipation. Getting the right amount of fiber in your diet can help keep you regular. For many women, heartburn is a frustrating symptom that can appear sometime around month 2 of pregnancy.

That telltale, queasy feeling known as morning sickness can hit you at any time of day — and it typically begins when you're about 6 weeks pregnant, though it can vary and strike even earlier. For most women, nausea starts by week 9. Hormones, mainly increased levels of progesterone though estrogen and hCG can also take some credit , can cause the stomach to empty more slowly, resulting in this early pregnancy symptom resembling seasickness. Your extra-sensitive nose may be responsible for another early sign of pregnancy: food aversions , where the thought, sight or smell of certain foods you normally like can turn your stomach or worse, contribute to your morning sickness.

This early pregnancy symptom can be triggered by anything from chicken a common one to something seemingly more benign, like salad. Though this isn't usually one of the very first signs of pregnancy, it does tend to pop up in the first trimester. Blame those pregnancy hormones again, especially early on when your body is flooded with them and still getting used to all the hormonal changes.

Don't worry: This early pregnancy symptom often passes by the second trimester, when things have settled down in there. Also called ptyalism gravidarum, some moms-to-be experience saliva build-up early in pregnancy.

Most early pregnancy symptoms before your period are strikingly similar to the side effects of PMS. Otherwise, the only way to know if other early pregnancy symptoms nausea, tender breasts, fatigue, bloating, sensitivity to smell, etc. Although you may start to feel early pregnancy symptoms before your period, most women have to wait for an average of two weeks from the time they ovulate for a positive home pregnancy test result.

Home pregnancy tests measure levels of human chorionic gonadotropin hCG in your urine. This placenta-produced hormone makes its way into your urine almost immediately after an embryo begins implanting in your uterus, between six to 12 days after fertilization.

Some HPTs promise 60 to 75 percent accuracy four to five days before you expect your period. Wait until your period and the rate jumps to 90 percent; wait another week and the results are 99 percent accurate.

Know that false negatives are much more common than false positives, so if the time for your period comes and goes without your monthly flow, check in with your health care provider. What to Expect follows strict reporting guidelines and uses only credible sources, such as peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions and highly respected health organizations.

Learn how we keep our content accurate and up-to-date by reading our medical review and editorial policy. The educational health content on What To Expect is reviewed by our medical review board and team of experts to be up-to-date and in line with the latest evidence-based medical information and accepted health guidelines, including the medically reviewed What to Expect books by Heidi Murkoff.