Pregnancy Symptoms before a Positive Test

Hi I'm Kay. I work on The Misdiagnosed Miscarriage website. We are devoted to helping women through their miscarriage scares. Often women will message me and want to know if they might be pregnant either for the first time or after a miscarriage.

Well, let's see if we can figure this out together. I'll share what I've learned but would like to get your opinions as well. Please, take a moment to answer the polls. Together we should be able to help women figure out if they indeed may be pregnant.

Maybe your period is due any day now and you are just not sure if you are pregnant. Here are some of the common well-known pregnancy signs:

1. Cramping with only a little bit of bleeding (if at all). This is believe to be implantation bleeding and can occur up to during the week before your period is due.
2. Breast changes and/or pains. You might not even be able to have anything brush against your breasts because they hurt! This is a reaction to the new pregnancy hormones.
3. Nausea. We all know about morning sickness. For some this starts even before the test turns positive.
4. Exhaustion. Your body recognizes the new hormones even if you don't. You just don't have the energy to do anything.
5. Dizziness. You may feel a bit lightheaded and won't want to stand up too quickly.
6. Cravings. Suddenly craving some food you wouldn't normally eat? Yep, could be those pregnancy hormones at work.
7. Your jeans feel tight. Can't explain this one. I only know that a number of women who email me tell me this is one of the first signs for them and, indeed, for my pregnancy symptoms, my jeans definitely felt snugger the first week or two of pregnancy and then felt normal again after that (for a few more weeks at least!).
8. Crying or other mood swings. Feel like the least little thing is making you emotional? You're not alone. Mood swings are a common early pregnancy sign.
9. Headache. Some women have slight headaches in the days before their pregnancy test turns positive.
10. The most obvious: You haven't had your period. Time to take a test!

image courtesy of stock.xchng/Ry Young

The best recommendation for women is just go to your local Dollar Store and pick up some dollar tests. They are cheap and, if you're like the majority of women, you're going to take two or three (or a lot more) before you believe the results. These tests are remarkably accurate and used my many women.

A word of caution: unfortunately, many pregnancies do not implant correctly. There is a chance, with these early tests, that you'll test positive and then will not continue the pregnancy. Until recently, women didn't know they were having these types of miscarriages and just thought they were having a normal period. With these tests, you do run the risk of finding out you are pregnant and then having a period just a few days later.

If you'd like to order tests, check out Amazon's selection:

The video is a bit dry but has some really good information on early pregnancy signs.

Are you wondering if you are are pregnant? Do you have anything additional to share? I'd love to hear from you.