I have a lot of readers coming to my site in search of information on the early signs of pregnancy.  Many women who suspect they may be pregnant leave comments wondering if what they are feeling are really signs of pregnancy.  When I suspected that I might be pregnant one of the first things I did was go online and do some research.  I already knew what many of the early signs of pregnancy were, but for some reason I needed to read it all again just to reassure myself.  I was planning my pregnancy so I was beside myself with excitement at the idea but a majority of pregnancies remain unplanned and not everyone is super excited when they start feeling those early signs of pregnancy and often aren’t sure what to do next.

To help all those women who are out there researching this very topic I thought I would revisit the early signs of pregnancy with a fun post about what things may indicate that you are pregnant.

You Might Be Pregnant If….

  • Your period is late or you missed a period completely.  However, if you don’t have a very regular cycle you may not even notice a late or missed period so this isn’t much help as an early sign.
  • You have experienced what is called implantation bleeding.  This is a small amount of bleeding that can occur when the fertilized egg implants into the uterine wall, some women mistake this for a period so they don’t realize that they missed their period.
  • Your breasts have become swollen and tender.  This tends to happen in the first couple of weeks after fertilization.  However, a lot of women also experience this symptom when their period is about to start so it often goes unnoticed as a sign of pregnancy.
  • You are getting very, very sleepy.  As early as one week after conception you may notice that you are exhausted all the time and can’t seem to get enough sleep (This was one of the first things I noticed).
  • You seem to be suffering from that dreadful first sign of pregnancy, morning sickness.  Since it is often accompanied by extreme tiredness many women mistakenly think that they are suffering from the flu when in fact they are pregnant.
  • You are experiencing abdominal cramping (similar to menstrual cramps) and/or pain in your lower back.
  • You are experiencing abdominal bloating (again often mistaken for a sign of an impending period).

For many women the early signs of pregnancy are often mistaken for the telltale signs that their period is about to start.  Since many of the symptoms are so similar it can take a while before you realize that what you are experiencing is something different.  Many women will often miss two periods before they realize that things just aren’t right and they are experiencing early signs of pregnancy.

If you think you might be pregnant take a home pregnancy test or go to your doctor to get a blood test.  You can have all the signs of pregnancy without actually being pregnant.  The only way to know for sure is to get tested.