Detecting Early Signs of Pregnancy

During pregnancy, the woman’s body undergoes a number of changes. This is because her body is now preparing to incubate the baby and ultimately give birth to it. The first step in prenatal care is detecting the early signs of pregnancy. Once you have correctly detected pregnancy, the rest is taken care of by your medical practitioner.

According to surveys, approximately 40% of pregnancies in the US is unplanned. Quite a few unplanned pregnancies end up in abortion or babies develop developmental problems due to the lack of proper prenatal care. This happens when an unplanned pregnancy goes undetected for a fairly long period of time. So, early detection of pregnancy is important to the health and development of the baby.

One of the earliest signs of pregnancy is the missing of the period. This is one sign that appears in all pregnant women. But it is easy to miss this sign because many women have irregular periods. Stress, medication and emotional problems can cause changes in the menstrual cycle. Thus, this is not a very reliable early sign of pregnancy unless your menstrual cycle is predictable to the day.

During the early phases of pregnancy, there is a lot of hormonal activity within the woman’s body. This will have a corresponding effect on her physical and emotional states. Therefore, a common early sign of pregnancy is sudden changes in dietary habits. Some women unexpectedly feel ravenous and have sharp cravings for certain kinds of food. The main reason for this is nutrient imbalance. When the body is not getting its required supply of nutrients, it induces cravings to fulfill the need. On the contrary, other women go completely off food. They feel mild to acute nausea due to the production of certain hormones. It could only be a feeling of nausea or it may even lead to bouts of vomiting. The characteristic feature of this symptom of pregnancy is that anything can trigger this nausea, particularly thoughts, pictures, smell or presence of some type of foods. Fortunately, most women get over this uncomfortable phase after their first trimester, when hormonal activities settle down, though there are some women who continue to suffer from it throughout their term.

Another important early sign of pregnancy is tiredness and exhaustion. When there is a baby growing within you, your energy levels dip unless you take extra care to fulfill your nutrient needs. However, since most women are already quite energy depleted, this sign too is easy to miss.

Many women experience a sudden increase in the frequency of urination. This is because the growing uterus presses down on the uterus, thus creating pressure.

These are some of the most common early signs of pregnancy. These signs help you detect pregnancy at its earliest stages. Early detection helps you take proper care of yourself and your fetus. This paves the way to a safe and relatively uncomplicated pregnancy and birth.