Tell Me If I Am Pregnant - Early Signs and Symptoms of Pregnancy

How can I know if I am pregnant? Tell me if I am pregnant? If you're searching for these questions, chances are that you are very nervous and anxious about your being pregnant either because you are looking for a possible pregnancy or because you are not looking for a pregnancy. Some newly married women always get confused about their being pregnant when they miss a period or their period date gets delayed a bit. Actually many of them find themselves to be pregnant and some having irregular periods and PCOS find themselves to be not. Whatever is your case, the first thing I advise is that you relax and calm down. The anxiety and nervousness will not help you but will make you more nervous. Many times, this increased nervousness leads to more and more delay in the menstrual cycles because this irregularity has been directly related with stress and anxiety. During ovulation, which usually happens around 14 days counting from the first day of your last menstrual period (menstrual cycle in 28 days), an egg is released by one of the two ovaries. This egg lodges in fallopian tubes where fertilization occurs by induction of sperm. The fertilized egg then gets gradually down through the fallopian tubes for about a week into the uterus, which is fixed to the uterine wall. When the fertilized egg attaches to the uterus, it begins to secrete hCG hormone which is responsible for causing the first sign and symptom of pregnancy. Also hCG hormone is the one which is detected in urine pregnancy tests or blood tests to confirm whether you are pregnant or not.

Now to understand what are the early signs and symptoms of pregnancy, read these points:

• One of the first symptoms that appears at the time of pregnancy is pain or swelling in the breasts. These symptoms are associated with stimulation of progesterone hormone in your body.
• Second important symptom of pregnancy is a feeling of pain or swelling in the belly as if you are going to menstruate.
• At the time of pregnancy, one of the hormones that begin to affect our body is Human chorionic gonadotropin hormone (hCG) which is detected by pregnancy tests like home urine pregnancy test strips, blood tests for pregnancy, etc. This hormone is associated with vomiting, dizziness, and nausea. This hormone helps in maintaining levels of progesterone and estrogen in a pregnant women’s body. The presence of hCG decreases after first trimester of pregnancy and due to this reason, early signs and symptoms of pregnancy tend to disappear after 12th week of gestation.
• If you have been keeping a track of your basal body temperature and have noticed that it remains high for 18 consecutive days, then it is likely that you are pregnant.
• It is very common to feel "weird" at the time of pregnancy, not only physically but emotionally also.

Home Pregnancy Tests

Home pregnancy tests are very reliable but if you suspect that you are pregnant and your test comes out negative and your period days have not delayed, then you should consult an obstetrician. Some these home urine pregnancy tests come out false negatives and do not show up that you might be pregnant and also hCG levels in urine are not sufficient to be detected, so your doctor can recommend you to get a blood test or a pelvic or abdominal ultrasound both of which are much more accurate than home pregnancy tests. Sometimes it is also possible that you are experiencing signs mimicking early signs or pregnancy but it may be possible that you are not pregnant and may suffering from some health problem. If this is the case, you need to see your family doctor on an emergent basis.