• Planning for Pregnancy
  • Pre-pregnancy checklist
  • Conception
  • Problems conceiving
  • Pre-conception nutrition
• Your Pregnancy
  • Am I pregnant?
  • Confirming pregnancy
  • Your Due Date
  • Common Complaints
  • Morning Sickness
  • Possible Complications
• Week by Week Guide
  • Week 1 - 4
  • Week 5 - 8
  • Week 9 - 12
  • Week 13 - 16
  • Week 17 - 20
  • Week 21 - 24
  • Week 25 - 28
  • Week 29 - 32
  • Week 33 - 36
  • Week 37 - 40
  • Week 41 and 42
• Baby Names
• Fit & Healthy You
  • Exercise and fitness
  • Your pelvic floor
  • Your body care
  • What's happening to me?
  • Avoiding hazards
  • A sensual pregnancy
  • Travel during pregnancy
  • Sleeping while pregnant
• Your nutrition
  • Healthy eating
  • Gaining weight
  • Foods to avoid
  • What should I eat?
  • Essential vitamins
  • Your Nutrition At Work
• Pregnancy and Work
  • What are My Rights?
  • Your Obligations
  • Discrimination
  • Workplace Hazards
  • Returning to Work
  • Changing Your Details
• Your Antenatal Care
  • Your Birth Choice
  • Your Birth Plan
  • Pregnancy Jargon
  • Routine Checks
  • Special Tests
  • Assisted Labour
  • Preparing for Labour
  • Your Baby's Position
  • External cephalic version
  • Starting Labour Yourself
  • Cord Blood Donation
• Preparing for Baby
  • Your Baby's Room
  • Buying for Baby
  • Baby Equipment
  • Important Decisions
  • Packing Your Bags
  • Coming Home
• Labour and Birth
  • Pre-Labour and Labour
  • The First Stage
  • Partners Role
  • Pain Relief
  • The Second Stage: Delivery
  • The Third Stage
  • Caesarean
  • Birth Stories
• Your Newborn
  • Baby's First Hours
  • Getting Acquainted
  • Necessary Paperwork
  • Feeding Your Newborn
  • Baby Care Basics
  • Newborn Health
  • Premature Babies
• Premature Babies
  • Signs and treatment of pre-term labour
  • Frequently used terminology
  • Taking a premature baby home
  • The Impact on Parents
  • The National Premmie Foundation
  • Respiratory Syncytial Virus
  • Birth Stories
  • Premature Birth and Baby Forum
• After the Birth
  • Your Stay In Hospital
  • Your Post Natal Health
  • Post Natal Exercises
  • Your Pelvic Floor
  • Your Emotions
  • Resuming Sex
  • Getting Out and About
  • Top 15 Questions
• Your Planning Aids
• Help Panel
• Links and Resources
• Feature Articles

Pregnancy symptoms - Am I pregnant? Common signs of pregnancy

Unless you are one of the few lucky women who fall pregnant straight away, you’re likely to go through the roller-coaster of wondering whether you are pregnant for quite a few months when you are trying to conceive a baby.

If you’re watching your body closely, you’ll know when you have ovulated - and while it’s best not to dwell on it too much, it’s exciting to watch for any changes in your body that might indicate you are pregnant.

While every woman – and every pregnancy - is different, here are some of the more common early signs:

Pregnancy symptom - Sensitive, changing breasts

Breast changes occur commonly in many women in the lead-up to their period; however, many report that the changes in early pregnancy are noticeably different. Some women’s breast seem to increase in size almost overnight; most women say that their breasts become more tender and may even be quite painful to touch. Changes in the colour of the areola, which is the skin around the nipple, can start from just a few days after conception, with the areola becoming noticeably darker in some women. The appearance of tiny veins across the breast surface is also common.  Any of these changes can start happening from a few days or so after conception, although many women may not notice any change at all.

Frequent urination

Needing to go to the loo more often is a classic sign of early pregnancy. This one might start just a few days after conception – as the levels of a hormone labelled hCG rise, there is an increase in the blood supply to your pelvis, which makes you need to urinate more often. But then, some of us get like that if we are nervous or anxious too.

Implant cramping and ‘spotting’ of blood

Around five days to a week after ovulation occurs, the tiny fertilised egg (called a blastocyst) will push through the lining of the womb to connect up with the blood vessels in the uterus and will start to form the placenta and umbilical cord. The moment of implantation can sometimes cause a sharp cramping pain – and shortly afterwards, some women experience a slight ‘spotting,’ a very small amount of bloody mucus; while this is quite normal, do consult your doctor if you are concerned or if it is more than a tiny amount of blood. And don’t be concerned if you don’t notice this occurring – it doesn’t mean you’re not pregnant!

Fatigue

In the early days after conception, hormones flood your body, including lots of progesterone, which can make you feel really, bone-tired. There’s also lots of changes happening in your body; in the first week after implantation, your uterus starts to expand and a plug of mucus forms in the cervix, meanwhile your baby’s major organs and limbs start to form, and the tiny heart even starts beating – no wonder you feel so exhausted. Many women cope by going to bed as soon as they get home from work and sleeping through to the next morning. If you suspect you may be pregnant and you can’t believe how tired you are – cancel any commitments you can and go to bed – you’ll feel a lot better if you get as much rest as possible at this stage.

Changed tastes and food cravings

Some women report a weird, metallic taste in their saliva in early pregnancy. This is probably linked to those hormones that are raging around your body. Your favourite foods don’t taste right, many women go right ‘off’ certain things – commonly meat, coffee and alcohol - and you might experience cravings for something you wouldn’t normally eat. Some women even report cravings for things like chalk or coal. Try not to indulge anything seriously weird like that! You may find that a pregnancy-specific multivitamin pill will help as some cravings are explained as a desire to make up for particular minerals or trace elements that your body may need.

Heightened sense of smell

Lots of women say they couldn’t walk into a butcher’s shop in early pregnancy. Your pet perfume might not smell right, you can probably smell cigarette smoke two streets away and odours that you didn’t know existed will suddenly seem overwhelming. And not only will everything else smell different to you - your skin’s chemistry often changes too, so your partner might notice that you smell different too – perhaps a little ‘milky’!. Blame the hormones.

Morning Sickness

Often it’s all-day sickness – a feeling of nausea that can become overwhelming. This doesn’t usually start until a couple of weeks after conception, though some women do report feeling ill very early on. Around 70 percent of pregnant women are thought to experience morning sickness in early pregnancy. Once again, it’s those hormones that are to blame.  Snacking on bland food regularly through the day and sticking to low-GI foods can help keep your blood sugar even which can help reduce nausea.

Missing your period

If you’ve been trying to conceive, you probably have a fair idea of your own cycle; and you’ll know how regular you are, how many days after ovulation your period usually starts – and how often you are late.  While being a day or two late is common, it may well be an indication that you are pregnant. And if you are a week or more late – and that’s unusual for you – that’s a pretty good (but by no means certain) sign.  Just to make it more confusing, a few women do experience a light period throughout pregnancy (though this is quite rare), so if the other signs are there, you may want to get a pregnancy test to be sure.  If you are one of the unusual people with an ‘average’ 28 day cycle, your period is due just two weeks after ovulation.

By Fran Molloy – journalist and mum of 4